Robert Jabbusch, who played on Ohio State’s 1942 national championship team for legendary coach Paul Brown, has died at the age of 84.
A 1973 inductee to the Elyria Hall of Fame, Jabbusch succumbed from heart disease and pancreatic cancer on Friday in San Diego.
He is the second Elyria Hall of Fame football player from the same era to die this summer. Ed Czak, who was enshrined in 1993, died on June 11 at the age of 89 in Dearborn, Mich.
“He was a tremendous man,” said Lynn Vandertie, 57, of San Diego, Jabbusch’s middle daughter. “But the pancreatic cancer did a number on him. He came from nothing and made a lot of himself.”
The native Elyrian graduated from Elyria High in 1941. While playing for the Buckeyes, he earned All-America honors in 1944 and was named captain of the team in 1947.
Also, the offensive lineman and engineering student was awarded the Big Ten Medal of Honor, as the senior demonstrating the greatest proficiency in scholarship and athletics for the 1947-48 school year.
It was in that year that Brown called Jabbusch the best lineman in the country. Jabbusch also played in the 1944 College All-Star Game against the NFL champion Chicago Bears.
His college career was interrupted by World War II, in which he served in the Third Army under General George S. Patton and earned a Bronze Star. He held a lifetime membership in Elyria VFW Post 1079.
“I’m going to miss my old football buddy,” said John Sheldon of Amherst, who played at Elyria with Jabbusch in the 1940 season. “He played one guard and I played the other in the old single-wing.”
Sheldon had a special tie with Jabbusch — he married his sister.
Jabbusch was drafted by the NFL’s New York Giants while still in the Army, but elected to continue his education on his return to the United States. While at OSU, he earned the Western Conference Athletic and Scholarship Award, the Chic Harley Scholarship and was made a charter member of Pi Tau Sigma, a mechanical engineering honor society.
 “The thing he was most proud of was winning the scholarships,” said Vandertie. “That Western Conference award usually went to golfers or tennis players, not football players.”
Jabbusch was born in Elyria on Sept. 21, 1923. He married Marian Roberts, who would be his wife of 62 years, on Sept. 30, 1945.
Jabbusch worked for 32 years at the FMC Corporation. While with FMC, he earned a masters degree in business as well as several patents for food packing methods. During his business career, he resided in Hoopeston, Ill., Green Bay, Wis., Chicago and Madera, Calif. His job entailed world-wide travel to build and remodel manufacturing facilities.
“He was smart as a whip,” said Sheldon, an assistant coach from 1949-79 for Elyria High. “He was an outstanding engineer. I remember he was a caring man, despite the fact he was so high up in business. A very caring individual.”
What Jabbusch called in a Chronicle-Telegram article from 2004 “a family treasure,” is a ring commemorating Ohio State’s 1942 national championship.
Jabbusch described it as made of gold “with a big, gaudy No. 1 and eight diamonds.” The circumstances were unique because the ’42 team got their rings the same year the 2002 OSU team got theirs. In fact, the rings Jabbusch and his teammates received were replicas of those the 2002 team earned, according to the C-T story.
“The things Paul Brown taught him stayed with him the rest of his life,” said Vandertie. “He was the kind of guy who did things but never talked about them. We didn’t find out until years later what he had done in the Army. But that’s the kind of guy he was.”
He finally settled in the San Diego area, where he died. In addition to a service celebrating his life planned for Poway, Calif., on Thursday, a memorial service is planned for St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Elyria, for Sept, 8 at 11 a.m.

Elyria Hall of Famer Czak dies
Another Elyria Hall of Fame football player from the same era to die this summer. Ed Czak, who was enshrined in 1993, died on June 11 at the age of 89 in Dearborn, Mich.
Czak was a standout fullback for the Pioneers. In his final high school game in 1936, he scored all 12 points as Elyria shut out rival Lorain High. He earned two letters and All-Lake Erie League honors as well. He was awarded the school’s Agenda Trophy for sportsmanship.
The Pioneers’ veteran coach of the 1930s and 40s, Roy Clymer, called Czak "the greatest player I have ever coached," according to a Chronicle-Telegram article from 1993.
Czak went on to play at the University of Michigan on the same team as Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon. He played three years for the Wolverines, earning two letters. While in Ann Arbor, Czak’s teams never lost to Ohio State. He even scored two touchdowns for Michigan, which was a national power during his time there.
One of the highlights for Czak was Michigan’s 85-0 rout of the University of Chicago in a Big Ten game. A severe knee injury reduced his playing time and eventually ended a promising football career.

Contact Mike Anderson at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

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