riginally Published: September 2, 2009
'The Rise and Fall of Art Schlichter'
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By Art Schlichter and Jeff Snook
Special to Page 2
Editor's note: The following is excerpted from "Busted: The Rise and Fall of Art Schlichter,"
? 2009 by Art Schlichter with Jeff Snook. Reprinted by arrangement with Orange Frazer Press, Inc.
Chapter seven: Who wants to be a celebrity?
One of my favorite movies of all time is "The Natural" starring Robert Redford, because I could relate to his character in the movie. I identified with the line when he said that all he wanted in life "was to walk down the street and have somebody say, 'There goes Roy Hobbs, the greatest ballplayer to ever have played the game.'"
I knew what he meant.
Too, I had a weakness for women like he had. I didn't really care about fame, fortune, or anything that accompanied it, just as Roy Hobbs hadn't. All I ever wanted was for people in my little hometown to say, "There goes Art Schlichter, the greatest ballplayer to ever come out of here."
My dad, on the other hand, mapped it out for me to become a collegiate superstar, then a professional athlete, and eventually a sports legend (I made two out of three anyway). He always had the bigger dreams for me, the bigger goals, all rounding into the bigger picture.
Those things weren't on my mind.
Nevertheless, whether I wanted it or not, fame and celebrity were gaining on me like a runaway locomotive by the end of the 1979 season, especially after we beat Michigan to finish 11-0, win the Big Ten championship and secure a Rose Bowl berth opposite USC.
Orange Frazer Press Former Ohio State quarterback Art Schlichter recounts his rise and fall in "Busted."
Life as the starting quarterback at The Ohio State University couldn't have been much better. For starters, I loved winning as much as anyone who had ever played the game. And we'd won them all for the Buckeyes' first unbeaten regular season in four years, before the Rose Bowl loss.
I'd become, in all modesty, a huge name in the state of Ohio, even though that was never my goal. It just worked out that way.