Buckeyes committed to paying forward
Community outreach a major part of Tressel's football program.
By Jon Spencer
?I would like to start with something I have used in almost every speech, and this is, ?paying forward.? And that is the thing that you folks can do with your great education for the rest of your life.
?Try to take that attitude toward life, that you?re going to pay forward. So seldom can we pay back because those who helped most ? your parents and other people ? will be gone, but you?ll find that you do want to pay. Emerson had something to say about that: ?You can pay back only seldom.? But he said, ?You can always pay forward, and you must pay line for line, deed for deed, and cent for cent.? He said, ?Beware of too much good accumulating in your palm or it will fast corrupt.? That was Emerson?s attitude, and no one put it better than he did.?
-Woody Hayes, delivering Ohio State?s
commencement address on March 14, 1986
When Cam Heyward ?pays forward? by reading to young students in their classroom or simply telling them about life inside a Scarlet and Gray uniform he?s also investing in his future.
?It?s a dry run for me,? said Ohio State?s celebrated defensive end and senior co-captain, an education major. ?It?s preparing me for working with kids. I?m just a big kid myself. It?s great to go into the schools and give those kids a spark and brighten their day.?
Buckeyes coaching legend Woody Hayes, quoting essayist, philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, called it ?paying forward? ? repaying a good deed by doing for others.
It became the mission statement of the team?s community outreach program, which thrives today under head coach and Woody disciple Jim Tressel.
?We have tried to continue the tradition of Coach Hayes in paying forward by giving our players and staff opportunities to help a number of causes in a variety of ways,? Tressel said. ?We know that each of our players is unique, so we try to expose them to as many service opportunities as possible, to find something that may connect with each of them as a lifelong passion to help others.?
Like Heyward, linebacker and co-captain Brian Rolle loves outreach initiatives that put him in contact with children. The senior sociology major plans to return to school and get another degree in secondary education so he can become a grade school teacher.
?A lot of these kids look at us as gods, but we tell them they?re just like us ? we just play football,? Rolle said. ?Being able to do these (outreach) events is a blessing for us.?
A volunteer effort
That?s what Stan Jefferson loves to hear. Jefferson, the team?s director of player development, is the point man for the team?s community relations programs. He books the appearances, decides which players are going where and attends virtually every event.
?Here?s the beauty of it ? it?s all volunteer,? said Jefferson, a former teacher, coach and high school administrator. ?We put up a ?pay forward? board and the players sign up for outreach programs.
?We could probably do an outreach 365 days a year. Last year we did over 100 community outreach events and volunteered 665 man hours. We do it for two reasons ? one, to pay forward, and two, to see what we can do to make it an enriching experience for those we are visiting as well as enriching for us.?
Players make appearances at everything from elementary schools, senior citizen centers and churches to hospitals, food banks, pep rallies and civic clubs. With classes and practices and study time to juggle, the team accommodates as many requests as it can within a 60-mile radius of campus.
Events have already been booked through next March.
?We?ve done a lot of great ones, but one that stands out is when we worked at the Mid-Ohio Food Bank last year in Grove City,? Jefferson said. ?We took six players (John Simon, Zach Boren, Brandon Saine, Dane Sanzenbacher, Garrett Goebel and Chimdi Chekwa) and packed food to be sent all over the world. There were other people there, too. It was like an assembly line. It was fun on one hand, but I?ll always remember the camaraderie as everyone worked together.?
Every Friday before a home game, a few of the players visit either the James Cancer Hospital or Children?s Hospital.
?Those visits were tough at first because you never expect to see kids struggling that bad,? Heyward said, ?but they put on a brave face. They?re our heroes. I don?t need to get anything out of it except seeing the smiles on their faces.?
Rolle leaves those visits as wide-eyed as the patients.
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