Last December, we launched a fundraiser designed to raise the required $40,000 to have a life-size statue of Woody Hayes placed on the property of the Newcomerstown Historical Society just down the street from where the legendary coach grew up.
Our friend BJ McFadden, who oversees operations at the NHS, which already has a room dedicated to Woody, helped rally folks within the Newcomerstown community. Meanwhile, Alan Cottrill, one of the most accomplished sculptors in the nation who also constructed the Woody statue you see outside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center today, stands at the ready to create a glorious life-size statue of Woody as soon as we raise the required funds.
That's where you come in. As of this writing, we've come together to raise $15,585 which equates to roughly 40% of goal.
Frankly, the donations have stalled a bit and we need your help.
That help could come in the form of a monetary donation or even if the form of helping spread the word by sharing our cause and the link to our GoFundMe page.
While any monetary donation will be accepted and appreciated, I'd like to remind everyone of the donation tiers that come with varying levels of recognition:
- $100 Donation: You earn your spot in history with your name on the list of donors on elevenwarriors.com.
- $500 Donation: Your name, family name, or business name (max 30 characters) will go on the plaque next to the Hayes statue.
- $1000 Donation: Your name, family name, or business name (max 30 characters) will appear in a larger font a little further up the plaque next to the Hayes statue.
- $5000 Donation: Your name, family name, or business name (max 30 characters) will appear in the largest font size near the top of the plaque next to the Hayes statue.
- $10,000 Donation: The logo of your business will appear near the top of the plaque next to the Hayes statue.
With that, here are 11 great reasons to consider donating and/or helping spread the word of our ambitious endeavor:
1. Woody's Commencement Speech
On March 14, 1986, Woody delivered a sterling commencement speech. I particularly enjoy the snippet below and you can read the speech in its entirety here.
I'd like to give you a little advice today. I'll try not to give you too much, just a little bit. One thing you cannot afford to do--that's to feel sorry for yourself. That's what leads to drugs, to alcohol, too those things that tear you apart. In football we always said that the other team couldn't beat us. We had to be sure that we didn't beat ourselves. And that's what people have to do, to--make sure they don't beat themselves.
So many times you have fond here at the University people who were smarter than you. I found them all the way through college and in football: bigger, faster, harder. They were smarter people than I. But you know what they couldn't do? They couldn't outwork me. I ran into opposing coaches who had much better backgrounds than I did and knew a lot more about football than I did. But they couldn't work as long as I did. They couldn't stick in there as long as I could. You can outwork anybody. Try it and you'll find out you can do it.
2. Five National Titles
Considering Ohio State's standing as a true college football powerhouse good enough to rank as the AP's No. 1 all-time program, it's a bit surprising that only one coach in OSU lore has been able to capture more than one national title.
That man, Woody Hayes, brought five national titles to Columbus including three consensus national championships (1954, 1957, 1968).
During his 28 years at the helm, Woody also logged 13 Big Ten titles.
3. In a word, Stability
Ohio State's football program plowed through five coaches in 11 years leading up to Woody's hiring as Francis Schmidt, Paul Brown, Carroll Widdoes, Paul Bixler and Wes Fesler logged a combined 63-28-6 record during that span with two league titles and one Rose Bowl win.
Woody's first three seasons were nothing to write home about (16-9-2) but the next four seasons saw his program tally three Big Ten titles and two national titles to solidify his standing as a man not to be trifled with.
4. Advancing Humanity
While Woody wasn't the first collegiate coach to recruit African-American players, he was a bit of a pioneer in that he was one of the first big-time coaches to do so and he also hired Ohio State's first African-American assistant coach in Rudy Hubbard.
Hubbard helped recruit a kid named Archie Griffin to Ohio State and eventually served as head coach at Florida A&M for 12 years.
5. Because I Couldn't Go For Three
Everyone knows the story by now but damn if I don't want to throw my wallet at our fundraising effort when I think about Woody hating Michigan enough to go for a two-point conversion when he was already up 50-14 late in the 4th quarter of the 1968 version of The Game.
Even better, though the two-point try failed, the run-happy Woody dialed up a pass play on the attempt to push his 36-point lead to 38 with just a few minutes remaining in the game.
6. The Patriot
Woody became a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy during World War II, serving from six months before Pearl Harbor in 1941 to 1946.
As written by former 11W beat writer Kyle Rowland, Woody's service wasn't spent behind a desk and his love for the Navy was real:
Hayes commanded PC 1251 in the invasion of Palau and the USS Rinehart, a destroy escort, in the Atlantic and Pacific. Hayes was crossing from one ocean to the other – at the Panama Canal – when he learned his alma mater, Denison, hired him as its head football coach.
“People talk about how devoted Woody is to football. He was just as dedicated to the Navy,” Hayes’ wife, Anne, said. “Why, we had been married only five days when he asked for sea duty. He didn’t get it at once, but he did request it. Stevie (son) was nearly nine months old before Woody saw him for the first time.”
7. Coach? Check. Patriot? Check. Educator? Check.
Not only was Woody hired to coach the football team, he taught his freshmen players mandatory English and vocabulary classes. Additionally, Woody taught physical education classes and was a professor of Military History even after being relieved of his head coaching duties after the 1979 Gator Bowl loss to Clemson.
8. Like you, Woody hated fumbles
Especially in The Game (11:05 mark).
9. Woody showed an acumen as a volunteer fire fighter
Ever heard this one? It's from Buckeye linebacker Vic Koegel talking about the 1971 game against Minnesota in the book "What It Means to Be a Buckeye":
"In one game at Minnesota, during my sophomore year, we were behind at halftime. Woody gave his speech in the locker room and ended with him saying: 'Let's go out there and win this game!' He started to go out, but the door was locked. So Woody broke this glass box with a fire axe in it. He got that axe and started beating this door down with it before they stopped him.
We came back to win 14-12."
C'mon now, that's worth $100 by itself.
10. Complicated but compassionate man
Yes, his tirades and temper were legendary. And yes, his temper cost him in the end but Woody's compassion especially for the sick was every bit as powerful.
Rex Kern recalled one instance in the same book mentioned above:
"One time he was in the shopping center in Upper Arlington, and this man came up to him and told him how much he and his wife loved the Buckeyes and how he just wanted to shake his hand. 'Well, where is your wife?' Woody asked him. The man told him she was dying of cancer at Riverside Hospital. That evening, that man went to see his wife, and Woody was already sitting by her bedside. There are hundreds of stories like that. Woody used to just walk the halls at all of the hospitals and drop in to cheer people up -- people he didn't know."
11. One of the all-time great quote machines
Woody quotes are as legendary as his teams. A sampling:
- "Without winners, there wouldn't even be civilization."
- "You can never pay back, but you can always pay forward."
- "The height of human desire is what wins, whether it's on Normandy Beach or in Ohio Stadium."
- "Success - it 's what you do with what you've got."
- "Paralyze resistance with persistence."
- "Sherman ran an option play right through the south."
- "The will to win is not as important as the will to prepare to win."
- "Not everybody can be first team, but you can always put the team first."
