My non-OHIO rooting interest are as follows (not necessarily in order):
1. USNA. There are two reasons here: One, I lived in Annapolis for most of my life until the age of five, when my father taught at the Naval Postgraduate School. The first collegiate game I ever attended was a Navy baseball game my father took me to at about age 3 1/2. I still remember it. My parents moved back to Athens in 1950, when the PG school moved to Monterey, Calif. Two, I served in the U.S. Navy.
2. The University of Minnesota, my mother's alma mater. As a young boy she taught me the U of M fight song; it was the first college fight song I ever learned the words to. Ski-U-Mah!
3. Marshall, particularly football. I was on the faculty at Marshall in 1970 and was the co-adviser of The Parthenon, the student newspaper. We lost our sports editor, Jeff Nathan, in the crash. I had become very close to Jeff. He had been to our house. I had played pickup basketball with him in the university gym. It was my idea that he fly with the team for this game, after he had driven to several previous contests. I suppose that I've always had a little "survivor's guilt" over that. Whenever the Herd wins a big game, I say to myself, "This one's for Jeff!" I was recently able to raise enough funds to endow a sports writing scholarship in his name.
4. Murray State. Taught there after leaving Marshall, 1974-77.
Last Edited: 1/13/2020 10:59:44 AM by OhioCatFan