One of the world’s top soccer players is expected to take the field at Ohio Stadium Saturday evening.
Erling Haaland and Manchester City will play English Premier League rival Chelsea in a preseason friendly as a part of the FC Series at Ohio Stadium at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
Haaland, one of the top strikers in the Premier League after scoring 52 goals in his first season with City, could be one in a long line of successful athletes to have competed in Ohio Stadium.
Here’s are a few of the top athletes to have ever competed in Ohio Stadium:
Note: List is in alphabetical order
Howard ‘Hopalong’ Cassady: Ohio State running back
Howard “Hopalong” Cassady provided a boost for Ohio State football from 1952-55.
With Cassady, Ohio State won 18 of 23 home games across four seasons, including a perfect record in 1954 when the Buckeyes won their first national championship under coach Woody Hayes.
Cassady won the Heisman Trophy in 1955 when he had 958 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns. He was the first Heisman winner to eclipse 2,000 points in voting.
Eddie George: Ohio State running back
Eddie George cemented his place in Ohio State history during his Heisman Trophy-winning 1995 season.
After recording 1,353 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns as a junior, George had 2,225 all-purpose yards and 24 touchdowns as a senior where he won the Heisman, was named a first-team All-American and was the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, Doak Walker Award winner and Walter Camp Player of the Year.
And much of that damage came at Ohio Stadium. George is the only Ohio State running back to have more than 300 yards in a game at Ohio Stadium with a 314-yard performance against Illinois. George also has a 207-yard performance at home against Notre Dame earlier in the season.
Archie Griffin: Ohio State running back
Not only is Archie Griffin one of the best players in Ohio State history, but in college football history as a whole.
Griffin is the only player to have won the Heisman Trophy multiple times, taking home the award in 1974 and 1975. He had three seasons with more than 1,400 rushing yards and finished his Ohio State career with 5,177 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns.
Two of Griffin’s premier performances in an Ohio State uniform came inside Ohio Stadium. He recorded 239 rushing yards against North Carolina in the second week of the 1972 season before recording a career-high 246 rushing yards in a home win against Iowa in 1973.
Tom Harmon: Michigan running back
Tom Harmon never lost to Ohio State.
In three years as the Wolverines’ starting running back, Harmon and Michigan beat Ohio State three times from 1938-40. Two of those Wolverines wins came in Ohio Stadium, including a 1938 win where Harmon scored Michigan’s first touchdown against OSU since 1933. In 1940’s game at Ohio Stadium, Harmon’s final game at Michigan, he had three rushing touchdowns, two passing touchdowns, three interceptions and four extra points.
Harmon finished second in the Heisman Trophy race in 1939 before winning the award in 1940.
Baker Mayfield: Oklahoma quarterback
In a prime-time, top-five meeting at Ohio State, Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield had his Heisman Trophy moment.
Mayfield led the No. 5 Sooners to a 35-27 win against the No. 2 Buckeyes at Ohio Stadium by completing 27 of 35 pass attempts for 386 yards – one of three performances of 350 passing yards or better in 2017 – and touchdown passes to Trey Sermon, Dimitri Flowers and Lee Morris.
After fourth- and third-place Heisman finishes in 2015 and 2016, Mayfield secured the Heisman Trophy in 2017 along with Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and All-American honors.
Brian McBride: Columbus Crew forward
Brian McBride was the first face of the Crew.
McBride was the first pick of the inaugural MLS draft in 1996. And in the Crew’s first home game at Ohio Stadium April 13, 1996, McBride scored two goals in a 4-0 win against D.C. United.
McBride and the Crew played their home games at Ohio Stadium from 1996-98. In those three seasons, McBride had 33 goals and 13 assists.
Jesse Owens: Ohio State sprinter
Ohio Stadium was Jesse Owens’ home for three years where he trained for some of the biggest moments of his collegiate and professional career.
Owens won four NCAA titles twice in 1935 in Berkeley, California, and in 1936 in Chicago. He won four golf medals in the 1936 Olympics.
Owens’ premier moment as a Buckeye came at the Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he set world records in the 100-yard dash, the 220-yard dash, the 220 low hurdles and the long jump in…
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