add Ohio Stadium Moments Thursday – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
*Your Ohio Stadium moment:
My first Football game as an Alumnus was the 2003 game vs. North Carolina State. I went with my father and watched from the north end of the stadium in hot sunny conditions for over 4 hours. I got sunburned and (was) treated to the most fantastic triple overtime victory the Buckeyes have ever played. We definitely got our money’s worth that day.
B. Hayes
Johnstown
*Your Ohio Stadium moment:
My friend Natalie scheduled her bachelorette party on the same day as the Michigan game in 2006. My roommate Danielle (who had a ticket to the game) had to attend because she was a bridesmaid. She sold me her ticket, and the price I paid for it was nothing compared to what I experienced that day. I have been to many games at The Shoe, but there was something in the air that day that I simply cannot put into words. The crowd was deafening even before TBDBITL’s ramp entrance, and when Chris Wells broke free for a 50-yard TD…you couldn’t even hear the person next to you. Running onto the field with my friend Emily when the game was over was an experience that I will NEVER, EVER forget!!! GO BUCKS!!!
Juan Abel
Columbus
*Your Ohio Stadium moment:
I was a Boy Scout usher during the ’68-’70 seasons when OSU fielded maybe the most awesome collegiate teams ever with players such as Tatum, Mayes, Foley, Otis, Stillwagon, Provost, Zelina, Sensibaugh, Debevec, Kern, Brockington and many others. The weather always seemed to be rainy and cold, but being able to see my beloved Buckeyes more than made up for having to arrive hours before the game and standing in my red parka, often near the top of the stadium, through the wind and rain. Seeing Woody and his boys take the field, plus downing a few hot dogs and hot chocolates, was all it took to keep me warm in the big Horseshoe. The highlight for me was witnessing the 50-14 whupping the Bucks put on that team from up North in 1968.
Scott E. Lawrence, MHA, ’81
Plano, Texas
*Your Ohio Stadium moment:
I grew up in Columbus and when I was very young, about 5 years old, my grandfather took me to an Ohio State football game. We were playing Iowa and Vic Janowitz was our star ball carrier. After we were ahead by many points, Vic was taken out of the game. Later he was put back in and immediately scored a touchdown. Then he came out again. This repeated a number of times and we won by a large score, something like 82 to 21. It was the first of very many games I have really enjoyed in person at Ohio Stadium.
Mary Lou Warren Hrvatin
Schaumburg, Illinois
*Your Ohio Stadium moment:
My most thrilling Ohio Stadium moment? For me, it has to be 2006 when #2 Michigan came to the Shoe. It was late in the third quarter, the sun had long since gone down and we were playing Michigan under the lights for the first time I could remember. We had the lead, but Michigan had the momentum and trailed only by four points. It was a dismal third quarter, the OSU offense committing two turnovers. And then Antonio Pittman got a carry up the middle, steamrolled through the line and by the time he hit the second level, it was too late he was gone. He was at the 35 yard-line and the closest wolverine was 10 yards behind. I remember him heading for the end-zone, all alone, under the lights, the entire stadium around him, caught in a deafening rapture that only the Shoe could give. Half way through the run, I reached for my buddies, started jumping around. And Antonio ran by us in slow motion, his fluid strides carrying the grace of a perfect season all the way to the endzone. The Shoe, dimly lit, was never so alive. I’ve since watched the replay of that run again and again. And although I still get goose bumps when I see the replay, nothing compares to the way I remember it. Nothing compares to having witnessed that run eleven rows from the field on that chilly November evening.
Mark J
Columbus
*Your Ohio Stadium moment:
1970 Michigan. The Buckeyes were driving, and something happened that I don’t believe happenned before, and hasn’t happened since. We were ahead 13-9. Time out. The normal Block O to freshman South stands OH – IO cheer was performed. Usually 3 times, then a big cheer. However, this time, Block O said OH a 5th time, then a 6th, and a 7th. The ENTIRE stadium, 88,000 strong, were ALL saying both OH and IO. As the teams walked back onto the field, I watched as several of UM’s players looked up into the stands, bewildered by the noise and enthusiasm. It was then that they were beaten. Leo Hayden scored, and it was a sweet 20-9 victory. G BUCKS!
Jeff Essak
Columbus
*Your Ohio Stadium moment:
The greatest memory I have in Ohio Stadium has to be the Illinois game in 1995 when Eddie George rushed for 314 yards. We were sitting nearly at the top of c deck on the east side of the stadium, and as night fell, the snow and sleet pelted us with such intensity it was almost cutting our faces. And all the while Eddie was making big run after big run. Finally, after the game when Eddie stood at the 50 yard line waving a towel over his head, with chants of Eddie, Eddie echoing through the stadium, everyone knew he had just won the Heisman.
Kerry Morrison
Columbus
*Your Ohio Stadium moment:
I have been to at least twice as many games as my 48 years. The last 15 years as an Usher. Before the track was removed my job was security near the flagpole and ramp. Between Block “O”, the visiting fans and the pageantry one day in 1994 a small squirrel was cheered down the field toward us. The fans’ cheers confused the huddling players waiting for the 3rd quarter to end. I went over to the end zone and sat down to try to catch the terrified rodent. My colleagues shook their heads in disbelief. With the help of some Cheetos I lured him close enough to grab. Fan reaction was split. Half cheered my unlikely grab the other moaned as their entertainment was ejected, gently, from the stadium.
Sean Finneran
Columbus
*Your Ohio Stadium moment:
I grew up in west-central Ohio listening to the “Pride of the Buckeyes” and to the football games on the radio with my mother, who was a “huge” fan of Ohio State football and The Marching Band. In the 1950s whenever she and my father were able to get last minute tickets from friends they would drive to Columbus and always stay after the game to see the band’s postgame show. Then when she got home, she would excitedly report back to me as to how great the band performance was; she inspired me. So several years later in the fall of 1965, my first year in The Marching Band, as a member of F-Row, I was about to make my first pre-game ramp entrance. I remember the thrill that surged through my body when they yelled, “the drummers are out” – that meant that the Horns – meaning me – were next. I nearly broke into tears – there I was about to make my first “ramp entrance” onto the field, that emerald patch of earth nearest to heaven, known as the Shoe, or the house that Woody built and that Coach Tressel finished. As I worked my way towards the light at the end of the tunnel, and broke onto the red track that surrounded the field, the roar of the crowd was so deafening, it literally sucked the air out of my chest. For a second I was dazed by the moment, then I was next to make the flourish turn towards the sideline and finish the block band formation. By the time I completed playing the introduction to “Fight the Team” I was already out of breath, but somehow I floated down the field to play the Star Spangle Banner. It was such an exciting moment that as a member of TBDBITL, I return each year to “do it one more time” on Alumni Band Day. But that first time gave me such a “rush” that I can still feel it today every time I drive past the Shoe. It’s great to be an alumnus of The Ohio State University and a life-long Buckeye!
Timothy J. Boone
Bexley, Ohio
*Your Ohio Stadium moment:
I am surprised no one has mentioned PURDUE 1968, possibly the most important & exciting game I have seen in Ohio Stadium. And THE most important victory period from that season up until the Buckeyes won the national title vs. Miami in 2003 Fiesta Bowl. —- It was Zero to Zero at halftime vs the # 1 ranked Boilermakers, Teddy Provost intercepted a pass in 3rd quarter for a TD, Buckeyes win 13 to 0. Columbus was DELIRIOUS. —–Buckeyes went on to beat S. California & OJ Simpson in the Rose Bowl to claim # 1 that season, a claim they didn’t make again until January 2003.
Bob Preusse
Cleveland
*Your Ohio Stadium moment:
In the fall of 2001, my colleague Micheal Kuznetsov and his wife Nina and daughter Sveta from Nizhny Novgorod (formerly Gorky), Russia, visited the math department. Since (as Nina later observed) they have nothing like OSU football in Russia, I went to Schottenstein Center to see if I could get tickets to a game. It turned out that there were tickets available in the first row of section AA for the San Diego State game on October 20. Dede, my wife, was wearing OSU scarlet, but Nina came in a bright green sweater, and the two of them were pictured on the stadium video screen for a few moments.
Tom Gregory
Mansfield, Ohio
*Your Ohio Stadium moment:
Let me first say that there have been many great moments in Ohio Stadium that I have had the privilege of experiencing; from being in school when Archie played to watching the band rollout Script Ohio every time I get back to the stadium. However, without question, my most memorable moment came on my birthday in 1977. It was my last fall as a full-time student and I had a great seat in A deck somewhere close to the 40-yard line. OSU was playing Oklahoma, Woody vs. Barry (Switzer), and the Buckeyes staged one of the most hard fought, smash mouth comebacks I have ever seen only to lose in the final seconds by two points after an Oklahoma field goal. Needless to say the crowd was stunned but that wasn’t what made the moment. What made the moment was that almost to a person, everyone in that stadium knew they had just witnessed one of the greatest football games ever played. No one left the stadium for at least 10 minutes after the game. There was actually applause, not cheering or frustrated screaming, but applause, from a truly impressed and appreciative crowd. This game is still shown on ESPN Classic from time to time and if you have never watched it, you should. Despite OSU’s loss, it was certainly one for the ages and a moment I will never forget.
Dean Pedon
Stamford, Connecticut
*Your Ohio Stadium moment:
My first game at Ohio Stadium was in ’57 when Don Meredith almost led SMU to an upset of the Buckeyes. As a student (and Stadium Dorm resident) from ’65-’69, however, I remember going out onto the field New Years’ Eve 1968 in a snowstorm and playing touch football with a couple of friends. No one in the security department was the wiser, and we all celebrated even more when the Buckeyes beat USC the next day in the Rose Bowl.
George DeHaas
Manlius, New York
*Your Ohio Stadium moment:
Notre Dame in 95, U of M in 02…Since I had season tickets from ’91-’03 and have attended many games since then, I have so many fond memories in my favorite place on campus. The thrill of being there at the games is something I look forward to each fall. Because of my love for the Shoe & the Buckeyes, the love of my life brought me there one cold December day in 2001. As we talked about the memories I had there, he said he wanted to add one more special memory for me in the Shoe – he proposed! Now we have an extra special story to tell our twin future Buckeyes!
Laura Johnson
Pickerington, Ohio
*Your Ohio Stadium moment:
I was born and raised in Columbus. As a grade schooler, I played football on Ohio Field in pre-game activity. As a Boy Scout, I ushered during the 1930’s when the stadium would be half-filled with spectators. As a student, I attended all home games. As a graduate and resident of Upper Arlington, I attended all home games. The most memorable was the Blizzard Bowl against Michigan. I could park the car next to the stadium and sat on the fifty-yard line. It was a kicking game from start to finish, with the winner going to the Rose Bowl. Michigan won that time. No one who was there would ever forget that game.
Charles Boardman
Cocoa Beach, Florida
*Your Ohio Stadium moment:
In the late ’30s, OSU had “high school day”, when students got special privileges. My first game was a cold, wet day in 1939, I believe, and OSU was playing Northwestern, perfect football weather. There were a lot of empty seats then. The most memorable, was the “blizzard bowl” in 1950, Buckeyes vs. Wolverines! Snow was coming down so thick, the field was hardly visible. They had tried to cover the field with a tarp before (game)time but they couldn’t get all of it removed. The players slipped and slid helplessly. All-American Vic Janowicz was the QB. All they could do was try to kick field goals. The Wolverines blocked a punt and recovered in the end zone for the only touchdown, a tragic loss for OSU. Coach (Wesley) Fesler resigned after the game. It was so cold, my roommate and I left in the middle of the 3rd quarter. Cars were stranded all over the parking lot. Classes were cancelled the next week.
Dr Joseph Ralston
Wichita, Kansas
*Your Ohio Stadium moment:
In the fall of 1946, my friend and I finally arrived at Baker Hall, to sign in as freshmen. After registering, taking belongings to our room, and saying goodbye to my dad, who had delivered us, we headed to the stadium to get our tickets. So began four years of Saturday memories. The one that stays with me is that moment when the drum major appeared at the closed end and you knew the band was about to appear. The roar of the crowd began to grow as the percussion began their drumbeat and we heard “The Buckeye Battle Cry”. Wow. And the game hadn’t even started.
Shirley Green
Painesville, Ohio
*Your Ohio Stadium moment:
It was 1968 and my family had just been relocated to Columbus, Ohio after my father returned from tours in Vietnam. I was 10 years old and had never heard of the Buckeyes (an oversight I have corrected with my own children). Woody Hayes was a big supporter of our military men and hooked my father up with four tickets to the Buckeyes game against the then number one ranked Purdue. The Buckeyes with guys like Kern, Mayes, White, Brockington, Tatum, Stillwagon and my favorite Jim Otis on the field prevailed 13-0. I became a Buckeye on that day as did my brother, sister and father as all of us received our degrees from OSU. Thank you Woody.
Tim Keenan
Oak Hill, Virginia
*Your Ohio Stadium moment:My favorite moment in Ohio Stadium had to be in January 2003, below zero temperatures, celebrating the National Championship win over U. of Miami! With all the celebration and speeches that day, nothing topped Cie Grant singing Carmen Ohio with his teammates surrounding him. I think of that day every time I’m in the stadium.
Connie Kuns
Gahanna, Ohio
*Your Ohio Stadium moment:
When TBDBITL played my original composition, Serenade to a Sand Dune,” at halftime in the OSU game against Illinois (1955), Woody Hayes was outraged. His team couldn’t run out on the field for the second half because the fans were screaming, “play it again” over and over. Here is the report by Les Ealy published in the COLUMBUS DISPATCH: “Ohio State’s comeback team walloped Illinois 27-12, but a special number by OSU’s fancy-stepping band drew the most sustained ovation ever in Ohio Stadium. Performing a mambo-samba dance routine, they received the greatest ovation ever, according to Director Jack Evans. The crowd applauded and applauded. He never dreamed it would be received so enthusiastically.” This memory and others are captured in daughter Jennifer’s award-winning documentary, “Abel Raises Cain,” that won the First Grand Prize at the Slamdance Film Festival.
Alan Abel
Westport, Connecticut
*Your Ohio Stadium moment:
I remember some of the other posted moments, like the squirrel running up and down the field in 1986, and the 1985 game against #1 ranked Iowa in the cold pouring rain mentioned above. But the greatest moment in Ohio Stadium came for me in 1984. I was a freshman, and it was my first michigan game. I have always said that atttending a game in The Shoe is a religious experience~ imagine sitting in Block O, the band hits the last note of the national anthem, the crowd begins to roar with excitement and anticipation, and out of nowhere the air force comes roaring over, louder than the crowd, heading from the open end, up and over the closed. ~ The noise was deafening, but I’ll always remember hearing my heart beating above it all that day! By the way we BEAT MICHIGAN and earned a trip to the Rose Bowl that day! Go Bucks!
Vicki Volkert Gatchell
Spencerville, Indiana
