OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
ToledoBlade
IN THEIR WORDS: JIM KREGEL
Ex-OSU star still feels 'butterflies'
In Their Words is a weekly feature appearing Sundays in The Blade's sports section. Sports writer Donald Emmons talked with Jim Kregel, a Woodward High School alumnus who played on the offensive line at Ohio State in 1973.
The 103rd meeting between Big Ten rivals Ohio State and Michigan marked the first time the two schools met undefeated and ranked nationally No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.
It was the second time in 33 years that the Buckeyes and Wolverines stepped on the same field and both teams were undefeated.
Toledoan Jim Kregel was the starting left guard in the 1973 game for the Buckeyes, who owned a 9-0 record and were ranked No. 1 nationally.
Michigan was 10-0 and ranked No. 4.
That slugfest ended in a 10-10 tie after Michigan climbed back from a 10-0 halftime deficit to come up with two scores after halftime while holding the Buckeyes scoreless during the final two quarters. The tie cost both a shot at winning a national championship.
For Kregel, a Woodward graduate, those are some of the memories that have remained vivid for three decades after the last time he wore the scarlet and gray No. 63 jersey in Columbus.
Legendary Buckeyes coach Woody Hayes and the tradition-rich Buckeyes football program were two of the main drawing cards that led him to Columbus after high school.
Kregel, who excelled as a Polar Bears linebacker/offensive lineman in high school, was an All-Big Ten first team selection in his senior year while blocking for eventual Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.
After a brief stint playing professional football in the World Football League and the NFL, Kregel returned to Toledo. The 54-year old lives in Point Place with his wife, Cindy, and they have three children; Elizabeth, 24; Sarah, 22; and Jimmy, 19.
Here are some of Kregel's thoughts prior to yesterday's Big Game.
"IT CAME DOWN to Michigan and Ohio State [for college] believe it or not just because I would have never thought about going somewhere far away. One of the biggest things about playing college football was being able to have my family there all the time. They never missed any games. It was just something about Woody Hayes and the mystique of the old guy that turned me on about the place.
"[HAYES] HAD A lot of things about him that were in common with my dad. He made it clear there were important things in life than just football. My dad insisted we sit up straight at the kitchen table and we didn't have any elbows on the table and Woody Hayes insisted we sat up straight in the meeting rooms and had shirts on. It was a different time. It was pre-tattoos, pre-earrings, pre-a-lot-of-things, to put it into perspective. So, it was a lot like going right from one authoritarian guy that I respected to going down to playing for another guy. He was brutally honest and I was always able to deal with the straight-forwardness of the guy.
"THAT SENIOR YEAR, that rotten 10-10 tie cost us a national championship. I'll be honest, that still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth until this day. I wonder if I could have done something a little better. We got tight in the second half. Woody had a way of doing that. We had a 10-0 lead at halftime. We got too conservative and eventually they caught us and we never did shoot ahead of them.
"YOU KNOW YOU'RE going to get your teeth smashed in whether you play for Ohio State or Michigan, so you might as well tighten your chin strap because it's going to be a long afternoon. The last guy standing wins.
"GUYS [AT OSU] from Canton and Massillon or whatever had buddies who went to Michigan. If Bo [Schembechler] and Woody [Hayes] knew that those guys were down in our dorm drinking beers with us during the week or knew we shot up there one night to goof off they probably would have wigged out, but that's the way kids are. Why would you hate them? I've never been a hater."
"I THOUGHT I was going to be a linebacker but I never did line up there [at OSU]. I like the attitude on the defensive side of the ball, to be able to have fun chasing somebody down just like when you were a kid. I always thought it was neater to be able to tackle someone than to be able to block someone. When coach Hayes recruited me he said he was going to need me to play [offense] as a sophomore and two years later that's what happened.
"ALL THE EX-PLAYERS go down and meet before the game outside the [OSU] locker room and form a tunnel [called the Tunnel of Pride]. If your hair doesn't stand up on the back of your neck when the kids come out you must not have a pulse because it's incredible. Coach [Jim] Tressel insists on respect for the guys that played before you and who laid the groundwork. That's a really cool day."
"IT WAS SORT of being at the right place at the right time for me because I always considered myself a hard working, lunchbox-type athlete. I was never flashy. I was never the biggest or the fastest but I just had a pretty good work ethic, and it was reinforced down there and improved.
"[ARCHIE GRIFFIN] WAS just coming on the scene when I was a senior. He was a sophomore when I was a senior. Man, he could play. He was like a breath of fresh air when he came on the scene. We barely knew the kid and he came in against North Carolina and started ripping off chunks of real estate and you realized this kid was special. He hardly talked but he was there to play ball. It's really cool to see him grown up like that. He's represented the university for 30 years. He's the heart and soul of the Buckeyes."
"IT [OSU-MIGHIGAN] is in your mind everyday. That's what you're there for. You want to win the Big Ten. You want to beat Michigan and if something else comes after that then that's great. It's there year-round with the students, with the coaches, and the whole town. This week it becomes life itself."
"THESE KIDS, I hope they're enjoying it right now and taking time to seize the moment and enjoy the journey. Just like our parents told us when we were that age: This is the best times of their lives. There are a lot of kids between the ages of 18 and 22 who are in Iraq and they're the real American heroes. But on this Saturday this week the kids 9 to 90 are all going to be rooting for their teams. They [soldiers] are lifetime heroes and these are our weekend sports heroes."
"[THE GAME] HAS changed in a big way because when I played you just played as an athlete. We weren't behemoths. The biggest guy was 260 pounds. When I was playing, weight lifting was optional. Now, if you don't lift weights you're not going to play. Now, it's a year-round thing. The size and speed of the players are different today, but I don't think the intensity is any better.
Contact Donald Emmons at: [email protected] or 419-724-6302.