Happy Father's Day!
With today being about celebrating all you dads and father figures out there making it happen every day and of course all those dads and father figures who did their part but are no longer with us, I tip my cap to all of you.
In my 17 or 18 years or whatever it's been posting articles to Eleven Warriors, I've occupied a Sunday slot during many of our ed calendars over those near-two decades but I think I've only mentioned my dad a handful of times.
One of those came on Father's Day 2012 as I wrote about the last win over Michigan that I was able to watch with my dad, the 23-20 win in Ann Arbor way back in 1987. My dad died suddenly three years later at the ripe old age of 38.
As magical as the 1987 win was for me in real time, it of course meant even more over the years because it was that last big win we enjoyed together. But it's everything my dad instilled in me starting with my birth late in 1973 that laid the groundwork to make that '87 win and so many others over the years so meaningful and important to look back on.
As Bob Dylan once said, take care of your memories, for you cannot relive them.
Ohio State football fandom was the honestly the bedrock of our relationship. With my parents divorced, weekends were for trips to dad's and during football season that of course meant listening live on the radio during a drive in the country, watching tape delayed broadcasts on PBS or catching the less-standard live TV games because those were the options in the early days.
Before I could even remember outings with my dad, photos prove I was being raised correctly. I was sporting Archie's 45 on a jersey at age three and my first cap was apparently Woody's signature Block O. My dad wore that same style hat almost daily.
He didn't just make me wear Woody's cap, he taught me about Woody. And not only the football part. He taught me OSU football history, particularly Woody's era, but he also had me reading Woody's book, You Win With People!, at an early age and he made sure I was educated on Woody's military career.
My first very clear memory of watching a game with my dad, as I wrote about back in 2014, dates back 42 years now.
My first vivid game memory however was the 1981 edition of The Game, specifically Art Schlichter's 8-yard touchdown run with just a few minutes left to seal a 14-9 win. I remember watching the game while sprawled out in front of the coffee table because there were no other seats to be had.
My dad, uncle and the usual crew had packed the place and when Schlichter rolled right and got that sweet block from Vaughn Broadnax, springing him into the end zone before he was blasted into a mountain of swept snow, the place erupted with that special joy only a win over Michigan invokes.
The pride I feel in being my dad's son and my gratitude for all he taught me, including all those lessons on Ohio State football helped shape who I am today despite his premature departure from this world. (And make no mistake, I'm just as grateful for my step-dad who continues to raise me as his own.)
Now, with young kids of my own (daughter age 6 and son age 4), I'm inching closer to those formative years when I really must lean into educating them on all what it means to be a Buckeye fan and on all those significant events in the program's history.
For now, I've got them loaded down with gear with 11W-inspired merch, jerseys, mini-footballs and the like. They also take trips with my wife to ship 11W Drygoods, allowing them get some level of education on the depth of fans supporting Ohio State.
I've tried hard to get them to understand how the Michigan game is different - watching that one with a different level of angst and excitement, listening to the band on vinyl beforehand, making Buckeyes and such.
I'm most excited about them continuing to get older so I can conduct my own history lessons in the spirit of my dad's efforts, motivate them to read 11W as part of their daily routine and listen to the Eleven Warriors Radio Hour every Tuesday, while taking them on campus for games and other events, to hopefully build an connection to OSU that mirrors my own. We'll see how I fare at those things as time goes on.
Now it's your turn.
What role did your father play in your connection to Ohio State? And what role did you / are you playing to nudge your kids into the OSU fandom stratosphere you occupy today?
