OHIO STATE FOOTBALL COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
HAYES W O O D Y
PAYING FORWARD On March 14, 1986, legendary Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes delivered a commencement address to the Ohio State University graduating class where he introduced the now famous concept of “paying forward.� He explained to the crowd that paying forward entailed returning good received by directing good toward others. To Hayes, it was much more than an idea; paying forward was an attitude toward life. Paying forward toward community service is the attitude the Ohio State football program has since embraced. Building on the practices established by Coach Hayes, the Buckeye family of coaches, players and staff has made directing good toward others, specifically in the Columbus community, a top-notch priority. For generations, Central Ohio has offered an unparalleled passion for Ohio State football. Through programs ranging from education to health and wellness, the Buckeyes aspire to return that passion through the good of service. Over the course of any given year, the Ohio State football family will pay forward more than 1,000 man hours of community service. The following report will offer a glimpse into some of the outreach efforts and programs and community events the Ohio State Buckeyes annually engage in under the direction of Coach Urban Meyer.
MEYER U R B A N
SERVING WITH A SMILE Several times each year waves of players assist at two Columbus food service locations – the Mid-Ohio Foodbank and LifeCare Alliance – by packing boxes of food and building trays of food for senior citizens and others in need. The Mid-Ohio Foodbank packs these boxes once a month so the food arrives to the seniors around the time when fixed-income finances can get tight. As many as 975 boxes have been packed by the Buckeyes in one day with supplies that included canned fruits and vegetables, cereal, boxed milk, dry beans, pasta, rice, juices and various canned proteins (meat, chili and stew, etc.) LifeCare Alliance provides food, health and nutrition services to 15,000 individuals annually who are on a fixed income of typically less than $600 per month. The Buckeyes hear those numbers and then go to work ... always happy to help.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE The Ohio State Buckeyes understand they can affect positive change by using their platform as recognized and respected student-athletes to promote causes and help others. In each of the pasts two summers, football players have traveled overseas as part of the Athletic Department’s Soles4Souls program, immersed themselves in another country’s culture, and impacted communities by providing pairs of shoes to those in need. In 2015 Joshua Perry and Chase Farris traveled on a goodwill mission to Costa Rica; and in 2016 Raekwon McMillan and Billy Price traveled to Jamaica. The Buckeyes also engage in a community service project each year at the site of their bowl game. This past year, at the College Football Playoff semifinals at the Fiesta Bowl, about 30 members of the team took part in a clean-up and restoration project at Alta E. Butler Elementary school in Phoenix. Team members worked with Free Arts for Abused Children of Arizona to build picnic tables and to paint a mural on a school wall, foursquare courts and paw logos on the sidewalks.
TACKLING ILLITERACY Tackling illiteracy is something the Buckeyes engage in on almost a weekly basis throughout the year at area middle schools. The 2nd & 7 Foundation, with help from the Ohio State student-athlete community, typically reaches 5,000 Central Ohio second graders in more than 60 schools. The foundation has published eight books aimed to instill qualities in new readers such as teamwork, valuing diversity and kindness. Each spring and summer numerous Ohio State coaches bring their units to the King Arts Complex in Columbus for a day of enrichment activities with children of all ages. The King Arts Complex provides quality educational programming for students with a scientifically-based curriculum as well as professional performing arts opportunities and various youth arts camps. The Buckeyes, in addition to learning about history, participate in discussions, read to the children and engage in outdoor activities.
2ND & 7 SCHOOLS VISITED Liberty Elementary Imagine Charter School Prairie Lincoln Elementary Heritage Elementary St. Timothy School Sycamore Creek Elementary Cassingham Elementary Moler Elementary Wilson Hill Elementary Glen Oak Elementary Johnson Park Middle School G.E.M.S.
WOMEN’S CLINIC The entire Ohio State football staff, with help from players, conducts an annual Ohio State Football Women’s Clinic. Approximately 700 women of all ages take over the Woody Hayes Athletic Center for a day of football, fun and fundraising. The drills the Ohio State coaches put the women through are real, including stretching, ball control, passing, catching, tackling dummies and lateral movement exercises. But that’s what they came for, after all. The most important draw for the clinic is the fact that all proceeds are donated to cancer research at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute.
SPECIAL FRIENDS On a Saturday morning in May, expect to find Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer and members of his football team at Whetstone High School to help kick off an exceptional and remarkable event: the Columbus City Schools Special Olympics. The day starts with the recitation of the Special Olympics creed: “Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.� And it continues with a parade of more than 700 athletes and then the competitions, which are cheered on by the Buckeyes, dignitaries and loved ones. And in July members of the football team members take part in the Special Skills Football Invitational. Approximately 200 athletes with developmental disabilities take to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center turf for a scarlet-and-gray-style football clinic hosted by Goodwill Columbus.
STUDENT APPRECIATION DAY The sixth annual Student Appreciation Day practice at Ohio State was held in April inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center in front of another huge crowd of approximately 2,000 students, future Buckeyes, parents and media. Coach Urban Meyer invites students to this annual event to watch and engage in practice activities with members of the football team. About 12 rows deep of students sat and stood across the 30 yard line and watched about an hour’s worth of scrimmage action by the team. Free food was provided by Rooster’s and Meijer. There was a fastest student race held once again and there was a post-practice autograph and photo session with the coaches and players.
MAKING SMILES The Ohio State Buckeyes make visiting sick patients and visiting hospitals a primary emphasis of their community relations efforts. Team members take trips to hospitals dozens of times each year, with local visits to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, the Ohio State Medical Center, The James, Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the Veterans Administration Hospital.
A TOUCH OF CLASS Ohio State Buckeyes are honored each year for achievements on and off the playing field. Among the national, news-making stories that featured Buckeyes this past year were the following: •
Sam Hubbard was named a firstteam Academic All-American. The finance major, who spent a week before the season interning at Goldman Sachs in New York City, is the third Academic All-American for Ohio State in the last two years.
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Pat Elflein won the Rimington Award as the nation’s outstanding center and he and Malik Hooker became the first set of Big Ten teammates to be named unanimous All-Americans since Eddie George and Orlando Pace in 1995.
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Joe Burger won a Corwin A. Fergus Memorial Award at the 50th annual Ohio State Scholar-Athlete banquet. Fergus scholars are awarded $5,000 postgraduate scholarships for three years. Burger graduated in December with a degree in industrial and systems engineering and is taking classes with future plans of attending medical school.
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Jarrod Barnes graduated in August 2016 with his master’s degree in kinesiology and he immediately started work on his Ph.D. in sports management, thus becoming the first active Ohio State football player ever to be working on a Ph.D. while still competing. An OSU ScholarAthlete and Academic All-Big Ten honoree was honored with a McMurry Scholar Athlete Citizenship Award this spring.
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A six-year high 38 Buckeyes were named OSU Scholar-Athletes at the school’s 50th annual Scholar-Athlete award dinner in March.
FUN IN THE SUN The Ohio State Buckeyes make visiting sick patients and visiting hospitals a primary emphasis of their community relations efforts. Team members take trips to hospitals dozens of times each year, with local visits to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, the Ohio State Medical Center, The James, Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the Veterans Administration Hospital.
The Ohio State University football team is committed to helping the great state of Ohio, and the Central Ohio Community by paying forward through its community service efforts, good deeds and by helping others.