William Charles Hackett (December 9, 1923 – June 2, 1995) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. He was a consensus All-American in 1944. After college, he became a doctor of

veterinary medicine Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

and played a part in the founding of the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

Playing career

Hackett attended

, where he played for the

Ohio State Buckeyes football The Ohio State Buckeyes football team competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, representing Ohio State University in the East Division of the Big Ten Conference. Ohio State has played their home games at Ohio Stadium in ...

team from 1942 to 1944 under coach

Paul Brown Paul Eugene Brown (September 7, 1908 – August 5, 1991) was an American football coach and executive in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL). Brown was both the co-founder and first coach of the Clevela ...

and in 1945 under coach

Carroll Widdoes Carroll Curtis Widdoes (December 3, 1903 – September 22, 1971) was an American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head coach at Ohio State University (1944–1945) and Ohio University (1949–1957), compiling a ...

. He was a member of the Buckeyes' 1942 national championship team. In 1944, as a 5'9", 191-pound

, he was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American, having received first-team honors from the

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(AP),

Football Writers Association of America The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) is an organization of college football media members in the United States founded in 1941. It is composed of approximately 1,200 professional sports writers from both print and Internet media out ...

(FWAA), and ''

Collier's Weekly ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Colli ...

'' (

Grantland Rice Henry Grantland "Granny" Rice (November 1, 1880July 13, 1954) was an early 20th-century American sportswriter known for his elegant prose. His writing was published in newspapers around the country and broadcast on the radio. Early years Rice wa ...

).''2014 NCAA Football Records Book''
Award Winners
, National Collegiate Athletic Association, Indianapolis, Indiana, pp. 4 & 14 (2014). Retrieved August 19, 2014.

After college football

After his undergraduate career at Ohio State, Hackett studied to become a veterinarian earning a D.V.M. in 1947 from Ohio State. Hackett moved to

London, Ohio London is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Ohio, United States. Located about southwest of the Ohio capital of Columbus, London was established in 1811 to serve as the county seat. The population was 10,279 at the 2020 census. ...

, and practiced general veterinary medicine for 10 years. In 1957, he took a job at Orleton Farms, Inc. as the livestock director. In 1963, he became the first veterinarian to serve on the Ohio State Racing Commission. While on the commission, he helped crack down on prohibited use of stimulants and depressants in race horses by establishing Ohio's race testing laboratory. In 1967, as founder and president of Ohio Feed Lot in

South Charleston, Ohio South Charleston is a village in Clark County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,693 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Springfield, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area. Despite its name implying that South Charleston is related to a ...

, he focused on environmental cattle feeding operation. In conjunction with Searle Agriculture, Inc., he helped design and operate the first 150,000-ton capacity cattle waste fermenter for processing animal waste. Hackett died On June 2, 1995. For his many accomplishments, he was honored several times including being named to the Ohio State University Athletic Hall of Fame and named Distinguished Alumnus by The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine.

Founding of the Cincinnati Bengals

Hackett played a part in the founding of the

. While visiting his former coach

La Jolla, California La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded on ...

, Hackett urged Brown to try to become the

NFL commissioner The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...

the next time the job became vacant. Brown told Hackett that what he really wanted was to own a pro franchise. Brown explained that, his son, Mike Brown, thought Cincinnati would be a good place for a franchise. Hackett forwarded the idea to Ohio Governor,

Jim Rhodes James Allen Rhodes (September 13, 1909 – March 4, 2001) was an American Republican politician who served as Governor of Ohio from 1963 to 1971 and again from 1975 to 1983. , Rhodes was one of only seven U.S. governors to serve four four-year ...

, and John Sawyer, president of Orelton Farms in

, to gain political and financial support for the franchise. He served on the team's board of directors for many years.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hackett, Bill 1923 births 1995 deaths American football guards American veterinarians Male veterinarians Ohio State Buckeyes football players All-American college football players People from London, Ohio Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine alumni