My father (95 years old) died last week (8/22). His funeral with military honors was held this past Monday (8/29). Like many other, my Dad (OSU '51) is the reason I'm a Buckeye fan.
Dad attended his first football game in 1934. My Grandpa took him to see the Buckeyes play the Chicago Maroons who were Big Ten conference members at that time. OSU won 33-0. (Jay Berwanger played for Chicago). Dad went on to witness in person just over 300 games in his lifetime.
On January 30, 1960, Dad took me to my first college sporting event. It was a basketball game in St. John Arena between OSU v. MSU. If my 7 year old memory serves me correctly, I believe we sat in the bleacher section across the floor opposite the Buckeye bench. The future NCAA champs (Lucas, Havlicek, Roberts, Siegfried, Nowell, et. al.) romped by a score of 111-79! Later that same year in the fall, I saw my first football game (Oct. 22) in the Horseshoe against Wisconsin.We at in C deck. The OSUMB was very impressive to this now 8 year old son. Bob Ferguson (#46) scored 2 TDs leading the Buckeyes to a 34-7 victory over the Badgers. I was hooked for life.
We attended so many over the years that the games have become a blur to me. In the early days, driving the car down from NW Ohio to Columbus with the band music playing loudly, the conversations centered on the pre-game anticipation and getting pumped up for the game. Returning home we continued to talk about the game, celebrating the victory or discussing the defeat, criticizing the coaches, other football scores around the nation, next week’s game, etc. In the late 90's, as Dad began to attend fewer & fewer games, I observed that our “in-car” conversations also changed. They were less about football and more about real life. Oh we still talked about some football, but our talks were about family, faith, God and life in general. At that time I remember telling my share group friends, that going to the Buckeye games with my Dad was no longer about football; the highlights of game days were about being and talking with my Dad, one-to-one, in the car on the way down and back.
As I attend games now with my adult son, game days in the stadium often bring my Dad to mind. On field tributes to past athletes, salutes to military by the band, patriotic songs and Carmen Ohio at times make my eyes well up thinking of Dad. I have a feeling that this season, a few more tears will be shed.
