Busich, Sam

 

Sam Busich – (1972)

 

SAM BUSICH

From All-Ohio center on the 1931 Lorain
High School football team to double-duty end
on Ohio State’s 1935 Big Ten Co-Championship team to a pro football career in the
National Football League. Thus went the fantastic story of Sam Busich who played his
scholastic football under fellow Hall of Famer
Coach E. M. (Mac) McCaskey. After playing
backup center as a sophomore behind All-Big
10 center Mike Vucinich and behind All-
America center-guard Gomer Jones in 1934,
new OSU Coach Francis Schmidt took advantage of Sam’s size (6’3″, 190 pounds) and converted him into a
two-way end. He became outstanding at defensive end against the rush.
Busich’s size also was utilized on the basketball court. He earned three
varsity letters as a starting guard under nationalsly known Coach Harold
Olon and was a defensive star on the 1932-33 Big 10 co-championship
team. Upon graduation, he was signed by the late George Preston
Marshall to play pro football for the Boston Redskins. A year later they
became the Washington Redskins. He became two-way pro end when
an injury shelved the Redskins all-pro end, Wayne Millner, in 1936.
The Redskins won the NFL Eastern Division title that year, but lost to
the Green Bay Packers in the championship game, 21-6. Pro teammates
Millner, Cliff Battles and Turk Edwards, as well as Marshall, are in
the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Busich played for the Cleveland Rams
in 1937 then joined the Detroit Lions in 1943 after a brief retirement,
where he completed his pro career.