Former Ohio State football MVP dies at 100
Cecil “Cy” Souders, who played football under four different Ohio State coaches and was an offensive and defensive end on the Buckeyes’ 1942 national championship team, died Monday at his home in Hilliard.
At age 100, he also was the oldest NFL alumnus when he passed.
Born in Bucyrus, Souders began his Ohio State career in 1939 under Francis Schmidt, continued it under Paul Brown in 1942 and 1943 and then played under Carroll Widdoes in 1944. He finished under Paul Bixler in 1946 after taking a year off to serve in the Navy during World War II.
Souders started on the 1942 team that finished 9-1 and ranked No. 1 in the
Associated Press poll. He caught a team-high nine passes in 1946 and was voted team MVP. He was voted into the
Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2002.
Dubbed “The Old Man” by teammates because he was a 26-year-old senior, Souders went on to play three seasons with the Detroit Lions.
Souders initially was offered a scholarship to Louisiana State, but Schmidt sent OSU assistant coach Ernie Godfrey to Bucyrus to warn Souders’ girlfriend not to allow her boyfriend to accept the offer because “those southern belles will get after him, and he won’t come back.”
The girlfriend, Jean Hoover, convinced Souders to attend Ohio State instead. Then she married him. The couple remained together 81 years.
The Souders family will receive friends from 1-1:45 p.m. Tuesday at Wise Funeral Service in Bucyrus. roller@dispatch.com @rollercd
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