My personal experiences with Coach Tressel were nothing short of awesome. Through my older cousin Tyler Whaley, who played for the Buckeyes for 5 seasons and graduated in 2008, I was able to attend 2007 Media Day at the Horseshoe. This day is for sure one of the most memorable days of my life. I was able to run out of the tunnel, play touch football inside the 20 yard line in front of the south stands with my little cousin Isaac, and meet some of the Buckeyes. As we were playing football, I looked to my left to see a man walking right towards me, hunkered down, with his arms in position to receive the handoff from me, and it was Coach Jim Tressel. My 11 year old self froze in amazement and then handed the ball off to him. He took the hand off and jogged away about 10 yards before finally turning around to throw the ball back to me with a smile. I was completely stunned. THAT JUST HAPPENED. THAT WAS JIM TRESSEL. I'll never forget it.
Later on that same day, my little cousin Isaac, who was about 5 or 6 years old at the time, got his picture taken with Coach Tressel. After the picture was taken, Isaac looked up at Tressel and handed him a picture of James Laurinaitis that he printed off at home before we headed to Columbus that day. He said "Can you give this to Laurinaitis to have him sign it and then give it to Tyler (our Buckeye cousin) so he can give it back to me?". Coach Tressel jogged away and then sure enough at the end of media day, Tyler came to Isaac with the picture and it was signed by Laurinaitis. Coach Tressel fulfilled the wishes of a kindergartener and it completely made his day.
I'll forever be grateful to Coach Tressel for all of the joy that he helped bring my family. He gave my cousin Tyler Whaley a chance. A guy that walked on in 2003 and was just playing scout team, who then worked his way up to a full scholarship before his junior season, and was then named Most Inspirational Player the following year. Thats the kind of man Tressel was, and still is. He never gave up on his players and helped shaped them into fantastic men. Thanks for everything Tress! Go Bucks!