A Man with Many Talents – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/15/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 15, 2001
%^$by Katharine Palmer%^$
%^$When watching an Ohio State men’s basketball game, it is possible to term a nifty pass, a smooth long-range shot or a perfectly executed play as art. Junior Ryan Heflin’s artistic abilities are visible when the Buckeyes take the court at Value City Arena or wherever the Buckeyes happen to be playing. You just have to know what to look for.%^$
%^$Heflin, a Cincinnati native, regularly cuts the hair of his teammates before games both at home and on the road. It is just one of many artistic talents “Nelly,” as he is known by his teammates and coaches, possesses.%^$
%^$Music, drawing and basketball are just a few of the other talents this 5-foot, 10-inch guard from Meadowdale High School practices.%^$
%^$Heflin earned his way on the men’s basketball team through hard work and a determination to succeed, a pattern he followed throughout high school. His efforts in the classroom earned him an academic scholarship to The Ohio State University. Once on campus, he decided to pursue basketball. His four years as a starter at Meadowdale gave him the background and skills necessary to gain the attention of the OSU coaching staff during 2000 fall camp.%^$
%^$”I got a scholarship and money for my academics to come to Ohio State,” Heflin said. “I decided to come here and try to walk on (to the basketball team), and if I made it, I made it. I really enjoy basketball. It is something I have enjoyed since I was little. It’s a blessing just to be in this position here at Ohio State. A lot of people don’t get to have this experience.”%^$
%^$Ryan’s mother, Sheila Helfin, knew Ryan always wanted to be a Buckeye and earn his degree from Ohio State. Now that that’s a reality, playing basketball now makes the blessing even more special.%^$
%^$”We really support Ryan,” Sheila Heflin, said. “He loves the game and we are happy to be able to see him play for Ohio State. It’s exciting to be able to watch him out there.”%^$
%^$Just like a little kid at Christmas, Heflin will never forget the first time he set foot on the court in front of 19,000 fans in Value City Arena.%^$
%^$”I don’t even know how to explain it,” he said. “I wasn’t really as nervous as I was anxious. I have never played in front of that many people before in my life. It was all new to me. I wasn’t used to being in a big organization like this (Ohio State) and being around so many people.”%^$
%^$With a season under his belt, Heflin is more accustomed and familiar with how things operate on the court. Heflin continued to polish his game by playing with the Buckeyes overseas this summer in Europe.%^$
%^$”It was something I have never experienced before in my life,” Heflin said. “I got to see a lot of different things that I have heard about, like things from 1,000 years ago. It was pretty nice.”%^$
%^$Off the court, Heflin enjoys a number of hobbies, which include playing the drums. He played in the concert and marching bands for Dayton Meadowdale where he was at the head of his section as the percussion first chair. Now he just enjoys banging on the “tubs” in his spare time.%^$
%^$”I have been playing the drums since the third grade and I have a drum set back at home,” Heflin said. “We played concerts and competitions, but now I just go home and play on my drum set. High school was the last time I played in an organized band. Now it’s just something I like doing in my free time.”%^$
%^$Heflin’s off-the-court hobbies don’t stop there. Heflin also enjoys drawing and sketching whenever he gets the chance.%^$
%^$”When I was young I was into drawing and other artwork besides playing basketball,” he said. “I do different types of drawings like cartoons, depending on how I feel. Sometimes I like to draw sports figures. I have a sketchbook at home that I keep with things that I have drawn over the years. When my dad was younger, he was an artist so we have a lot of things in my house that he painted. He even received awards for some of his painting.”%^$
%^$Sheila Heflin knows Ryan’s talents were never limited to just basketball either.%^$
%^$”He is a great artist and he is gifted both musically and artistically,” Shelia Heflin said. “He was a nice, pleasant child with a good personality and he still loves to draw and play when he can.” The Buckeyes have given Heflin a nickname that sticks, even though it has nothing to do with his artistic, or music abilities. Teammates and coaches call him “Nelly” because he resembles a smaller version of Nelly, the rapper. It doesn’t matter if they’re in the locker room, at practice or even during a game, when Heflin is out on the floor you’ll hear his teammates and coaches shout, “shoot it, Nelly.”%^$
%^$”In practice, everybody calls me Nelly. No one calls me by my real name,” Heflin said. “Even Coach (Jim) O’Brien calls me Nelly.”%^$
%^$Besides showing off his talents as a musician and an artist, Heflin enjoys another title: team barber. Before every game and even on road trips, Heflin gives the guys on the team a fresh trim when needed.%^$
%^$”I’ve been cutting hair for about three years now,” Heflin said. “It started out to be just for the fun of it, but now it’s my little side job. I cut hair on road trips and before each game. It’s still fun and that’s why I enjoy doing it for the guys.”%^$
%^$Teammate Boban Savovic pointed out that the Heflin’s latest barber services have been performed on freshman forward Matt Sylvester.%^$
%^$”He just cut Matt’s hair the other day,” Savovic said. “I thought he was going to cut it all off. It looks pretty good though.”%^$
%^$After his playing days at Ohio State come to an end, Heflin would like to continue to be involved with basketball, perhaps as a coach while taking on a teaching role in an elementary school.%^$
%^$”I’m thinking about coaching down the road, maybe in high school as a varsity coach,” Heflin said. “I can use a lot of stuff that I have learned here (at Ohio State) and take it down to the next level to help kids. I think I can motivate kids because I have been through a lot of things in my life and I had people there to help me. I want to use some of that to help other people.”%^$
