An Acronym to Live By – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/14/1998 12:00:00 AM | Football
September 14, 1998
COLUMBUS, Ohio – By Dan Jones, OSU Athletic Communications
This is not a story about football.
There are no tales here of bone crushing hits or shoestring tackles. You won’t find out what Ohio State’s record is in home openers, nor will you read about Heisman Trophy candidates.
This is a story about being a parent. A story about one mom and dad’s solution to raising good children in an often not-so-good world. Eventually, this is a story of success.
This is the story of the Rudzinski’s – Jim, Jackie, and their three children – Jason, Jenny, and Jerry. Jerry Rudzinski, number 35, starting linebacker.
Take a long look at Jerry Rudzinski. Blond hair, blue eyes. A poised, polished speaker. Polite and confident. Constantly involved in community service. Always has time for an autograph. Tears through the classroom like he does opposing runners. A safe bet to become an Academic All-American this year. An Ohio boy that always dreamed of playing for the Buckeyes. Is this guy for real? Is this a Normal Rockwell painting or a starting outside linebacker for the best team in the nation?
The answer may be somewhere in the middle. Jerry Rudzinski is the starting outside linebacker at OSU for the second straight year, and at the same time is the ultimate cover boy for Ohio State football – a homegrown product that seems to excel in everything he undertakes. Ask him for the source of this kind of all-around goodness, and he’s quick to point fingers.
“My relationship with my parents is special,” Rudzinski said. “I think their unconditional love for me has created that. They’ve always been there, no matter what. They just raised me with stress on the basics of life.”
Ask Jim Rudzinski about raising children, or ask Jerry what Jim’s philosophy on raising his kids was, and you’ll get the same answer: KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid. An acronym to live by. Jim and Jackie Rudzinski made it a point not to complicate things when it came to raising their kids – stress the family unit, the difference between right and wrong, God and hard work.
“I just think life is better when you simplify things and don’t try to do one million things at once,” Jim said. “Just stick to the basics.”
The credo has stuck with Jerry, and seems to mirror his game. He’s not flashy, but rarely makes mistakes. He sticks to the football fundamentals – the basics. The KISS theory wasn’t the only philosophy the Rudzinski parents implemented in raising their three children, however.
From the time Jerry started playing football, his parents have been there. Practices, scrimmages, banquets, games – without fail, Jim and Jackie Rudzinski were in attendance. Jim even took on the dual role of father and coach during Jerry’s junior high days. Even at that young age, Jim describes his son as a smart player who understood the game extremely well. He tells stories of Jerry physically moving other teammates prior to the snap if they were out of position. “It was like having a coach on the field,” he joked.
“We’ve always been involved with our kids,” Jim said. “We go to their events. We have great quality time. We have a great friendship with them. There has never been a barrier as far as communication is concerned.”
A friendship with your children. It’s a refreshing way of looking at things, and something that the Rudzinski’s have always emphasized. In fact, if you ask Jerry what the one thing is that makes the relationship with his parents unique, his answer proves that the philosophy works.
“My relationship with my parents is special because I can be the same person around them that I am around my friends. They respect me and let me act like a 23-year old. It’s not like I have two different personalities around them and my friends.”
“If you pay attention to your kids and you’re talking to them and you’re involved, they’re going to do well,” Jackie Rudzinski said. Jerry describes his mom as the consummate supporter. After a bad game, she was there to cheer him up. When feet and legs got sore, she was there with the bag of ice. Jim, a former football player at the University of Dayton, knew the intricacies of the game and technique that was useful on the field. When no one was looking, Jackie made sure things were going smoothly off the field.
Each of the Rudzinski children – Jason is the oldest of the three and works in Columbus, Jenny is the youngest and is a sophomore at OSU – were given lots of individual attention growing up, according to Jackie. Jason and Jerry continually competed with each other, a trait their mother says has driven them both to be successful today. “They could have been playing Scrabble. It didn’t matter. They both wanted to win like crazy.”
The best part about the commitment the Rudzinski parents made to watching their children perform? It’s still happening. They still are always there. They routinely make the drive from Kettering, Ohio to Columbus for practices, scrimmages – anything that they can be a part of. And Jerry seems to thrive on their presence alone. He admits that seeing them on the sidelines of a routine practice seems to flip a switch inside of him, turning up his energy and enthusiasm levels.
“I’ve played in front of huge crowds in elaborate stadiums,” he said. “But if I were to play in front of thousands of people without my parents, I wouldn’t be as excited as if I were to play in front of my mom and dad alone.”
It’s the Rudzinski road map to successful parenting – stress the basics, communicate as much as possible, and always, no matter how far it is or how tired you are or what you have to sacrifice, always be there. The end result – a child that grows up and still wants you in their life. “He calls us every other night, just to say hi,” Jim said.
“I know a lot of people that are in their fifth year of college and really only talk to their parents on holidays,” Jerry said. “I just can’t see that. I talk to my parents almost daily.”
His solid academic foundation was also laid early on in his life. “Academics were always stressed in our house, but there was never too much pressure. My parents (who both received degrees from Dayton) were both good students from families that stressed academics.”
Jim Rudzinski says he remembers waking up at 2 a.m. and seeing Jerry pounding away at the books – even after hours of high school football practice. “I would just shake my head,” he said. “He’s always had a strong work ethic.” But one specific incident stands out in Jim’s mind that really caused his son to grasp the student side of student-athlete.
On a recruiting visit in late 1993, Rudzinski was touring the Woody Hayes Athletic Center as the current Buckeyes were preparing for their trip to the Holiday Bowl. Watching practice from the sidelines, Rudzinski saw Dave Monnot, a two-year starter at offensive guard, break his leg. After 11 long regular season games, Monnot would not be playing in the bowl finale because of an injury. In an instant of pain, his football career was over. “As soon as he saw that, Jerry said that he was going to work as hard as he could on football, but he knew that once that chapter closed, the business world chapter would open,” Jim said.
At the team’s media day in mid-August of this year, Rudzinski’s All-American like stature was shining through. One of the last players to leave the stadium and the hoards of autograph seekers (surprise, surprise), he mentioned to his parents (who were both in attendance – another shocker) that next year, no one would be asking for his autograph. He wondered if anyone would even recognize him. In an athletics world where egos sometimes leave sour tastes in our mouths, Rudzinski’s approach to it all is refreshing. Appreciate every ounce of being an Ohio State football player. Stick to the basics. Keep It Simple Stupid.
“Even now as a senior, I find myself stepping back and kind of soaking up what’s happening. Andy Katzenmoyer, David Boston, Antoine Winfield – I’ll step back and look at these guys and say ‘wow, I can’t believe I’m playing with them. They’re the best in the country and here I am playing with them.’ “
Are you kidding me? Did a big-time collegiate athlete on the best team in the country really just say something that down-to-earth? You bet he did. And if you’re looking for the source of this kind of modesty, look no further than Jim and Jackie Rudzinski.
“If all this was over tomorrow,” Jackie said, “he’d still be great to us. It’s an unconditional love.”
This is not a story about football.
