Theodore Welch Jacobs
Ted Jacobs was a graduate of Ashland High School in 1944, and a participant in three sports, football, basketball, and baseball. The football squad boasted only three returning lettermen from the previous season, but went on to win five, lose one, in the League. Jacobs was an end on the squad. A three year letterman in basketball, he set a league scoring record as a senior, averaging 16 points a game, and a school record of 376 points for the season. With a 61 and 3 record, they also replaced Marion Harding as league champs. Ted made the All-Ohio Team. A classmate recently made this observation of Ted, “He had the ability to dribble around and through the defense almost at will, to score or pass off to a teammate. Always hustling through the entire game he was dog-ged on defense as well.”
In baseball, Jacobs played in ’41 and ’42. No program was scheduled in’43 due to World War II’s stringent allocation of gasoline, but was resumed in 1944. Ted played third base under Coach Sid Boyd.
Jacobs enrolled at Ohio State University in 1944 during World War II. He was recommended to the coach by the sport writer of the Mt. Vernon paper, impressed by his play in the N.C.O. League. Coach Harold Olsen’s squad that year boasted one senior, one junior, seven sophomores, and six freshmen, including Jacobs. Jack Dugger and Arnold Risen were outstanding player that year in the Big Ten.
Military service in 1946-47 interrupted his schooling.
He returned to Ohio State and lettered under new coach “Tippy” Dye in 1948, ’49, and ’50. Future Ohio State coach Fred Taylor was a member of those teams along with Dick Schnittker, Bob Donham, and Bob Burkholder.
Jacobs has remained active in basketball over the years at the YMCA. He owns and oversees the operation of several Red Barn and Farm restaurants, and has been a sponsor of many youth teams in the area, including Pony League, Minor League, Church Teams, as well as Industrial Y League, independent teams, and fastpitch.
Nominator: Dave Honaker
Presenter: Bill Kyler
