Detroit billboard celebrates Buckeye dominance

ESPN.com ^ | 14 May 2009 | Adam Rittenberg

[Hot Tabasco]

For his whole life, to be “remembered” by those who never knew him and the way he treated people other than that 30 seconds i the 78 Gator Bowl is a shame

I know, some folks said the same thing about Ted Bundy......

[buckalfa]

Stuck in the Stadium Dorm for four years. Grundgy but the price was right - free room and board for 16 hours a week coop work. Plus you got to see TBDBITL practice every evening the parking lot.

[tang-soo]

Plus you got to see TBDBITL practice every evening the parking lot.

If you were watching from 1976-80, the you saw me. About 10 years ago they built a new practice field that sits behind the two towers just south of the stadium. This fall with be my son's fifth year as a bass trombone player in TBDBITL. My goal is two march in the alumni game at least 2 more years before my knees give it up. That way I'll be with him for 1 alumni show. Thanks for the memories.

[tang-soo]

I’ve hung around FR for about 10 years and in all that time I’ve restrained from lashing back at those that make idiotic remarks. It gets hard at times. That’s a pretty pathetic and stupid remark.

[tang-soo]

Sounds like a typical bully and thug.

Yeah, let's point out some of those horrible things the article says about Woody ...

Hayes enlisted in the United States Navy in July 1941, eventually rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander during World War II. He commanded the PC 1251 in the Palau Islands invasion and the destroyer-escort USS Rinehart in both the Atlantic and Pacific operations.

Three-time winner of The College Football Coach of the Year Award, now known as the Paul "Bear" Bryant Award,

Hayes was "the subject of more varied and colorful anecdotal material than any other coach past or present, including fabled Knute Rockne," according to biographer Jerry Brondfield.

Despite this seeming willingness to avoid change, Hayes became one of the first major college head coaches to recruit African-American players, including Jim Parker, who played both offensive and defensive tackle on Hayes' first national championship team in 1954. While Hayes wasn't the first to recruit African-Americans at Ohio State, he was the first to recruit and start African-Americans in large numbers there and to hire African-American assistant coaches.

Hayes also taught mandatory English and vocabulary classes to his freshman football players.

During his time at Ohio State, Hayes' relationships with faculty members were particularly good. Even those members of the faculty who believed that the role of intercollegiate athletics was growing out of control respected Hayes personally for his commitment to academics, the standards of integrity with which he ran his program, and the genuine enthusiasm he brought to his hobby as an amateur historian.

When talking to young people, Hayes treated all of them equally and with respect, without regard to race or economic class. This behavior by Hayes was helpful to Ohio State in quelling the violence and damage from anti-war demonstrations that Ohio State and other college campuses suffered in the late 1960s/early 1970s. He would actually take the time to communicate with student leaders. Then-team quarterback Rex Kern said: "Woody was out there on the Oval with the protesters, and he'd grab a bullhorn and tell the students to express their beliefs but not be destructive. He believed in Nixon, and he believed in the Establishment, but he wasn't afraid to talk to the students. He wanted to stay close to the action."[3] Hayes was considered one of the few authority figures that students then had respect for. His enthusiasm for coaching and winning was such that many across the nation consider the following maxim to be true: "What Vince Lombardi was to professional football, Woody Hayes was to college football."

Woody had some bad times, but I wonder how many people could stand in the light of public for 40 years and lead a pristine life. It can be done - but not often. Seems to me Woody is the type of a man most FReepers would be happy to call a friend and recognize him as the patriot he was.

[PAR35]

When talking to young people, Hayes treated all of them equally and with respect,

Well, I guess it's ok if he treats them with respect when hitting them in the head or sucker punching them in the throat.