There are 31 days that separate us from Ohio State's march to Blacksburg. To help pass the time until the Buckeyes put the Sandman to bed I will countdown Ohio State's top 100 players according to the rubric* listed at the bottom of this article.
 

Bob Ferguson won the Maxwell award in 1961.

NO. 31 BOB FERGUSON, FB (1959-61)
Born: 1939 (Troy, Ohio)
High School: Troy
Died: 2004 (Columbus)

OHIO STATE CAREER:

• The Buckeyes were 18-7-2 with Ferguson on the team.
• 1961 National Champion.
• 1961 Big Ten Title.
• Went 2-1 against That Team.

HONORS:

• 1961 Maxwell Award.
• 1961 All-American.
• 1961 All-Big Ten.
• 1961 Runner-up for Heisman Trophy.
• 1960 All-American.
• 1960 All-Big Ten.
• 1987 Inducted into the Ohio State Varsity O Hall of Fame.

NFL DRAFT
Round 1 to the Pittsburgh Steelers with the 5th pick of the 1962 draft.

Ferguson and the Buckeyes won a National Championship in 1961.

Ferguson's Ohio State career per ohiostatebuckeyes.com:

At 6-1 and 220 pounds, Bob Ferguson was the consummate Ohio State fullback. A two-time All-American, Ferguson led Ohio State in rushing each of his three years as a starter He was the Maxwell Award winner and runner-up for the Heisman Trophy in 1961. He helped lead the Buckeyes to the 1961 National Championship with a 8-0-1 record.

“Riches to Rags” excerpts from The Toledo Blade 11-14-1975:

Bob Ferguson, once an All-America fullback for Ohio State University and a national college football player of the year in 1961, lay critically ill at Howard University Hospital last week, stricken while living here under an assumed name, working as a laborer, to escape the bitter shortcomings of a life that never fulfilled the promise of his college days.

News of his condition—a stroke at age 35—and his presence in Washington has stunned his friends and family around Columbus, where he rose to national fame.

They say that Ferguson disappeared four years ago, leaving behind a wife and four children and that he had not been heard of since, even at the death of his parents.

Ferguson's success in college was used against him in the NFL.

Ferguson's NFL Career per The Toledo Blade:

“Bob's publicity killed him.” said Ed Kiely, press aide for the Steelers, in a 1962 interview.

“All the pros heard was that Ferguson lost only six yards rushing in his college career, three as a sophomore, one as a junior, and two as a senior.

[…]

Everybody wanted to get Ferguson behind the line of scrimmage, right from the first exhibition game. In one of his first exhibitions against the Detroit Lions, Kiely said “Carl Brettschneider, the Detroit Lions linebacker, got him two yards behind the line of scrimmage and told him, “This isn't the Big Ten Conference now, boy. Get up and try again.”

Ferguson's life after the NFL per The Toledo Blade:

Ferguson went back to Columbus in late 1964 and found a job as a social worker with the Ohio Youth Commission. “He didn't talk about pro football. He kept most of his problems to himself,” Paul Martin, Ferguson's teammate and roommate, recalled.

[…]

“The kids idolized him, they really loved that guy,” said John Mummey, quarterback on Ferguson's college team. “But when you'd run into him you'd get the feeling he was thinking, 'Here I am working in Westinghouse and coaching this little football team and you're over at Ohio State, where I should be and I'm not and I'm ashamed. But he shouldn't have felt like that.”

Until last week, Salle Ferguson Thorpe said, no one she knew in Ohio had heard from Bob Ferguson in four years. “My parents passed away in 1973.” she said. “They never did understand why he did it. It really hurt both of them.”

All that Mrs. Thorpe could learn about Bob Ferguson's life the last few years was that he worked in construction under an assumed name and was laid off six months ago.

Bob Ferguson had a stroke at the age of 35.

A health scare in 1975 and his time in Washington per The Toledo Blade:

He was listed in critical condition, suffering from a subarachnoid hemorrage, or rupture of a blood vessel in the brain. He brought himself to the hospital October 28. His condition, according to Salle Thorpe, who is a nurse, is one caused in part by emotional stress.

[…]

Ferguson's only known friend in Washington is Woodson Davis, a social studies teacher at Hamilton Junior High School. Davis said Ferguson was well above his prime playing weight of 220 pounds spread on a 6-foot-2-inch frame, and weighed more than 250 pounds now.

“He said he gave away his trophies and wristwatches.” Davis said. “He didn't talk about his past in football. He has a lot of pride and he likes to keep things to himself. He's a fellow who just wants to be left alone.”

Bob Ferguson's obituary per the LA Times:

Bob Ferguson, 64, an All-American fullback at Ohio State and the runner-up to Ernie Davis of Syracuse for the 1961 Heisman Trophy, died of complications from diabetes and strokes Thursday at his home in Columbus, Ohio.

[...]

After leaving football, Ferguson worked as a youth counselor in Columbus. He retired in 1990 because of health problems.

For more information on other players who wore No. 46 go here.

Sources- The Ohio State Team Guide, latimes.com, ohiostatebuckeyes.com, The Toledo Blade, and Wikipedia

ALL PLAYERS COVERED TO DATE