As a child growing up in Trotwood and New Lebanon, Ohio, my fondest memories are waking up on New Year’s Day morning, watching the Rose Bowl Parade, seeing some football and getting ready to eat my mother’s traditional Pennsylvania Dutch dinner of pork and sauerkraut, with mashed potatoes and peas.
I never understood why we celebrated Pennsylvania Dutch since she was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and we lived in Ohio. I also didn’t understand what the peas had to do with the tradition. But she always had dinner in time so we could huddle around our black-and-white television for the Ohio State Buckeyes bowl game.
My parents divorced when I was too young to remember my father – don’t worry, he would return to become my best friend – and my mother did the best she could do with the oldest son who was obsessed with sports. When it came to Ohio State, it was an easy sell.
When I was in fifth grade, we had one of the best New Year’s Day dinners of all time because the Buckeyes beat Southern Cal, 27-16, in the Rose Bowl, to win the national championship for the 1968 season with a 10-0 record.
A year later, my parents reunited (I told you!) shortly before my father was deployed to Vietnam. My mother continued her Pennsylvania Dutch traditions on New Year’s Day, which didn’t bother me because I liked pork, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes and peas.
I also kept cheering for THE Ohio State.
The Buckeyes (10-1) beat USC, 27-16, in the Rose Bowl, in 1969 but The Associated Press voters selected Texas (11-0) as its national champion.
After my father returned from the war zone, we moved to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. We lived one building away from Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald. (Look it up. That’s a story for another day. I still have nightmares). Ohio State went into the Rose Bowl with a 9-0 record, but they lost 27-17 to Stanford in the Rose Bowl. The highlight of that game was having my father at home. He was born in Shelby, North Carolina, and was Don Gibson’s best friend and first drummer. Together, they formed a band that performed on the local radio station WOHS called Sons of Soil, and they tinkered with some of Gibson's songs like "Oh, Lonesome Me" and "I Can't Stop Loving You." (Another story for another day). The Shelby connection also meant we had to incorporate black-eyed peas, collard greens and cast-iron corn bread into our New Year’s Day routine.
Trust me, it works.
I shifted my loyalty from Ohio State to UCF because I helped establish their football team. I worked with the first coach Don Jonas to sell tickets. I remember him riding an elephant down Orange Avenue to raise awareness of the program. I stood on the sidelines because there were no bleachers when the Knights played their first game at St. Leo in the driving rain. UCF won, 21-0. Here’s a trivia fact, in case you ever get asked, Mike Cullison, threw the first pass and completion UCF history.
I must admit, Ohio State had the toughest road to this year's National Championship. They had to beat Tennessee. All right, that was expected. But, then they had to follow with wins against Oregon, Texas and Notre Dame.
Win. Win. Win.
To make it better, I got to see one of my favorite Buckeyes of all time walk across the field as an honorary captain. Archie Griffin won the award in 1974 and 1975, and he remains the only player to win the Heisman Trophy twice.
The Buckeyes then wrapped up their ninth national championship with a impressive 34-23 victory against Notre Dame on Monday, Jan. 20.
I celebrated in a way my mother would have appreciated by gorging myself with pork, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. Sorry, I didn’t have any peas.
