Meeting Jim Tressel on 2/2/12.
Tonight I had the honor of meeting my favorite coach of all-time, Jim Tressel. Our meeting occurred at the Browns Training Facility as part of a fundraiser for the Berea Education Foundation. My parents bought me a ticket to the event as a gift about a year ago. They figured I’d enjoy this, and they were absolutely right. The event was a thrill for me.
At the event I was given a few minutes to shake Coach Tressel’s hand, take a photo with him, and have him sign an item of my choice. He was dressed in a suit since earlier in the day he had accepted a VP position at the University of Akron. When it was my turn to meet him, I congratulated him on his new job, told him that my mom went to high school with him and my wife is one of his new colleagues at Akron (By the way, how cool is that?). We took a picture together in front of a green screen, which put the image of Baldwin-Wallace stadium on the print-out of the photo. He then signed a photograph of him standing on the sidelines at Ohio Stadium that I brought to the event.
My mind was racing and it all happened so fast, but it was awesome to speak to the man who led OSU to incredible heights over his 10-year tenure! After I had my turn, it was interesting to watch him interact with the other fans. It was obvious that he had the ability to turn on the charm and make you feel like you had been long-time friends, not strangers. I imagine that skill landed him many recruits over the years. If I was a high school kid with talent, I would absolutely want to play for the man.
Following the meet-and-greet portion of the event, which also included dinner, Coach Tressel gave a speech that covered topics from his book The Winners Manual to about 500 people at the Berea High School auditorium. I sat front and center in the first row below the stage, took pictures, and captured about 10 mins of the 90 minute speech on video via my iPhone. He gave an interactive presentation that highlighted his knowledge, humor, and ability to work a room. He also invited former Buckeye center Alex Stepanovich, another Berea High grad and member of the 2002 National Champion Buckeyes, onto the stage for a Q&A session.
Following the Q&A session, Coach Tressel raffled off about 25 signed footballs and copies of his book to audience memebers. Despite a 5% chance of winning, I actually won a signed book and got to hear Jim Tressel call out my name. That may have been the highlight of the night right there. It definitely felt like it was meant to be. After all, it’s unlikely that anyone has a greater appreciation of what Coach Tressel did for OSU than me.
Following the memorabilia raffle, the presentation came to a conclusion. Since I was in the front row, I was also able to approach Coach Tressel one more time. Earlier I had forgotten to thank him for replying to a couple letters that I had sent him in the past few years. I always admired that no matter how busy Coach Tressel was with the team, he always took the time to reach back out to fans. So I told him that. Finally, on my way out of the auditorium I was surprised to receive a third autographed item, this time a signed photo card that was passed out to all 500 attendees.
All-in-all it was a pretty amazing evening. Coach Tressel was number one on my list of public figures I’d most like to meet (out of a very short list), and 10 years after the National Championship season I finally had that chance. I had a blast meeting a lot of other true Buckeye fans throughout the evening as well. I can only hope that I have this opportunity again sometime in the future.
