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Letters
A Remarkable Victory
As my 91st birthday approaches, and the football season is in
swing, it occurs to me that I may be the last person alive who
watched Oberlin last defeat Ohio State in 1921. In those days
football had not reached the level of popularity that it now
enjoys, and spectators were few, partly because the game required
more understanding than it does now. My father, Richard T.F.
Harding '03, a former Oberlin lineman, took me to the game,
and, because he was a letterman, we both sat on a special bench
at field level. He had hopes that I would play for Oberlin,
hopes that were disappointed. The day was marked by light snow
flurries, and I had been well-bundled up by my mother, including
a very thick scarlet knitted helmet that I disliked intensely.
That game was the last time that Ohio State was beaten by another
Ohio football team. Motion pictures were made of the game and
proudly shown in movie houses all over the state, especially
in the then-new Allen Theater in Cleveland, to large and enthusiastic
audiences of alumni.
Talbot Harding '33
Darien, Georgia
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