Marion native’s grandsons faced off
at Sunflower Showdown
Staff writer
Ronald Dean Oelschlager was a star football player at Marion High School in the early 1960s.
He went on to become Gale Sayer’s running mate in the University of Kansas backfield.
Drafted by the pros, he turned down a pro career to go to medical school. He was a professor at KU Medical School until his retirement.
Now, two of Oelschlager’s grandsons are playing college football in the Big 12 conference.
Jax Dineen, a true freshman at 6 foot 2 inches and 225 pounds, is a linebacker for the University of Kansas. His brother, Jay, a redshirt sophomore at 5-10 and 242 pounds, is a fullback for Kansas State University.
They played on opposing teams for the first time Nov. 2 in the Sunflower Showdown at Lawrence. It is not known whether they actually encountered each other on the playing field, but there will be other opportunities in the future.
An older brother, Joe, was a running back at KU. He signed with the Denver Broncos as a free agent in the 2019 draft but was removed from the roster after he was injured. The Kansas City Chiefs brought him in for a tryout in September.
They have a younger brother, Jet. Their mother, Jodi, is Ron Oelschlager’s daughter. She was a volleyball letterwinner at KU.