United Methodist home remembers Ohio State coach

A UMNS Report By John Hoban*

Coach Carroll C. Widdoes

Each Saturday during the fall, thousands of Ohio State football fans roar their support for the Buckeyes. Little do they know that some of this Buckeye glory started on the campus of Otterbein Home in Lebanon, Ohio.

Carroll C. Widdoes, a former Ohio state coach, lived at the United Methodist-related home as a youth. Now celebrating its 95th Anniversary, Otterbein Retirement Living Community cared for both youth and the elderly through 1963, when the care switched to focus on older adults. Widdoes died in 1971.

The son of the Rev. and Mrs. Howard W. Widdoes, Carroll and his brothers and sister came to live at Otterbein in 1916. The Widdoes had been missionaries to the Philippines for the Evangelical United Brethren Church, a predecessor denomination of The United Methodist Church, and Carroll was born there in 1903.

For 50 years, hundreds of children lived at Otterbein Lebanon, coming from nearly every Midwestern state. Some were orphans, many were children of one-parent families, others had both parents, but either health or financial reasons prevented the parents from caring for their children.

It was not unusual for Otterbein to receive two, three, four or even eight children from one family. In one instance, 10 Imhoff children were admitted. The Widdoes children were the only children of missionaries to live at Otterbein, initially created to care for missionary children.

Carroll Widdoes attended Lebanon High School and then graduated with a bachelor's degree from Otterbein College in 1926. He worked as a teacher and coach and became director of physical education for the Massillon, Ohio, school system in 1934 as well as an assistant to coach Paul Brown at the high school there.

Brown went to Ohio State University in 1941, taking Widdoes with him. When Brown entered the Navy, Widdoes became interim head coach of the Buckeyes, as everyone expected Brown to return to Columbus after the war.

In 1944, Widdoes led Ohio State to an unbeaten season. The Buckeyes were ranked second in the nation and he was named Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association.

Under his leadership, football player Les Horvath became Ohio State's first Heisman Trophy Winner. In an article written by author/historian David Pietrusza, Horvath said, "I think Carroll Widdoes was a very unusual person. I didn't know at the time in '44 but his parents were prisoners of war in a Japanese camp and he never mentioned it as he coached the team.

"He was not like Paul Brown, he was not a demanding person. He was pretty strict about a lot of things and he was a fundamentalist but he was sort of a shy individual," Horvath continued. "He expected you to do things, but he never embarrassed you by correcting you in front of others. I think he did a fantastic job of coaching our team to an undefeated season."

But Widdoes did not enjoy being in the limelight. After coaching the Buckeyes to a 7-2 season in 1945, he switched positions with assistant coach Paul Bixler and spent the 1946 season as an assistant. Widdoes became head football coach at Ohio University in 1949 and eventually athletic director, staying at that university until his retirement.

While few Otterbein children achieved his national acclaim, the ranks of Otterbein's alumni include teachers and homemakers, military officers and business executives. Otterbein Lebanon Retirement Living Community is probably one of the few retirement communities in the nation with an active alumni association.

A health and human service ministry, Otterbein Homes serves close to 1,700 people, and is related to the East Ohio and West Ohio Conferences of The United Methodist Church.

Otterbein's five retirement communities are located in Lebanon, St. Marys, Cridersville, Pemberville and on the Marblehead Peninsula on Lake Erie. New communities are under construction.