Warren Amling had one of the greatest two-sport runs a college athlete has ever had from 1944 to 1946.
On the football field, Amling earned consensus All-American honors in consecutive seasons while playing two different positions along Ohio State’s offensive line. On the basketball court, Amling played a key role in back-to-back Final Four runs for the Buckeyes.
A native of Pana, Illinois, Amling played on Ohio State’s freshman football and basketball teams in the fall of 1942 and spring of 1943. He was in line to play for both varsity teams the following year, but his athletic career was put on hold for one year as he was called to serve in the Army with World War II ongoing.
Upon his return to play, Amling became the utility man on the Ohio State football team’s 1944 offensive line, starting games at both tackle and guard. He helped lead the way for Heisman Trophy winner Les Horvath as Ohio State won the Big Ten championship with a perfect 9-0 record. The Buckeyes were also awarded a national championship for that season by the National Championship Foundation and the Sagarin Ratings, though that national championship is not claimed by Ohio State as Army was ranked No. 1 in the final AP poll.
Amling drew considerable praise for his contributions to the Buckeyes’ undefeated season from head coach Carroll Widdoes following the season.
“I think Warren could play any position on the team,” Widdoes told Paul Hornung of the Columbus Dispatch. “He’s as smart as they come in every way, he’s fast and agile.”
Amling then became one of the top guards on Ohio State’s 1944-45 basketball team. Known for his defense, rebounding and “scrap and drive,” Amling was described in a Dispatch article during the season as the team’s “biggest crowd pleaser.” His efforts, which earned him an All-Big Ten honorable mention, helped Ohio State go 14-4 to earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament, where the Buckeyes beat Kentucky in the national quarterfinals to earn a berth in the Final Four. While he averaged just 4.5 points per game for the season, Amling scored 10 points in his Final Four debut, finishing as OSU’s second-leading scorer in a 70-65 overtime loss to NYU.
After also competing in track and field as a shotput and discus thrower, Amling earned unanimous All-American honors in his first season as a full-time guard for Ohio State football in 1945. Playing both left and right guard for the Buckeyes’ offensive line while also contributing on the defensive line, Amling finished seventh in the Heisman vote as he led Ohio State to a 7-2 record.
Returning to the basketball court, Amling was a starting guard for the 1945-46 Buckeyes as they won the Big Ten championship and made another run to the Final Four, where Ohio State lost to North Carolina in the national semifinals before beating California in the third-place game.
Amling was the captain of Ohio State’s 1946 football team and continued to show his versatility by moving back outside to left tackle. Much like Donovan Jackson in Ohio State’s 2024-25 College Football Playoff run, Amling handled that transition seamlessly, earning consensus All-American honors even though the Buckeyes went just 4-3-2 in Paul Bixler’s lone season as head coach.
Amling concluded his athletics career by averaging a career-high 6.6 points per game for Ohio State’s 1946-47 basketball team. Those Buckeyes took a step back after three straight Final Four appearances, however, going just 7-13 in Amling’s senior season.
While Amling was selected by the New York Giants in the 1946 NFL draft, he forwent a career in professional sports to start his career in veterinary medicine. In 1983, Amling told the Dispatch that he wouldn’t change the course of his career but acknowledged he wondered what could have been if he had given the NFL a shot.
“I talked to them (the pros), but I was eager to establish my practice. You look back and you wish you had given it a whirl,” Amling said.
Amling was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1981 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1984 and was selected to OSU’s All-Century football team in 2000. He died in 2001.
