Iolas Huffman Iolas Melitus Huffman ( February 4 , 1898 – November 12 , 1989 ) was an American football and baseball player . He was a first - team All - American football player for Ohio State in 1920 and 1921 and was the captain of the 1920 Buckeyes football team that won the Western Conference championship . He also played professional football in the early years of the National Football League for the Cleveland Indians ( 1923 ) and Buffalo Bisons ( 1924 ) . Biography . Huffman was a native of Chandlersville , Ohio . He enrolled in the medical college at the Ohio State University and played college football and baseball . Though he had never played football before enrolling at Ohio State , Huffman played four years of varsity football for the Buckeyes . Freshman were eligible to play football in 1918 due to the exigency of World War I . As a result , Huffman reportedly played for Ohio State ' s football team in " every quarter of every game save one " in the four years from 1918 – 1921 . At the conclusion of his career at Ohio State , he was " hailed as probably the greatest tackle in Buckeye history . " As captain of the 1920 football team , Huffman led the Buckeyes to a Western Conference championship . In the 1920 game against Michigan , Huffman blocked a punt by All - American Frank Steketee , which the Buckeyes recovered in Michigan ' s endzone for a touchdown , the key play in Ohio State ' s 14 – 7 win . Huffman was selected as a first - team All - American by syndicated sports writer Lawrence Perry in 1920 and 1921 . In 1921 , Huffman was selected as a first - team All - American tackle by " Football World " , based on the collected opinions of 267 coaches . After Ohio State lost to California , 28 – 0 , in the 1921 Rose Bowl , Huffman told reporters , " We were defeated , but at the same time we are not downhearted . I admit that we seemed to lack our usual pep but I do not believe that California is twenty - eight points better than Ohio . It was a great game , and I hope that we will have another opportunity to meet California and reverse the tables . " At the conclusion of his four - year football career at Ohio State , an Ohio newspaper reported : " Big of frame but not ponderous and gifted with unusual speed for so large a man , Huffman entered college without ever having donned a football suit . Watching varsity practice one night early in the season he vowed he ' d like to try his hand at the game . Outfitted with old togs and utterly green at the game he turned up for the varsity ( it was the S . A . T . C . year when freshmen were eligible ) he quickly adapted himself and soon won a place on the Buckeye line . He is credited with playing in every quarter of every game save one in the four years he held down a varsity berth . As a ball hawk he had few peers . In recent years in Western Conference circles . Time after time he broke thru opposing lines and blocked kicks and on a number of vital occasions converted them into touchdowns . " As a baseball player , Huffman was the catcher for Ohio State for three years . He was known as " a deadly thrower to bases , " and few ballplayers in the Western Conference attempted to steal bases on Huffman . He had one of the best batting average s on the Ohio State team , and in 1921 he led Ohio State in stolen bases . Huffman was offered a tryout as a catcher with Major League Baseball ' s Cleveland Indians in 1920 , and in 1922 the St . Louis Browns offered him a contract as to play for them as a catcher . He played for the Zanesville Greys during the summer of 1922 , but at the end of July he decided to give up baseball for the rest of the season because of a sore arm that had kept him on the bench for several weeks . In the fall of 1923 , Huffman turned to professional football in the early days of the National Football League . In 1923 , he played for the Cleveland Indians in the first season of the NFL under its current name . In 1924 , he played for the Buffalo Bisons . Huffman played in a total of 13 games in the NFL during those two seasons .