Hospital visit a delight for kids, team
One football coach met another on Monday afternoon.
By the end, it was hard to tell which was more thrilled about meeting the other.
Urban Meyer and nine Ohio State players visited the Stecker Auditorium at Nationwide Children’s Hospital as they met with patients and guests who picked out gifts paid for by the Shelley and Urban Meyer Family Foundation, in cooperation with Kroger.
“Every player wanted to come down here,” Meyer said. “There wasn’t just 8:30 p.m. Dec. 29 Arlington, Texas ESPN WBNS-FM/AM (97.1/1460)
enough room for everybody.
“I learned this in ’86-87 when I was here (as an OSU graduate assistant). Central Ohio is the most compassionate area I’ve ever lived in. To be able to give back and come down here and be with these families and these young people, it’s a dream come true.”
It certainly was for many of those the Buckeyes met. Nobody was more enthusiastic than Keith Warrick of West Mansfield. Warrick, 25, had open-heart surgery at Children’s as a newborn.
“Life-saving,” said his mother, Ina. “He has had other issues throughout his life, and we just make the most of every day.”
Warrick has wanted to meet Meyer since the coach was hired six years ago. He finally got his chance Monday. Warrick told Meyer that he had won a national adaptive rock-climbing competition last year in Massachusetts and that he served as a football coach at Benjamin Logan High School in Bellefontaine.
Warrick certainly was in coach-mode on Monday. At one point, he barked at Ohio State defensive tackle Robert Landers, prompting Meyer to tell Warrick to order Landers to do pushups. As Landers complied, Warrick screamed, “1! 2! 3! 4! 5!” as Meyer beamed.
“His nickname is ‘Coach K.’ I can see why,” Meyer said.
“It humbles you,” Meyer said of Monday’s event, which has become an annual affair. “These families are so awesome.”
Meyer and players posed for pictures, signed autographs and helped kids pick out gifts.
Freshman cornerback Jeffrey Okudah said that director of player development Ryan Stamper asked for volunteers for the hospital visit.
“We jumped on it right away,” Okudah said.
“It’s very cool just to be here and putting a smile on these little kids’ faces,” freshman running back J.K. Dobbins added.
Rayne McCann of Canal Winchester was most excited to meet Meyer and All-America defensive end Nick Bosa.
“It means a lot because I’ve loved the Buckeyes since I was really little,” the 12-year-old said.
Rayne was born with arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, a condition in which joints are fixed or have limited range of motion.
“We do all of our physical therapy here and have had multiple surgeries here,” said Rayne’s mother, Leslie, who was a nurse at Children’s until becoming a stay-at-home mom recently. “It has become like a family to us.
“I think it’s amazing for them to give back, specifically to Children’s. Children’s does a lot for the community, so it’s nice to see the community giving back to them.”
Rayne picked out an Echo Dot as her gift. She had to explain to Meyer what the voice-command device does.
But Rayne didn’t hesitate when asked whether the best part of her day was meeting Meyer or getting the Echo Dot.
“Meeting Urban Meyer,” she said. “You can buy an Echo Dot. You can’t buy meeting Urban Meyer.”
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Kason Harrell scored a career-high 28 points and Bryson Scott added 26 on Monday night, leading Fort Wayne to a 92-72 victory at Indiana.
The Mastodons (8-5) made 17 threepointers to tie an Assembly Hall record by a visiting team and won their second straight over the Hoosiers.
Robert Johnson had 17 points and Juwan Morgan finished with 14 to lead Indiana (6-6).
It’s the first time in 17 years the Hoosiers have lost back-to-back games to an in-state foe other than Notre Dame or Purdue and only the fourth time in school history. Miles Bridges matched his career high with 33 points, and host Michigan State (11-1) set a school record with 16 blocks while beating Houston Baptist (4-8). The Spartans have won 10 straight since losing to Duke. Gahanna graduate Nick Ward had 20 points, six rebounds and
Svi Mykhailiuk hit six three-pointers and scored 26 points, Devonte Graham added 17 and host Kansas (9-2) crushed Omaha (3-11). Lagerald Vick added 15 points and Malik Newman had 14 for the Jayhawks.
Phil Cofer scored 19 points, and host Florida State (10-1) bounced back from its first loss of the season with a win over Charleston Southern (4-6). Terance Mann added 17 points for the Seminoles, who lost to Oklahoma State on Saturday. Florida State extended its home winning streak to 25, which is the third-longest in the nation behind Cincinnati (31) and SMU (25).
Vasa Pusica scored 12 of his 21 points from the free-throw line and Tomas Murphy and Bolden Brace each added 14 points off the bench as Northeastern (7-4) won
Northland graduate Shemar Waugh scored 20 points to lead six Ohio Dominican scorers in double figures as the host Panthers (7-5) held off West Virginia State (6-5). With the score tied at 54 with 17:26 remaining in the second half, the Panthers took control with a 14-2 run.
Villanova remains No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 for the second straight week and Arizona State moves up two spots to No. 3 after Wichita State dropped out of the top 10. Villanova (11-0) received 45 of 65 firstplace votes from a media panel in the poll released on Monday. Michigan State (10-1) stayed at No. 2 and received 15 firstplace votes, with Arizona State receiving the final five No. 1 votes. The Sun Devils are 10-0 for the first time and have matched their highest ranking as a program. Duke fell a spot to No. 4, followed by North Carolina.