Chris Ward’s Hall of Fame college football career might have never gotten started if he had listened to his mother.
When 11-year-old Ward told his mother that he wanted to play football, she initially refused to sign the permission slip, fearing her son would get hurt. But after Ward went behind his mother’s back and got his father to sign the paperwork, his father convinced his mother that she had nothing to worry about.
“He pulled me by the arm, she was in the kitchen. He said, ’Sarah, come here. Look at this boy. He's 11 years old. Do you see your son?’” Ward recalled. “She said, ‘Yeah, I see him.’ He said, ‘Honey, you need to be concerned that he ain't going to hurt the other people's children.’ And that was it, man. We took it and ran with it.”
Ward grew to become a 6-foot-5, 290-pound offensive lineman who could run a 4.6-second 40-yard dash, and he used those physical gifts to become one of the best offensive tackles in Ohio State history. A two-time first-team All-American and three-time first-team All-Big Ten honoree, Ward is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame’s class of 2024 and will be officially enshrined in the Hall of Fame later this year.
Ladies and gentlemen, your 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Class! pic.twitter.com/IuKxkfTOUs
National Football Foundation (@NFFNetwork) January 8, 2024
The call to the Hall was one Ward had been anticipating for years, as he was nominated for the Hall of Fame seven times before finally getting selected for induction in January.
“I was getting calls for about the last 10 years, ‘Congratulations.’ I said, ‘For what?’ ‘You're in the Hall of Fame.’ I said, ‘I'm already in the Ohio State Hall of Fame, what are you talking about?’ ‘No, the college, you didn't know?’ And I'd look, and it was just a nomination,” Ward said during an interview session last week at Big Ten Media Days. “So I finally got off that roller-coaster. I said, ‘When it happens, it'll happen. I hope I'm still in good health and able to get there and do what's necessary to appreciate it.’ And it did happen.”
Ward, the 28th former Ohio State football player to become a College Football Hall of Famer, said it’s a “great honor” to be recognized as one of the sport’s all-time legends.
“It's a great honor for human beings to be recognized for doing something that's extraordinary,” Ward said.
Ward, who went on to become an ordained minister among other endeavors after seven years in the NFL, said he feels blessed to have been given the physical ability to be an elite football player. But he was also driven to achieve greatness by those who doubted him when he was young.
“I'll never forget something that motivated me when I was a young kid. We played peewee baseball, and there was a coach – we went peewee, juniors then we went to the senior league, which is 12 to 14 (years old), all my friends, we all played together – and this one coach didn't even give me a contract to play,” Ward recalled. “He said to me, ‘You're just a big, fat slob. You'll never be no good. You'll never play for me.’ And I said, ‘Why, coach? Just give me a chance.’ I was a catcher. I mean, as big as I was, the ball would bounce off me if I missed it. And he said, ‘No, you're just a slob. Get out.’ And I'll never forget that.
“I went home and told my dad, I said, 'Listen, get some weights in here.’ … And I started lifting. And in the mornings, we had a block that was a half-a-mile concrete. I started running it 10 times around, five miles every morning, and lifting. By the time I left high school, I could have went to any school, academic or other.
“But, you know, God brought it full circle. My first check from the Jets, the Winters National Bank – if you're from Dayton, you might remember Winters National … I cashed my first bonus check at that bank, and he was in there. And I did one of these, ‘How do you like me now?’” Ward recalled, gesturing with his hands to simulate flashing a check. “And he just ducked his head and ducked on out. So God is good.”
“It's a great honor for human beings to be recognized for doing something that's extraordinary.”– Chris Ward on becoming a College Football Hall of Famer
While Ward has never been known to be braggadocious – Ohio State’s media guide during his senior year in 1977 described him as “very quiet and serious in what he does” – he says his strong self-belief in his ability enabled his success. He believed he was the best offensive lineman in the country during his college football career, and that belief became stronger when he stepped on the field.
“If you could go back and really look at the caliber of players, not just Ohio State in athletics, golf, swimming, whatever, soccer; if they don't think they're great, even though they possess the ability, no one will ever see it,” Ward said. “You got to believe in your heart of hearts, I can be the best durn tackle, guard, driving a golf ball, kicking a soccer ball. All the great athletes believe it in their heart.
“Now, they may not say it, and I've remained humble all these years. Even when I was at Ohio State, I was humble. I really believed I was great. I believed I was with a great organization. But I wasn't telling people that. But inside, there's an animal that comes alive when you're on the field. When the lights come on, it's like, ‘Oh, lights, camera, action, let's go.’ I ain't got no time to be playing with you. You're going down.”
Chris Ward played for Ohio State from 1974-77, earning first-team All-Big Ten honors three years in a row. (Photo: Ohio State Dept. of Athletics)
As Ward, now 68 years old, reminisces on his Ohio State football career more than 45 years after playing his last snap for the Buckeyes, he says the biggest things he’s carried with him are the relationships he built with his Buckeye teammates. He proudly remembers his two wins against Michigan as a freshman and sophomore, and he says his favorite plays as a Buckeye came when he led the way for fullback Pete Johnson to run for touchdowns at the goal line.
He still remembers the ones that got away, though, as his Buckeye teams never won a national championship despite going 39-8-1 over four years and winning four Big Ten championships.
“I really believe, from a team standpoint, those were the greatest teams Ohio State ever had. Now, the national championship tally did not validate that. But we had the best offense and defensive line,” Ward said. “Another person asked me, said, ‘Well, what do you most regret?’ It's the ones that get away. You can win a national championship five times, it's the one that got away from you that you'll never forget. It sits in your craw. And I believe for three years there, we had a chance to win three national championships consecutively.”
Still as proud as ever to be a Buckeye, Ward hopes to watch this year’s Ohio State football team win the national championship he never did. After watching Ryan Day speak at Big Ten Media Days last week, Ward believes in Day’s ability to lead the Buckeyes to a title.
He says he’d have to spend more time watching Ohio State’s current offensive line to know specifically where they need to improve from last year to become a championship-caliber unit. But he knows from experience that a strong front five could make all the difference for the Buckeyes to win it all.
“Being an offensive or defensive lineman is not hard: You got three yards. Dominate the three yards that's in front of you, take control of the body of him instead of letting him take control of you, and then guess what? You win. If you find five people who can do that, you win,” Ward said. “And what (Day) said (during his Big Ten Media Days press conference) was very apropos for I don't care what level you are. If you control the trenches, you got a 90% chance of winning, period.”
