United Methodist home remembers Ohio State coach
A UMNS Report
By John Hoban*
Oct. 24, 2007
Carroll Widdoes
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Each Saturday during the fall, thousands of Ohio State football fans
roar their support for the Buckeyes. Little do they know that some of
this Buckeye glory started on the campus of Otterbein Home in Lebanon,
Ohio.
Carroll C. Widdoes, a former Ohio State coach, lived at the United
Methodist-related home as a youth. Now celebrating its 95th anniversary,
Otterbein Retirement Living Community cared for both youth and the
elderly through 1963, when the care switched to focus on older adults.
Widdoes died in 1971.
The son of the Rev. and Mrs. Howard W. Widdoes, Carroll and his
brothers and sister came to live at Otterbein in 1916. The Widdoes had
been missionaries to the Philippines for the Evangelical United Brethren
Church, a predecessor denomination of The United Methodist Church, and
Carroll was born there in 1903.
For 50 years, hundreds of children lived at Otterbein Lebanon, coming
from nearly every Midwestern state. Some were orphans, many were
children of one-parent families, others had both parents, but either
health or financial reasons prevented the parents from caring for their
children.
It was not unusual for Otterbein to receive two, three, four or even
eight children from one family. In one instance, 10 Imhoff children were
admitted. The Widdoes children were the only children of missionaries
to live at Otterbein, initially created to care for missionary children.
Carroll Widdoes attended Lebanon High School and then graduated with a
bachelor’s degree from Otterbein College in 1926. He worked as a
teacher and coach and became director of physical education for the
Massillon, Ohio, school system in 1934 as well as an assistant to coach
Paul Brown at the high school there.
Brown went to Ohio State University in 1941, taking Widdoes with him.
When Brown entered the Navy, Widdoes became interim head coach of the
Buckeyes, as everyone expected Brown to return to Columbus after the
war.
In 1944, Widdoes led Ohio State to an unbeaten season. The Buckeyes
were ranked second in the nation and he was named Coach of the Year by
the American Football Coaches Association.
Under his leadership, football player Les Horvath became Ohio State’s
first Heisman Trophy Winner. In an article written by author/historian
David Pietrusza, Horvath said, "I think Carroll Widdoes was a very
unusual person. I didn’t know at the time in ’44 but his parents were
prisoners of war in a Japanese camp and he never mentioned it as he
coached the team.
"He was not like Paul Brown, he was not a demanding person. He was
pretty strict about a lot of things and he was a fundamentalist but he
was sort of a shy individual," Horvath continued. "He expected you to do
things, but he never embarrassed you by correcting you in front of
others. I think he did a fantastic job of coaching our team to an
undefeated season."
But Widdoes did not enjoy being in the limelight. After coaching the
Buckeyes to a 7-2 season in 1945, he switched positions with assistant
coach Paul Bixler and spent the 1946 season as an assistant. Widdoes
became head football coach at Ohio University in 1949 and eventually
athletic director, staying at that university until his retirement.
While few Otterbein children achieved his national acclaim, the ranks
of Otterbein’s alumni include teachers and homemakers, military
officers and business executives. Otterbein Lebanon Retirement Living
Community is probably one of the few retirement communities in the
nation with an active alumni association.
A health and human service ministry, Otterbein Homes serves close to
1,700 people, and is related to the East Ohio and West Ohio Conferences
of The United Methodist Church. Otterbein’s five retirement communities
are located in Lebanon, St. Marys, Cridersville, Pemberville and on the
Marblehead Peninsula on Lake Erie. New communities are under
construction.
*Hoban in a communications associate for Otterbein Homes.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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