I think they should go for some of the new and some of the old.  And, to me, old just doesn't mean two seasons ago.  How about one banner with a player from one of the great teams of the 1960s?  My vote would be for Todd Snyder.  Cleve would be deserving, too, except for his off-the-field activities that finally got him fired at Texas.  O$U  has statues of Chick Harley and Woody "Punch 'em out" Hayes, to name a few.  We should be proud of our history, too.  We even had a black QB back around 1900.  I've seem him in old team photos.  Why not have an artist make a drawing of him in action as one of the banners.  A university historian should check it out, but I think we can make the claim that he was the first African American QB in the country.  If so, put that on the banner.  At the very least, he was one of the first.  We could qualify the claim as necessary. 

Thornton played after Cleve! The post referred to 1900, not the '80's or '90's.

Surprised to see the 5,000 yards passing figure for AT.  He was a dynamic QB…but I distinctly recall Cleve (his head coach) telling media that we was limited in number of passes per game because of propensity to throw picks.  And I do remember a ton of picks.

Hmm, not too limited, it seems, as he still holds the Ohio record for most passes attempted, at 889. 84 more than either TT or Sammy Shon. Of those he completed 408, by the way, 3d in Ohio history, for 5,199 yards, also good for third. He threw 40 picks along the way, 2d behind Shon, and 17 TDs, good for eleventh. His pass efficiency comes out about 92, which was probably not bad for the time.

Cue the son/daughter of Thornton to post "OMG, my dad was the best player ever".

Great story. Reminds me of this one: I grew up in Shelby which until recent decades was lilly white. BUT, back in the first decade of the 1900s, a black named Charles Follis starred for Shelby's professional team - the Blues.

Follis lived in a house on Oak Street, and his roommate and teammate was a young fellow named Branch Rickey. Yep, the same Rickey who in the late '40s brought Jackie Robinson to MLB. I've often wondered if or to what extent Rickey's having played and roomed with Follis might have influenced his decision re Robinson.

A quick google search and nothing definitive came up with a school claiming to have had the 1st African American Quarterback. The Athletic department should do some research and then stake the claim. Two traditional Black Colleges played a game in 1892. Interesting story to pursue.

Displayed in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton is a photo of Follis carrying the ball for Shelby. That same photo appears in a hard cover history of Shelby football, copies of which are housed in the HOF's library.