Frank from Toledo struck again Saturday.
With minutes remaining in Ohio State's 31-20 win over Michigan in Ann Arbor, Frank, along with several of his best Buckeye friends, unfurled a banner that read:
COACH HARBAUGH FOREVER
URBAN 6–0
JIMMY 0–3
It's was the fifth time Frank and his group have had the opportunity to celebrate in Michigan Stadium since 2007 when they started their tradition of displaying incredible banners in the Big House stands.
We spoke to Frank – who'd rather not share his last name – two years ago and he shared his background:
"I was born in University Hospital on Archie Griffin's third birthday," he says, then divulging into a tradition struck deep within his family's loins. "While my dad was in attendance at The Ohio State University, my grandfather started our family tradition in the 1920s. He was a football trainer, equipment manager and then my dad was an equipment manager in the '50s."
This Buckeye was born in Columbus, but raised in Northwest Ohio where the hate for the University of Michigan football team runs deep — "we are ground zero" — in a city comprised of a wide range of football allegiances.
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His first sign was conceived in 2007 in Ann Arbor, in a similar way as his most recent. Then-Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr had lost three straight to Ohio State and Jim Tressel, and whispers about his imminent firing upon completion of his 13th season were everywhere.
"I thought this could be kind of fun to throw up a banner, because I knew we were sitting right at the tunnel, right at the 50-yard line," Frank said. "This is going to be funny, if we wind up on top, this is going to be really funny to say 'SO LONG COACH CARR, WE'LL MISS YOU!'"
His banners through the years have been nothing short of legendary, starting with the first one honoring Carr in 2007 for a game Ohio State would win 14-3:
Two years later, he was there for Rich Rodriguez as Jim Tressel rolled to a 21-10 Ohio State win in the Big House:
Frank and his crew were there in 2013 to wish show Brady Hoke some love in a game Hoke would lose to Urban Meyer, 42-41:
And of course in 2015 to welcome Jim Harbaugh home for a game Ohio State would go on to win 42-13:
What can we say, Frank. We salute you.
