MADISON TOWNSHIP – Former Ohio State head football coach and current Ohio Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel scurried around the Madison Middle School basketball court Wednesday afternoon, shuffling, hunched over like a Tolkien-ish goblin, commanding the crowd of fifth-to-eighth graders like a Roman general.
The crowd roared, clapped, stomped and raised their hands at his call. Behind him stood two more Ohio State football legends: Braxton Miller and Ted Ginn Jr.
The three men are household names among Buckeye fandom.
Tressel for his six bowl-game victories in 10 years, Miller for his back-to-back Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year seasons, and Ginn for his more than 2,000 career scrimmage yards, reviving a trend of Ohio State receivers going top-10 in the NFL Draft.
The two players flanking Tressel joined him in hosting Team Tressel’s Fitness Challenge, a free statewide program that helps students in grades 3 to 8 set personal goals and build healthy habits.
“We went to work with our Department of Health, Department of Education, the workforce, a lot of teachers, principals, former athletes, and we created a curriculum for everybody,” Tressel said.
“We created a YouTube channel … (with) lots of examples of activities you can do whether you’re in a wheelchair, or you’ve been active or you need to work out in different ways.”
The volunteers among the students in attendance completed exercises centered around cardio, strength and flexibility. Then, Tressel passed the microphone on to Miller and Ginn Jr. to discuss the importance of sleep and nutrition before he took it back for an exercise on gratitude.
“When you woke up this morning, you flipped the light switch on, and there was light … there was a roof over your head. Sometimes we take that for granted,” Tressel said. “Sometimes we take for granted our friends. Sometimes we take for granted our parents. And what’s been fun about going around all the schools is sometimes we take for granted all these (teachers whose) life’s work helped you reach your potential.
“They wake up every day, and they come with one goal in mind, and sometimes we take that for granted.”
Tressel alternated commands for the students, asking them to silently raise their hands or clap while listing the people in life he believes they must not take for granted: parents, friends and teachers.
The former coach, who had a 106-23 record at Ohio State, including a 9-1 record against rival Michigan, soon had the students in complete sync, clapping and raising their hands, then roaring in celebration before the event came to a close.
In partnership with Wilson, Tressel deemed Madison a “Wilson Champion School,” bestowing a commemorative football to the students and staff. Half-hearted pleas from staff urging students to get to their buses fell flat as both parties ran up to get autographs and pictures with the Ohio State icons.
Whether it was in exercise, sleep or nutrition, Tressel’s message remained the same:
“Set a goal. Reach your goal. Set the goal higher next, and keep reaching it,” he said. “Become the best version of you that you can become.”
Credit: Logan Adams
