Hall of Fame Inductees
- Induction:
- 2013
Football 1939-41
Jim Daniell was affectionately known as “Big Jim” throughout his life. He was big as any other football player during his playing days, at 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds, and he used his size, skill and aggressive determination along the offensive and defensive lines to forge an impressive playing career that started in high school at Mt. Lebanon (Pa.) High School and The Kiski School, included three years as a Buckeye (1939-41) and culminated in the National Football League with a year playing for the Chicago Bears and one for the Cleveland Browns.Daniell played on Ohio State teams coached by Francis Schmidt (1939 and 1940), and he was a senior for Coach Paul Brown’s first Ohio State team in 1941. He played on the 1939 Big Ten Conference championship team that went 6-2 overall and 5-1 in the league, and he was a standout on Brown’s initial Ohio State team that went 6-1-1 overall and set the foundation for the 1942 team’s run to the National Championship. Daniell was named an All-American by the Central Press Association after the 1941 season.
Daniell’s achievements as a college football player were recognized with the ultimate honor in 1977 when he was inducted into the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame. His older brother, Averell “Li’l Abner” Daniell, is also in the Hall of Fame. “Big Jim” is one of just 24 Buckeyes in the Hall of Fame.
Daniell was a 12th round NFL draft pick in 1942, but he was pulled into the Navy after graduating from Ohio State. His football playing continued, though: Daniell played for Paul Brown with the Great Lakes Service Team.
His military duties included serving as a Naval Lieutenant on a destroyer in the Pacific during World War II. His actions led to his earning the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and a Presidential Citation. His Silver Star inscription is “cool and capable under fire,” attributes that Daniell later said came from his experience as a football player at Ohio State.
After the war, Daniell played for the Chicago Bears in 1945 and for Coach Brown – for a third time – in 1946 with the Cleveland Browns. He was not only one of the first-ever Cleveland Brown players, but he was the organization’s first captain.
Daniell then embarked on a career in the steel industry. He was a president of a steel company by age 39 and he worked out union issues at one time with a young senator named John F. Kennedy. His career in steel included work with another senator who would become a president – Gerald Ford – and he later was a board member for President Ronald Reagan’s Physical Fitness Council.
Daniell passed away in 1983.
