By JOEY JOHNSTON

The Tampa Tribune

(c) Tampa Bay Times. Originally published Dec. 30, 2006.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Since Coach Urban Meyer arrived at Florida, the past has been thrown in his face. Not as a reference point, but more as a challenge. Steve Spurrier. Can you top that?

Even though Meyer has the No.2-ranked Gators pointed toward a national championship – they face No.1 Ohio State on Jan.8 in the BCS Championship Game in Glendale, Ariz. – just getting there may not be enough.

Spurrier’s shadow still lurks.

It’s different at Ohio State.

The Buckeyes have a ghost.

The gravesite sits about a half-mile from OSU’s indoor practice field. At Union Cemetery, under the shade of a pine tree, there’s a simple marble tombstone.

“People come here and expect something different,” said Lou Willis, a gravedigger. “They expect some gigantic monument.”

Instead, it’s modest. Just the facts – with some words from 19th century orator Robert Green Ingersoll.

Hayes

Wayne Woodrow

1913-1987

“And in the night of death, hope sees a star, and listening love hears the rustle of a wing.”

In a few months, Woody Hayes will have been dead for two decades.

But if you go for burgers at the Buckeye Hall of Fame Café, there’s still a large display detailing his career with photographs and memorabilia. You can purchase a Woody Hayes bobblehead doll at Kroger supermarket. By the drink machine at McDonald’s, there’s a Woody Hayes autographed football and a copy of his book, “You Win With People.”

“Woody Hayes is Ohio State football,” said former Buckeyes coach Earle Bruce, the man who replaced Hayes after the legendary coach’s inglorious demise, punching a Clemson player at the 1978 Gator Bowl and losing his job the next day. “Some people remember too much, and just won’t let it go. On the other hand, you never want to forget that man.”

Even Meyer, an Ohio native and Buckeyes assistant under Bruce for two seasons, has a Woody Hayes portrait in his home. Someone asked Meyer if he genuflected when he walked past.

“Nope,” Meyer said, smiling. “I just salute it.”

In 28 seasons, Hayes was 238-72-10. He coached 56 different first-team All-Americans and three Heisman Trophy winners. He won five national titles (narrowly missing out on four others) and 13 Big Ten Conference championships.

It ended badly. The man, born on Valentine’s Day, obviously had a heart, although he rarely showed that side for the masses. The stereotypical image is of the coach’s volcanic temper, sometimes on full sideline display, with national television cameras poised and focused.

“He was an American original,” said Archie Griffin, the two-time Heisman-winning running back, now president and CEO of Ohio State’s alumni association. “An extremely caring man. Was it easy playing for him? No. But he made you better. He made you think. He believed in certain things, and he carried them out.”

One tenet was running the football.

“I was Ohio State’s second-leading receiver one season,” said former Buckeye Brian Baschnagel, now a marketing executive in suburban Chicago. “I think I had two catches.”

During his initial recruiting visit, a three-hour dinner, Baschnagel doesn’t remember football being mentioned by Hayes. The emphasis was education, preparing for life after sports. And, of course, his favorite credo in life: Paying it forward. The more you give, the more get.

“People have this image of a rough, touch, relentless man – I’ve heard stories about Woody getting in the goal-line offense and marching down the field, just to prove a point – but you should hear his former players talk,” said Ohio State center Doug Datish, whose father, Mike, played for the 1975 Buckeyes. “I’ve seen the old players get together with my dad, and they tell some outrageous stories.

“But they also talk about all the visits to hospitals, all the times he helped kids and nobody else knew. They still talk about paying it forward. They live their lives by what Woody told them to do. He’s still coaching them, even today.”

Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel promotes the program’s past, especially the legacy of Woody Hayes. He still embraces many of the old coach’s principles.

So does the community.

For evidence of that, just visit Union Cemetery.

“Woody is the greatest of all the coaches,” said Willie Blanchard, a Columbus resident, who paid his respects on a brisk December morning. “He’ll never be forgotten around here. Never. He made the program.”

There are visitors each day. Before a big game, they arrive by the dozens. When former Michigan coach Bo Schembechler died Nov.17, fans of Michigan and Ohio State convened on the cemetery, in a communal experience.

Someone left an American flag with a World War II medallion. There is a small football, decorated with scarlet and gray sequins, with a message: “Thanks, Woody.” Hundreds of copper pennies sit on top of the stone, dropped one by one, almost as if a ceremonial admission price was necessary to pay homage.

The other day, a bag of Tostitos chips, sponsor of the BCS Championship Game, was propped against the tombstone. Now it’s gone.

“The squirrels got it,” Willis said. “But it doesn’t matter.

“Woody knows the big game is coming.”

Two decades later, the ghost still has a game face.

WOODY’S WORDS

Some notable quotes attributed to former Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes:

•”Anything you get easy ain’t worth a damn.”

•”There’s nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you.”

•”Sometimes you just have to hit a mule in the head with a 2-by-4 to get his attention.”

•”Paralyze resistance with persistence.”

•”A man is always better than he thinks.”

•”Without winners, there wouldn’t even be any civilization.”

•”You can never pay back, but you can always pay forward.”