Buckeyes to recognize undefeated 1944 team at Saturday's game
Two Campbell Memorial High graduates played on the freshmen-lead team.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
COLUMBUS -- When Troian "Tee" Dendiu and Gene Janecko were senior football players at Campbell Memorial High in 1943, and recruited to Ohio State by coach Paul Brown, they never could have thought that they would be playing against Brown the next season -- and beating him.
But that's exactly what happened during Ohio State's 1944 season in the midst of World War II, when Dendiu and Janecko, a pair of 17-year-old freshmen playing with mostly other freshmen, helped the Buckeyes to a 9-0 record that made them one of six unbeaten and untied teams in the 113-year history of the program.
"In the 1943 season, [Paul Brown] came up to Campbell to recruit us," recalled Dendiu, now 77 and a retired manufacturers sales representative who lives in Urbana. "We thought that Paul Brown was the greatest thing to happen in those days."
But Dendiu and Janecko, who were coached by John Knapick at Campbell, never got to play for Brown, who had coached at Massillon High before coming to OSU. That's because Brown was recruited by the U.S. Navy and coached the Great Lakes football team in 1944, leaving his OSU job to Carroll Widdoes, his assistant at OSU and Massillon.
Ranked No. 2 in nation
The Buckeyes went on to beat the Brown-coached Great Lakes team, 26-6, in the fourth game of the season. OSU also won the Big Ten championship and placed No. 2 in the nation in the AP poll behind Army, which had Glenn Davis and Doc Blanchard.
"It was quite a feather in my hat because we beat the master," said Dendiu, who will join Janecko and about 15 other members of the 1944 team when it will be recognized at Ohio State's homecoming game Saturday against Indiana.
Also recognized will be two other prominent OSU teams -- the 1954 squad that went 10-0 and beat Southern California in the Rose Bowl, 20-7, to win the national championship; and the 1949 team that went 7-1-2, shared the Big Ten title and beat California in the Rose Bowl, 17-14.
Dendiu, who was an 182-pound, two-way end, and Janecko, a 156-pound halfback, teamed with mostly other freshmen and some upperclassmen who were deferred by the military to create that special 1944 team.
Horvath won Heisman
The squad was led by quarterback Les Horvath, who made All-American and became OSU's first Heisman Award winner; and other All-Americans Bill Willis, Bill Hackett and Jack Dugger. The team captain was Gordon Appleby.
Dendiu was a sub at first and then started the last five games of the season.
"I was a freshman, just 17, and played behind Cecil Souders, who was a junior. Then he went to the Navy after the fourth game, and I started the balance of the season, five games," recalled Dendiu.
Janecko won a starting spot at left halfback but later was relegated to a backup role. Janecko gained 150 yards rushing in 33 carries for a 4.7-yard average that ranked No. 4 on the team, and he scored 24 points, one on a 44-yard pass interception TD. In all, he intercepted four passes and was 1-for-1 passing.
kovach@vindy.com