How does a "cruise" on Mission Bay in the moonlight sound? No experience necessary to join a group of fellow Buckeyes to kayak from 6-10p.m. Just call Betty Langer for more information. We must have a group of twelve to get the group discount rate of $20 per person. Once we have the interested parties, Betty will confirm a date about two weeks prior. Presently we are planning this NEW event to be mid July. So just give her a call at 558-2489 by June 20.
Thanks to all who participated in our scholarship programs through College Traditions and Buckeye Sports Bulletin! If you need Rose Bowl "Champion" attire before the annual meeting now is a good time to order from College Traditions. Call
1-800-628-4678 and identify yourself as a SD Alumni member by using #AL9524.
Or, if you need the latest recruiting info...The BSB is the best place to get it!! Call 1-800-760-2682 to order and tell them you are with our club to get the credit to our account. Thanks everyone!
Looking for news about OSU's best alumni club? Look no further. The OSU Alumni Club of San Diego has created a web site for you. The URL is:
http://www.osusandiego.com/osusd
The site contains information to keep you up to date on club events and announcements. There are links to popular attractions in San Diego and links for students looking for information about Ohio State. Also, you can see what other OSU clubs are up to by clicking on their link attached to the main page. Soon web surfers will be able to view past issues of the club newsletter in case you have misplaced your personal archives.
Do you have any suggestions for content or do you know of any other web sites that Club members should be aware of? Let us know and it can be added to the web page. You can send e-mail right from the web page to "osusd@osusandiego.com"
Our thanks goes out to Don Zatyko for all the hard work he put in developing our web site.
Next time you are surfing the web, stop by the OSU San Diego web site. You will see that there is no better place to surf in San Diego except maybe the Pacific Ocean!
The boys of summer have returned and the Padres actually have a stadium (under construction) to play in. Our annual outing is on Wednesday, August 13th as the defending Western Division Champion Padres play the Reds. Game time is 7:35pm. We will be holding a tailgate party in the parking lot prior to the game.
This year our seats will be cheaper as we will not be in our usual pressbox. Ticket prices and location will be announced in the next newsletter. The price range will be from $9.00 - $15.00, depending on ticket location. We are looking at either Plaza, Loge or View level seating. If you are interested please contact Ed Olander at 565-6056 or leave a message on the Buckeye Hotline.
When Ohio State announced Beth Burns as the new women's basketball coach, the April 4 Columbus Dispatch placed the news on page one the day's lead story. Sports reporter Bob Baptist began: "Beth Burns has a beach front home in San Diego and a job coaching a perennial championship team at San Diego State. Even with that, one of her most prized possessions is a small item in her stereo cabinet. "I still have a cassette tape with 'Hang On Sloopy' on it", she said. Once Carmen Ohio bites you, it doesn't go away."
Burns, 38, was a graduate assistant with the OSU basketball program from 1979-1981 after her graduation from Ohio Wesleyan University. Burns' 8-year record at SDSU was 151-84. "Since I've been here (at SDSU), I've had ample opportunity to listen to a lot of offers … but this was an opportunity I couldn't overlook. OSU is a special place for me, an incredible fit. I guess you could say it's meant to be." "Part of me never left Columbus … Columbus is a terrific sports town and Ohio State is a great university with tremendous resources. It was an easy decision."
Burns accepted a five-year contract with a base salary of $150,000 a year. She is expected to earn more than $300,000 with added income from television and radio shows, a shoe contract and basketball camps.
Burns illustrates the great thing about school songs: their durable portability. "School sweaters can get lost, torn, stained, ripped, or worse, out-grown. A scarlet and gray seat cushion might be forgotten when leaving the stadium. But no matter where you go, favorite songs stay in your head forever."
Date Opponent
Aug 28 WYOMING (tentative)
Sept 13 BOWLING GREEN
Sept 20 ARIZONA
Sept 27 @ Missouri
Oct 4 IOWA
Oct 11 @ Penn State
Oct 18 INDIANA
Oct 25 NORTHWESTERN
Nov 1 @ Michigan State
Nov 8 @ Minnesota
Nov 15 ILLINOIS
Nov 22 @ Michigan
Future Football Schedule Highlights:
Date Year Opponent
Sept 16 2000 @ Arizona
Sept 22 2002 @ UCLA
If any of our local Ohio State alumni have summer positions available for students from San Diego County attending Ohio State, please call Gary Rectenwald at 454-4758. Gary has received a number of calls asking for assistance. Thanks for being such great Buckeye supporters!
We are all still very excited about Ohio State's exciting win at the 1997 Rose Bowl. What a great way to start out any new year!! Buckeyes everywhere are still wearing large smiles on their faces and are filled with pride!! Our club was well-represented in Pasadena. The outstanding efforts of Jera Ratliff, Susan Holko and Vicki Stone were just unbelievable. These great local Buckeyes sacrificed a tremendous amount of their personal and family time between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day in order to ensure that everyone who wanted to participate in the Rose Bowl festivities had an opportunity to do so. Jera also worked tirelessly so that everyone who wanted a ticket to the 1997 Rose Bowl Game had an opportunity to purchase one at a very low price. Our local club's trip to L.A. could not have gone more smoothly! Everything went without a hitch and on schedule. The New Year's Eve party at the Embassy Suites will never be forgotten. I appreciated the birthday cake and good wishes very much!!
Unfortunately, after 12 years of not playing in the Rose Bowl, the national organization and the athletic department made some mistakes on Rose Bowl ticket allocations and policy. Our club was given the opportunity to provide feedback to substantially improve policy and operations the next time Ohio State goes to the Rose Bowl.
We have a wide variety of events planned for 1997. As you will notice in the Calendar of Events, we have scheduled more club events this year. We are also attempting to choose venues for our events at a very low cost. In that way, we want to make sure that everyone who wants to join us can afford to do so. For example, our 1997 Annual Meeting on May 18th will be held at Moondoggies instead of Charley Brown's. The cost is whatever you want to spend on food and drink instead of the $30 for a large buffet as in past years. Our annual Padres-Reds game will cost $5 apiece for game tickets and another $5 for our local club's tailgate party prior to the game, as opposed to $30 per person for the club box in past years. Please give us your feedback on our attempts to be more inclusive with lower-cost events.
I'm looking forward to seeing you all at the 1997 Annual Meeting!! It'll be great watching the tape of the 1997 Rose Bowl Game, with the commercials edited out. We also have a tape of John Cooper's appearance on the Tonight Show the day after the game along with a few other surprises. Come and join us!
Go Buckeyes!!
Gary Rectenwald
That's right, you're invited to the first annual (hopefully!) Rose Bowl victory party at Moondoggie's on Sunday, May 18 from 4:00 - 8:00 PM. Please join your fellow Buckeyes as we re-live every exciting down of our first Rose Bowl victory since 1974.
We'll watch highlights of the game and hear post-game interviews with the players and coaches. Also in attendance will be special guest former Buckeye great, assistant coach Tim Spencer. And you might win an autographed Rose Bowl souvenir in a raffle to benefit our
scholarship fund.
Best of all, the party is free! (pay for what you order). In case you've forgotten, Moondoggie's is at 832 Garnet Avenue, one block east of Mission Blvd. in Pacific Beach. So, mark your calendars now and don't miss this exciting event!
There were plenty of opportunities to enjoy the holiday season in San Diego, but on December 22, 1996 around 40 alumni found the perfect combination of Buckeyes and Holidays. The alumni club reserved a suite at the Holiday Inn On the Bay overlooking the nautical route of the "Boat Parade of Lights". The festively decorated yachts cruised below the balcony window while alumni visited with each other and, then coach, Randy Ayers. The former Basketball Coach was in town with the team and stopped by the hospitality suite to show his appreciation of our support. There was plenty to eat and drink, and the rain didn't dampen the boater's or Buckeye's enthusiasm for the event. It was a spectacular evening that felt like the start of a new San Diego Alumni Club tradition.
DATE EVENT LOCATION
Sunday, May 18th ANNUAL MEETING/Rose Bowl @Moondoggie's 4-8pm
Party - Tim Spencer, guest speaker
Mid-July Moonlight Kayaking Mission Bay
Weds., August 13 REDS -Vs- PADRES game/tailgate @ "The Q" (Murph) 7:35pm
Weds., August 27 INDIANS -Vs- ANGELS @ Anaheim 7:35pm
Early August OSU goes to Del Mar Races @ Del Mar Racetrack Turf Club
September Membership Drive/Dues for 1997-98
Sept.-Nov. OSU FOOTBALL Parties @ Moondoggie's in Pacific Beach
November "Sunset Boulevard "Theatre Party @ Civic Theatre in San Diego
***** Call the Buckeye Hotline for Updates (619)685-2056*****
"OH, WHAT A DAY!"
It was a gray misty New Year's Eve afternoon in LA, the kind we are all too familiar with in Ohio, as our group members drifted into the Embassy Suites LAX Hotel. We knew we were in the right place when we glanced out the window toward the Marriott across the street. There, in window after window were Block "O" flags. The Buckeyes were here. LA would just have to adjust.
The New Year's Eve party was scheduled to begin about 6:30PM and end when our fellow Buckeyes in Ohio were bringing in the New Year at 9:00PM PST. Room 202 was selected to be Party Central. It's residents, Betty and Margaret, were honored with the presence of all 150 of us , most from San Diego, but others from as far as New York came to join the fun.
The Embassy Suites is built around an atrium containing the restaurant and bar. The rooms on all the floors open to the atrium and an open balcony /walkway goes around the building. It started softly and built to a fevered pitch. "O" - "H" - "I" - "O". Buckeyes on each side of the building shouted out the letters. Yes, there were some ASU fans there. They were drowned out! We were beginning to feel Buckeye Power!
The New Year's party, managed so deftly by Vicki Stone, grew both in size and decibels. Our beloved Marching Band's tapes played again and again. Pizza was delivered and devoured. Beer and wine disappeared. The time passed quickly and suddenly it was time to celebrate Gary Rectenwald's 25th birthday along with Sarah Holko's 15th. Cake and champagne....what a combination! We sang Happy Birthday, then Auld Lang Syne, then Carmen Ohio, and then 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall and anything else we could think of. (All at the top of our Buckeye lungs, of course!)
Dawn brought more gray skies as the call for boarding our tour bus came mighty early. All 45 little Buckeye soldiers arrived after a tasty breakfast provided by the Embassy Suites and we obediently found seats and surrendered to the bus for the trip to Pasadena. Bertha (our most talented bus driver) parked us a half block from our seats that were at the beginning of the parade. As we watched the countdown for the beginning of the parade, the sun came out. The floats were spectacular and every band played just for us. Seeing our Buckeye Marching Band was truly a thrill. Then, as everyone started to point at the sky, the Stealth Bomber gracefully flew over us. Could it get any better????? (Yes)
Several photo opportunities later and too many "oohs and aahs" Bertha packed us up and took us to the stadium. It was misting again, but who cared? We were at the Rose Bowl! Never mind the mud, the crowds, the lost lunches. It had been 12 years! The seats were small (or we were larger) and it brought back memories of squeezing one or maybe two extras into our Ohio Stadium row. The band pumped us up even higher if that was possible. Our Buckeyes took the field and for 3 hours we were filled with Scarlet and Gray. And then ASU scored with 1 min. 11 seconds to go. Some of us prayed, some couldn't look, some swore at the referees and some actually got up and left. But then the referee's arms were in the air and a Buckeye was strutting in the endzone. Oh, my. What an ending. How could anyone have doubted?
After the band played Carmen Ohio and Hang On Sloopy for the third time just for us, we finally made our way back to Bertha for the return to the Hotel and on to San Diego. What a glorious memory. GO BUCKS!!!!!
Everyone who attended the Rose Bowl with the assistance of our Alumni Club would like to thank Jera Ratliff and Gary Rectenwald for getting us there as well as Susan Holko, Betty Langer, and Vicki Stone for their key support. You all are true Buckeyes and the trip would not have been the success it was without any of you!!
Any race fans or want-to-be millionaires interested in "co-chairing" an event, this is your chance! We would like to do a "low key" day at the races in early August, possibly Sat. 2nd or Sun. 3rd. We would be seated in the grandstands and would meet there. Seats are $7. Those interested in going or helping should leave names and numbers on the hotline by the end of June. Maybe a horse named Brutus will be there.
We would like to welcome Dave Fenner to the board of directors of our local alumni club. He is our new chairperson for student recruitment. Dave, who is a teacher, has many things he will be working on and at the top of the list is to find a candidate for our local scholarship! The scholarship will be in the amount of $500.00 There will be an application sent to all enrolled students from San Diego and a group of alumni will decide the recipient. It is also that time of year again to be searching for college fairs. Please let us know if you know of any. Spring and Fall are our busiest times of year! May 1st is the deadline for freshman to accept Ohio State's invitation to attend. A big welcome to all of them!
A big thank you to all who gave to our scholarship fund. The total budget in our scholarship fund is $2,086.05. $53.05 came from College Traditions and Buckeye Sports Bulletin programs; $444.00 came from those of you who sent donations with your annual dues, $322.00 came from the Rose Bowl raffle we had at Moondoogies, $1,250.00 was donated by Moondoggies and $17.00 accrued in interest! What a great job by the San Diego Alumni working together to support our future Buckeyes! Thanks to each devoted Buckeye in our club. We are really starting to move forward in our effort to promote "our" students and financially support them. Out of state tuition is very expensive and our scholarship could be a determining factor. Keep the donations coming!
We are seriously looking for a candidate to head up our scholarship committee and to work closely with the recruitment folks. If you are interested in being a part of our college recruitment committee or in helping with scholarships, please call our buckeye hotline.
Any questions call Gary Rectenwald, 454-4758
Once again, we all would like to thank Angela Trivonovich and her husband,Scott Cain, for their participation in building our Alumni Club. You will be missed!
The Ohio State men's basketball team paid a rare pre-Christmas visit to southern California, but came away with a lump of coal in their stockings. They lost to USC 79-68 at the LA Sports Arena and to San Diego State 81-75 at the San Diego Sports Arena. At both games, a small but vocal group of Buckeye alumni enthusiastically cheered on our young team. Against San Diego State, the Bucks were led by Damon Stringer (Toledo) with 27 points. Shaun Stonerook (Westerville) and Jermaine Tate (Cleveland Heights) also scored double digits.
While in San Diego, the team stayed at the Marriott San Diego Marina and watched the Chargers take on the Broncos at Jack Murphy Stadium. Coaches and players alike enjoyed the warm California sun and the hospitality of San Diego Buckeyes. We all look forward to a more successful visit next time.