Back in the day (more specifically, the mid-70s), you could easily find dozens of cars with a simple bumper sticker that read “Thank you, Mrs. Griffin”. It was a tribute to the woman who gave birth to three sons who were all football stars for Ohio State.
One of them you still hear about. Our beloved #45, Archie Griffin.
You’re on a Buckeye blog, do I really need to go into detail as to why Arch is our guy for Day #45? Didn’t think so.
Something that is not widely known about Archie though….we retired his number after he left Ohio State, but he was kind enough to un-retire it for one outstanding young man by the name of Andy Katzenmoyer.
Katzenmoyer was Mr. Ohio in football his senior season and was expected to do great things at Ohio State. he did just that. He was a mean linebacker with a taste for what is now known as “decleating”. webster’s Dictionary describes decleating as “the art of hitting a freakin’ guy so damn hard that he gets knocked out of his ever-loving mind and shoes”.
Back in 1997, I was living in Tennessee and didn’t get to feel the full force of the Columbus media’s blitz surrounding Katzenmoyer. There was some guy named Manning playing 10 miles from my house, he kinda took up a lot of the sports news. But I was watching on the day #45 decleated a poor Missouri QB. Big Kat’s best moment on the field is described in great detail by my good friend Vico at Our Honor Defend. Go check out the story behind how Korby Jones’ life was forever changed. Here’s the video of that moment, brought to you by guess who?
Vico loved that play so much, he even created an animated GIF of the hit. Dude’s a beast. So was Katzenmoyer.
So here’s to you, Archie and Andy. 45 more days before kickoff!
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