He played at the guard position for the Ohio State Buckeyes football team from 1924 to 1926 and was a consensus first-team All-American in 1925.

[1] He enrolled at Ohio State University in 1923 and joined the football team as a sophomore in 1924.

[1] The 1925 Ohio State Buckeyes football team finished the season with a disappointing 4-3-1 (1-3-1 Big Ten) record, including losses to Michigan and Illinois to end the years.

Nevertheless, Hess was a consensus first-team selection on the 1925 College Football All-America Team.

[2] He received first-team honors in 1925 from the United Press,[3] Collier's Weekly (as selected by Grantland Rice),[4] and Athlete and Sportsman magazine,[5] and second-team honors from the Associated Press,[6] the All-America Board,[7] and Walter Eckersall, football critic of the Chicago Tribune.