Former Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians outfielder Wally Post hit 210 career home runs and knocked in just shy of 700 RBIs during his 15-year career in Major League Baseball. He was retired at just 43 years of age in September of 1972 when one of his 13 grandchildren was born. Grandson Bobby Hoying was born into the world in Post’s hometown of St. Henry, OH, near the Indiana border.
And, like his grandfather, Bobby would go on to do great things in the world of sports.
He starred at St. Henry High in multiple sports, helping the Redskins win a state championship in football and two more in basketball. He also ran high hurdles in track.
Behind Hoying, St. Henry went 14-0 in 1990, winning the Ohio Division V state title. Hoying threw for 2,435 yards and 27 touchdowns on the season and also intercepted eight passes as a free safety on defense. His Redskins overcame a 17-0 deficit in the state championship, scoring 20 points in the fourth quarter. He was an All-State selection and won Ohio’s “Mr. Football” award in 1990.
Over the course of his four years at St. Henry, Hoying amassed 5,665 yards and 57 touchdown passes on offense, and 21 interceptions on defense. He became a starter for the hoops team in 1989 and helped the Redskins win back-to-back state championships his junior and senior years. Waiting for him at the end of his high school playing days was a scholarship to play football for John Cooper at Ohio State.
Hoying found himself mired in a quarterback logjam when he arrived in Columbus. Stuck behind Kent Graham, Kirk Herbstreit, and more highly touted recruit Joe Pickens – who was a year ahead in the program – Hoying redshirted in 1991. He practiced hard and showed off his big arm on the scout team.
FRESHMAN YEAR
In his first year of play, Hoying worked his way up to No. 2 on the quarterback depth chart. But he saw only spot action a couple of times when Herbstreit suffered, and later re-aggravated, an ankle injury. He attempted 14 passes in 1992, completing eight for 58 yards, with one touchdown and an interception. He threw his first career touchdown to senior tight end Joe Metzger – who caught his first collegiate pass on the play – in the fourth quarter of a 31-7 win over Northwestern on Oct. 17, 1992.
As a team, Ohio State finished 8-3-1 (5-2-1), as runner-up to Michigan in the Big Ten standings. OSU tied That Team Up North in The Game that year, 13-13. The Buckeyes went to Orlando, where they lost 21-14 in the Citrus Bowl to Georgia.
SOPHOMORE YEAR
As a redshirt sophomore, Hoying became the Buckeyes’ No. 1 quarterback after a strong spring camp. With a strong arm, a sharp mind and a wealth of effortless athletic ability, he was a natural, and he had a lot of talent around him in the offense – guys like Raymont Harris, Butler By’Not’e, Eddie George, Terry Glenn, Joey Galloway and others. But, like any first-year starter, he had his struggles at times. Hoying completed just 54% of his passes (109/202) for 1,570 yards, and threw eight interceptions to go with his eight touchdown passes.
Hoying in his office.
Still, the Buckeyes were formidable, jumping out to an 8-0 start to the season before hitting a snag with a 14-14 tie against Wisconsin in Madison. After beating Indiana the following week, Ohio State fell hard at Ann Arbor, 28-0. With an identical record to the Badgers, the Rose Bowl tiebreaker went to Wisconsin and the Buckeyes went to San Diego to play BYU. Hoying threw only 11 passes in the 28-21 Holiday Bowl victory, but he didn’t need to sling it with Harris rumbling for more than 200 yards and three scores.
All things considered, it wasn’t a bad season for Hoying and the Buckeyes, but splitting the conference title and getting blasted in The Game wasn’t the way anyone in Columbus wanted it to end.
JUNIOR YEAR
Hoying had his breakout year as a redshirt junior, completing 170 of 301 passes (56.5%) for 2,335 yards and 19 touchdowns. The gunslinger did throw 14 interceptions on the year, though. At the time, it was the second-highest single-season total for passing yards in school history, and Hoying was just the fourth Buckeye to throw for more than 2,000 yards in a season. His season’s high point was a 304-yard, five-touchdown performance in a 48-14 romp over Purdue, in which he and the rest of the first stringers got an early rest. He had six games with 200 or more passing yards and threw a TD pass in 10 of the 13 games.
The Buckeyes, however, backslid to 9-4-0 (6-2-0), finishing second to Penn State in the conference race. Ohio State did win The Game, though, 22-6 over No. 15 Michigan in the Horseshoe. It was Hoying’s only in over the Wolverines, and he went 11/18 for 125 yards without an interception and scored on a four-yard run. The season ended with a heartbreaking 24-17 loss to heavily favored No. 6 Alabama in the Citrus Bowl. Tide quarterback Jay Barker hit Sherman Williams for a 50-yard touchdown pass with 42 seconds remaining to snap the tie. Hoying was just 11/27 for 180 yards with an interception, but he did connect twice to Joey Galloway for touchdowns covering 69 and 11 yards.
SENIOR YEAR
If 1994 was Hoying’s coming out party, he really turned it up a few notches as a redshirt senior. Hoying completed 211/341 (61.9%—a single-season OSU mark) and established career highs and set OSU single-season records in yards (3,269) and touchdowns (29), while cutting down his interceptions to 12. He threw nine touchdown passes over a two-week span in wins over Pitt and Notre Dame, as the Buckeyes outscored those teams a combined 99-40. He set 13 school passing records in 1995.
As a team, the Buckeyes looked like world beaters, reeling off 11 straight wins, starting with a 38-6 thumping of No. 22 Boston College in the Kickoff Classic and climbing to No. 2 in the nation by mid-November. Only No. 12 Penn State on the road finished within 10 points of the Buckeyes, falling only 28-25, and Hoying threw for a season-high 354 yards that day in Happy Valley.
But John Cooper’s Michigan curse reared its head again that fall in Ann Arbor, with the Wolverines winning 31-23 to knock the Buckeyes out of the national title picture. Ohio State had scored 188 points (47/game) in the four games leading up to The Game. The loss handed the Big Ten title to Northwestern.
The season ended with a fizzle as the Buckeyes lost 20-14 to Peyton Manning and No. 5 Tennessee in the Citrus Bowl. Ohio State finished 11-2-0 (7-1-0).
LEGACY
Hoying had one of the great quarterbacking careers in Ohio State history. He left college holding four career school records—touchdown passes (57), completion percentage (58.0%), most games with 200 or more passing yards (17) and passing efficiency (142.61). He left as the school’s second-leading passer in yardage (7,232), behind only Art Schlichter.
His teams went 38-10-2 over his four seasons as a player (24-6-2 in B1G games), but, as was symptomatic of playing during the entire Cooper era, he went only 1-2-1 in The Game and 1-3 in bowl games. For all of his exploits and records, and the quality of his teams, Hoying never got to play in the Rose Bowl or win a championship of any kind with the Buckeyes.
An All-B1G Scholar Athlete, Hoying was selected to the Ohio State Football All-Century Team in 2000 and was inducted into the Varsity O Hall of Fame in 2008.
THE LEAGUE
Hoying took the starting job in Philly in 1997.
After college, Hoying was selected in the third round (85th overall) by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1996 NFL Draft, beginning what would become a six-year professional career. He made only one brief cameo during his rookie season without attempting a pass and getting sacked. But in 1997, Hoying actually took over as the starter over Ty Detmer and Rodney Peete, completing 128/225 (56.9%) passes for 1,573 yards and 11 touchdowns, with only six picks. Bengals fans may remember the 44-42 thriller in which Hoying threw four scoring strikes to lead the Eagles over Cincinnati.
After his second season, however, things took a downward turn in Hoying’s career. He failed to win a start and was benched, ultimately leading to the firing of coach Ray Rhodes and the hiring of Andy Reid. Hoying went 114/224 (50.9%) for 961 yards and no touchdowns, with nine interceptions. Reid drafted Donovan McNabb and traded Hoying to Oakland.
Hoying spent three years with the Raiders but played in only six games, completing two of seven passes without a touchdown or an interception. He retired from football in 2001.
AFTER FOOTBALL
In 2002, Hoying went into real estate with his friend, Brent Crawford. The two built a business called Crawford Hoying, a real estate brokerage and management firm located in the Columbus suburb of Dublin. As a principal with Crawford Hoying, Bob handles aspects of the company’s development process, including land acquisition, property due diligence, closing requirements, and the obtainment of city entitlements. Like Hoying himself, the company gets good grades. It has an A+ rating by the Better Business Bureau.
Buckeye fans of old who remember the days of single-digit passing attempts will no doubt remember Bobby Hoying as the gunslinger who was unafraid to challenge defensive backs and always willing to give guys like Terry Glenn and Joey Galloway a chance to go get the ball. More recent fans, who watched Hoying when they were kids, probably enjoyed seeing their first true passing Buckeye quarterback hero. But, younger or older, Hoying was memorable to all who saw him play.
