Thurber’s cover art for the 1936 football program

If you’ve ever looked at old OSU football program covers, you’ll notice how arty they were. That’s because they were drawn by actual artists, including two OSU alums who went onto to successful careers using those artistic skills.

James Thurber was one of them, and the one football program cover he drew was actually done after he’d become a well-known author and illustrator. The football program was issued in conjunction with the Nov. 21, 1936, game against Michigan.

At the time of this football program’s debut, James Thurber was associate editor of The New Yorker, and a prominent author, having published two books, “Is Sex Necessary?” and “My Life and Hard Times.” Thurber also was well-known for his illustrations, although they generally received more attention for their humor than their artistic merit.

Thurber was born in Columbus and attended OSU, but withdrew in 1918 before completing his coursework shortly before the onset of World War I. With the outbreak of the war, he became a code clerk for the American Embassy in Paris. In 1926 he relocated to New York to work for the Evening Post, and the following year left to pursue his position at The New Yorker.

Caniff’s cover from 1927

Meanwhile, Milton Caniff has quite a few football program covers that bear his name from his student years at OSU in the late 1920s. During that time he also served as art director of the Makio and the Sundial, an OSU student humor magazine. He graduated in 1930 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He later went on to draw “Terry and the Pirates” and later “Steve Canyon,” probably his most famous comic strip. That strip ran for more than 40 years.

Both alumni received honorary degrees from the University.

Want to see how arty those football programs really were? Go here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ohio-state-university-archives/sets/