Ohio's Football culture: 1981 Canton McKinley Bulldogs

Ohioans are steeped in a culture of football that is reinforced by decades of tradition that cannot be matched by any other state on the vast American landscape. For a young football player in Ohio this starts as early as 5th grade but where success really begins to take shape is at the high school level where some of the nations greatest high school programs exist. There are countless examples: Warren Harding, Sandusky High School, Massillon High, Lakewood St. Eds, Cleveland St. Ignatius, Boardman High, and on and on. But no high school in Ohio better symbolizes the high school football tradition than the school that resides near the Professional Football Hall of Fame, Canton McKinley.

Anybody with a pulse who lived in Ohio in 1981 will recall Canton McKinley's remarkable '81 team including the defeat of Cincinnati Moeller in the State Championship game. From 1976 until 1980, southern Ohio's Cincinnati Moeller had come to dominate the Ohio big school scene and everybody in the state, except folks in Canton, viewed Moeller as the overwhelming favorite in 1981. All of Ohio watched that '81 state championship game closely, as this remarkable group of young men from Canton claimed the state championship for Canton McKinley and just as importantly for those of us from northern Ohio, McKinley brought home the mantle of high school dominance to it's proper place in northern Ohio.

Why is Ohio football special? Tradition. Starting in 1916 when pro football's first team, the Canton Bulldogs and their star player Jim Thorpe began a long and dominating championship run, to legendary Paul Brown and the dominance of "his" Cleveland Browns in the 40's and 50's. During the 50's, 60's and 70's Woody Hayes was coaching and winning national championships at Ohio State as was Baldwin Wallace's Lee Tressell, who had a remarkable 23 year run in division III college football with the Yellow Jackets. Tressel's son Jim won four division I-AA national championships at Youngstown State from 1986 until 2000 and then ascended to the head coach position at Ohio State, where he has led our Buckeyes back to their proper role as a perennial division I football national powerhouse, including another national championship for OSU in 2002.

The attached video provides a sneak preview of a documentary all about McKinley's '81 championship run. For anyone that wants to understand why Ohioans are so passionate about football you should watch this sneak preview video and get the documentary upon it's release in the fall. Above all else, this preview gives a sense of the tradition that drove the players on the '81 McKinley team from a very young age to believe that their destiny was to be a great football player at McKinley. It's understandable why Northern Ohioans crave a return to excellence for the Cleveland Browns. Plainly stated, in Northern Ohio football and winning are in our blood.