This was inspired by Remy's countdown. 

Yesterday, Vico authored an article that mentioned Art Schlichter's replacement of Rod Gerald as the starting Quarterback for The Buckeyes.  While many remember the peaks of Gerald's playing career, it was his decent into the valleys and pitfalls of life, after football where this story begins.

Rod Gerald began a promising football career at Ohio State 11 years ago. But by midseason 1977, cocaine had shattered his life. And he is still trying to pick up the pieces.

Gerald, 30, told the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch in a recent interview that he decided to share his experience because he wants to help athletes at OSU and other universities avoid the same pitfalls.

"It started with the first snort, and ended with me losing everything," said the former quarterback, who played for the Buckeyes from 1975-78.

He said his drug problems began during his junior year, when a Columbus man first supplied him with cocaine.

"As soon as I could get it, I was doing it . . . three, four, five and six times an hour," Gerald said. "I didn't have to pay for it. All it took was a phone call."

Gerald, a business law major, now struggles as a hardware store clerk in his hometown of Dallas, where he is trying to stay off drugs for good.

The purpose of this post is not to elaborate more on Mr. Gerald, however, but rather on his son Casey.

Casey Gerald, after all the hardships he faced throughout his life spent dealing with his mother and father's downward spiral into drug abuse, was able to overcome all the adversity:

Yet there is no Rhodes story more touching, more poignant than Gerald's. He may be the biological son of the 1977 Orange Bowl MVP, but in a very real sense he is the offspring of America's greatness. He is from the tough end of Dallas. His grandmothers helped raise him after his father and mother dissolved into drug abuse. You may remember Rod Gerald as the star at Ohio State, but Casey can tell stories about seeing a crack pipe setting his dad's shirt on fire and that Orange Bowl MVP heading for jail. Rod was gone in the fifth grade. His mom, Debra, was gone by the eighth.

 

 

The '77 Orange Bowl MVP, Gerald, wore jersey number 8 during his playing career, as QB/WR at Ohio State.  Today is 8 days from the kickoff to the 2014 season...

Adversity, will help to galvanize this team.