It's the debut episode of the Good in the Game podcast! 2022 College Football Hall of Famer LaVar Arrington hosts and is joined by the MAN at Ohio State still to this day, Archie Griffin. The guys dive into Archie career, who his influences were as a kid, fumbling on his first career carry at OSU, playing for Woody Hayes and what the game of football has meant to him on and off the field.
- The game of football teaches valuable life lessons.
- Getting knocked down and getting back up is crucial.
- Archie Griffin's journey was influenced by his family and mentors.
- Football provided a pathway to education for Griffin and his siblings.
- The importance of teamwork and appreciation for all positions.
- Griffin's freshman year was filled with challenges and learning opportunities.
- Winning the Heisman was a culmination of hard work and dedication.
- Griffin emphasizes the importance of community involvement post-career.
- The golden rule of treating others as you wish to be treated is vital.
- Desire, dedication, and determination are essential for success.
#upongame #fsrweekends #2pros
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
First of all, the game is a great game. It's
not an easy game. It's a tough game, but it's
a great game. If it was an easy game, everybody
is doing but everybody can't. You gotta be tough enough
to do it. But the game is a game that
you learned a lot of boys of life and a
(00:20):
lesson I spoke earlier something lessons.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
You learn how to get up after being knockdown, folks.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
That's a lesson that you can take with you through
out life.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Hey, this is lebar and Arrington, your host of the
podcast of the year. Why because this is National Football
Foundation Podcast. Good in the Game, That's right. This is
going to be our first episode. And who better to
started off with than the legend himself, Archie Griffin. We're
(00:59):
gonna talk youth football. We're going to talk first place.
He had an amazing story to tell, recollection of the
first time he ever got into a game for Ohio State.
The Heisman's talking about the preparation, talking about being a
good person in life, living by the golden rule. You're
(01:20):
gonna get all that and more with my conversation with
Archie Griffin. Buckle up, let's get going. It's good in
the game. Here we go, Let's let's try to do this,
and let's do it a little bit of service. This
is a Goat Griffin that we have right here, otherwise
known as Archie Griffin. Some people may not know this
(01:42):
about you, but you finished fifth and voting your sophomore year,
so in theory, technically you almost got the Heisman three times.
People may not know that about you, but then you
ended up getting it in seventy four and seventy five.
(02:02):
Big Ten, Most Valuable Player in seventy three and seventy four.
United Press International Player of the Year twice in seventy
four and seventy five. Walter Camp Foundation named your Player
of the Year seventy four and seventy five. But Maxwell
(02:23):
Award named you Player of the Year in seventy five,
Sporting News Man of the Year in seventy five, College
Football Hall of Fame in nineteen eighty six, enshrined in
the Ohio State Athletic Hall of Fame in eighty one,
(02:43):
Retired New Jersey the famous forty five in ninety nine,
Inducted into the Rose Ball Hall of Fame in ninety
nineteen ninety and you were honored with the statue, which
I had the pleasure of being a part of the
ceremony when they unveiled it in twenty twenty four in
(03:04):
August seventeenth at Rose Bowl Stadium. Not very many people
will have this type of resume, if not any ever
in the history of the game, Archie Griffin. I mean,
I hope I did alright doing an intro on your
(03:25):
accolades and your honors. Did I leave anything I no, No,
you didn't leave anything else.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
You did better than anybody could ever expect anybody to
ever do. Thank you so much, and it just makes
me realize how fortunate, LeVar, that I was to be
able to play on the teams that I played on
during my time at Ohio Street, because as you know,
you know, one man can't do it. And I was
very fortious to be on some great teams. I had
some great players, had some great All Americans playing with
(03:51):
me that certainly helped me to achieve the things that
I was able to achieve. So I count myself as
very purtious, thankful for being in the right place at
the right time, with the right peace.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
It's amazing. I mean, a four time starter in the
Rose Bowl during Rose during Bowl season, Archie, what this is?
This is a podcast about this is the good of
the game, and this was created. This was created to
talk about what good has come from being a part
(04:28):
of this game. And none would be able to give
it any more justice. And speaking to that than yourself.
What I mean, You've been a part of the Columbus
community for the last fifty years since winning your first Heisman.
Can you just talk about what has what has this
(04:52):
game done for Archie Griffin?
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Well, this game, first of all, has done a lot.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I'll come from a fairly large family of our I've
got six brothers and a sister. My parents they were
the type. They gave all of us priorities to live
by trusting in God.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
It was the first one.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Getting a college education was the second, and that third
one was for all of us to participate in sports.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
And they wanted to persuade.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
In sports because when you get involved in sports, you
learn a lot of life's valuable lessons. You know, things
such as the will to win, coping with pressure, getting
along in a team situation, all which you're very very important.
But what is most important is that when you play
the game of football, you learn the real life lesson
of how to get up once you get knocked down.
(05:39):
And when you talk about the game of football and
what it has taught me, it's taught me to get
up after being knocked down. And that's a lesson that's
helped me throughout my life because anytime I get in
any type of situation, I know that if I'm going
to get knocked down or if I'm having tough time,
(06:00):
just see it through and you're gonna be okay because
of the lessons I learned through the game of football
getting up after being knocked down, and the game has
been so very very important and for me personally, my
college education is because of the game of football. As
I mentioned, my folks had a goal for us to
all get college education. Well, all six of my brothers
(06:23):
and my sister got college education. My six brothers all
played college football and they were all on college scholarship
and were all able to get their education because of
the game of football, and that was something that was
so very very important to us. And people ask me
all the time about, you know, going into pro football
(06:45):
this day in other world.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Pro football was never a goal of mine.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
My goal was to play football, get a college scholarship
and get out and make a living.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
That that was my goal.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
And college, I mean high school football and all the
football that I played before college, I was gonna help
me do that. And it got me a scholarship to
go to House State. I was able to go there
graduate a quarter early, and unfortunately I.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Had the opportunity to play some professional football.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
But the education was the big goal that I had
in the back of my mind because that was one
of the goals that my folks had for all of us.
And my parents didn't make a lot of money. They
could have never afforded to send eight kids to college.
And the game of football sent seven us, seven of us,
(07:34):
and then track and field sent my sister. So sports
in general was very, very important, but football, the game
loved it.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Growing up. I loved watching Jim Brown. He was the
guy that I wanted to be like.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
And I'll never forget one of the greatest compliments I
had when I played little league football my first year
playing position of fullback. At the banquet, I was about
eleven years old, and the coach told me that I
told the whole crowd at that time at our BANKT
introduced me as the next Jim Brown, and I never
ever forgot that, and that was always in the back
(08:13):
of my mind when I played the game, when I
went on to high school, and even when I went
to college. You know, I wanted to be the best
that I could be. In watching Jim Brown as I
grew up played for the Cleveland Browns, you know, it
was remarkable and set a great example for me and
how to run and how to be tough and how
(08:35):
just to play the game.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Can you talk about you talked about that experience and
being tough and playing at a high level. What what
went into your development? Like what when you played little league,
when you played high school and eventually made it into
Ohio State. The game of football was a truly, truly
(09:00):
more physical game when you were coming through. You know,
the rules are a whole lot different now and the
physicality of the game in which you came up in
and you played in. Can you talk a little bit
about what went into what molded You talked about wanting
(09:23):
to play like Jim Brown. But was there an influence?
Was there? Was there something close? Because for me being
from Pittsburgh, our influence was me and Joe green It
was else Greenwood. It was it was Jack Hammond and
Lambert That that's what influenced guys like me. It was
you know, Greg Lloyd and Kevin Green. I patterned myself
(09:48):
after those guys when I was growing up. Before it
was even about learning about fundamentals or anything like that.
I made my molded my mindset to what I envisioned
to match what the intensity of what those guys were doing,
even at a young age. What was your influence. Was
(10:08):
there a real influence on that or was it just
I got God's gifts. I'm out here, I'm gonna run
over these cats. I'm a run around and I'm run through.
What was a part of how you developed coming up well?
Speaker 1 (10:23):
First of all, again, Jim Brown was my influence at
a young age. When I first started playing football, I
played guard, offensive guard, and nose guard on defense. When
I was a young kid, I was pretty heavy. I
was could never play with the kids my own age
because I weighed too much, So I played up in wait.
(10:47):
So when I was nine years old, I was playing
with guys that were like from twelve to fourteen years
old because I couldn't make the weight of the younger teams.
So I played I played offensive guard and those guard
on defense. And be honest with you, playing with those
older guys, I didn't. I got in every game, but
(11:07):
I didn't play a whole lot because those guys were
older and they were better. I mean I was nine
years old, they were twelve thirteen years old. But we
had a coach who really believed in letting young people play,
and he let me play every game. And probably the
reason he let me play every game is because we
never lost the game had the opportunity to put me in.
(11:29):
But he was an influence on me. He encouraged me
to be the best I could be, even though I
was playing guard and those guard on defense. Well, when
I got a little bit older, my family moved and
we had to leave the area where I was at
nine and ten years old, nine ten eleven years old.
So when I was twelve years old, I started playing
(11:52):
for another team, but it was in the same league.
But at that time I had gained a lot of weight.
I was over the one hundred and thirty five pounds
limit that they had as the weight limit for the
Bearcat League that was the league that I played, So
I had to lose weight and.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
I did all kinds of crazy things to lose the
necessary weight. But I lost the.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Trash, trash bags to a gum, sat in a hot
bath top half high bath water. Been there, been there.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
We had this old white station wagon that sit out
in our backyard where sit in it, let the back
seat down, did push ups, did set ups, did all
kinds of stuff, Wrapped those uh cleaner's bags you go
to cleaning close to cleanse put those old sweater put
it under all kinds of clothes, went out, ran around
(12:43):
the block, the whole works. But I lost the necessary
weight that I needed to continue to play in that league.
And at that time, uh, I started out playing guard
again and and those got on defense. But one day
no fullback showed up for practice and coach asked volunteers
played fullback. Well, I always admired Jim Brown, so you
(13:04):
know me, put me in.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
And I played fullback that day in practice.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
And it never never changed, never changed.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
After that, And from that point on, I wanted to
be Jim Brown. I mean I did everything he did.
Jim Brown ran hard, got hit, he would get up
real slow, walk back slowly to the huddle.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
He didn't think that he was gonna come back again.
For the next played through.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
I tried to do exactly that and and uh and
and everything that I did.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
I wanted to be like Jim Brown.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
I had success doing that, so that made me believe
that I could play the position. So when I played
the position, I played it with that attitude that nobody's
going to bring me down. And the first position that
I played was full back in the Little League, and
then once I reached high school, I played fullback throughout
high school. But when I got to college, I had
to change because my size I didn't grow much.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
You're normal, right, You're normal that.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
I didn't grow much after that, so I was only
about one hundred and eighty five pounds, And so I
ended up playing tail back and I tried to take
the same attitude to that position as I did the
fullback position. But again, LeVar, being in the right place
at the right time, with the right people really really helped.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Yeah, I mean it makes a lot of sense. Can
you expand a little bit on playing because it's funny.
I started off as a nose guard. I started off
as a tackle. And you and I know, culturally speaking,
we want to be quarterback or running back or receiver.
We don't want to do the dirty work, but we
(14:38):
had to. Like for some of us, because of our size,
we had to play those positions. Did that have any
impact on how you developed and were able to play
the game as a running back?
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Like?
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Did any of the like the idea of it? For me?
I took a lot of what I learned early on
as a nose guard and as a tackle, and I
thought how they would think, like, what are they going
to do? I taught myself anticipation as a back just
based off of thinking, Okay, this is how I thought
when I was blocking, or this is how I thought
(15:14):
when I was a nose tackle. Did any of that
play a part in your development as a running back?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (15:19):
No, no question about it. It gave me great appreciation
for those lines, for those offensive guards, for the center,
for the tackles, and the job that they had to
do to make sure that we were successful in running
to play. The appreciation that they gave me really really
helped me a long way, and I think it helped
(15:41):
me in my own dealing with our offensive line and
dealing with our defensive team and how much they how
much importance they played for the success of our football team.
So having the opportunity to play those different positions makes
you appreciate, shate what these guys do, and it helps
(16:03):
you in your running And one of the things that
I always did it as a running back is I
tried to learn everybody's position. I mean, I knew what
everybody on my offensive line was going to do. I
mean not just that I had to run through this
hole or that whole, but I want to know what
the blocking scheme was, the whole works. And that certainly
helped me in my playing at the House and university
(16:25):
and beyond.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Let's talk about that. So you get there, you have
a strong freshman season. You don't break a thousand yards Russia.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
No, I don't break a thousand yards. Matter of fact,
my freshman year Leavar was the very first year the
freshmen were eligible to play because you I might remember
back in was it nineteen seventy I think Marshall University
and Wichita State University had those plane crashes, right, and
freshmen at that time weren't able to play Division one football.
(16:56):
They had their own freshman team, but Marshall wanted to
continue their football team and they couldn't do it because
a lot of they lost a lot of their sophomores, juniors,
and seniors in the plane crash. So NCAA then allowed
freshmen to play. So nineteen six two was the very
(17:17):
first year the freshman were usboll. So going into that year,
my main goal was, hey, I want to make the
varsity team. Because when I was coming out of high school,
so a lot of people told me I shouldn't go
to a house state. They said that I was too small.
They said the coach Woody Hayes, he only recruits the
big backs well over two hundred pounds, and that I
would never get a shot at playing at Ohio State.
(17:39):
And I ought to go somewhere where the guys were
smaller and I'd get a good chance for being an athlete.
And you know this, you feel, you know your ability
is bear than anyone else. So I took it as
a challenge to go to House steag University. And I'll
never forget when I reported the camp, I was put
at the back, and put at the back, and then
playing on the fifth team, and playing on the fifteen,
then playing on the scouts squad. You know, we were
taking the beating every day from the first team as
(18:01):
our job was to run the opposing team players while
the first team defense got their practice off of us.
And that was kind of discouraging because you really had
a hard time seeing you know, when you were going
to get.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Your opportunity right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Especially you know, being a freshman. This being the very
first year that freshman.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Well, well, I'll never forget in that first year when
we had our first home game, Coach as he had
this belief that if you dress for House, if you
practice for House state, then you should be identified in
Ohio State University uniform at a home game. And I
was really happy about that because that would at least
show that I was part of the team. And I'll
(18:41):
never forget that first game that we played against Iowa.
In the fourth quarter, about a couple of minutes to
go in the game, Coach A gave a few freshmen
an opportunity to play, and I was one of those
freshmen and him calling me off the bench to go
into the game. I remember how excited I was. This
was my big opportunity. If I could get in the
game and run for it touch down and make it
big play, maybe he might just put me on that
(19:03):
varsity team. Well, he put me in with two minutes
to go, got in the huddle. First day called was
an eighteen. It was a pitch out to me going
around the right side. Big opportunity for me. We broke
the huddle, balls, quarterbacks started calling to say was ball snapped.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
As soon as the ball was snapping, le Bar, I
did something that was fundamentally wrong. And you know this
is the truth. When I tell you, you know, when
you're running back.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Or a receiver and you're gonna get a pitch out
or pass, one of the fundamental things that you taught
first in little league is.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
That you got to look the ball into your hand,
hand from.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
The quarterbacks hands right to your own hand. But when
the ball was snapped, the first thing that I did
is I focused my attention on the home which I
was going.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
To run through. And when I looked towards that hole.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
I was shocked because those guys had opened up a
whole big enough you could drive a truck through it.
So instead of me turning back towards the quarterback and
watching the ball come to my hand, I kept my
eyes on that hole because I wanted to make sure
it didn't go anywhere me with my eyes on the hole.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
The quarterback Christal ball.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
The ball hit me in the hands and I fumbled,
and man, I got the I've got to tell you
that I thought that I had blown my big chance.
He took me out of the game, and I was
I was hurt, man, because I just felt that, you know,
I might not ever get another chance.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Well, I was going home.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
I'm from Plumbers, Ohio, and I remember going home that
evening and my dad said something was wrong with me here.
He asked me about and I told him, I said that,
you know, you know, I don't know I'd give hi
another chance. You know, I'm fifteen, tailed back on the
scout squad. I fumbled the ball with my only chance.
You know, I just don't and I'm a freshman. I mean,
I just don't know if I'm ever gonna get another chance.
(20:36):
With my father, like he'd always gave me a courtin,
he said, you know what, if they didn't think you
could play, they wouldn't have put.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
You in there. So you know, just go back, continue
to do what you've been doing.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
But I went back to practice that next week, but
I was still on that fifteam, still on the scout squad,
still taking that beating every day from the first Steamers.
But our next game was also a home game and
it was against the University of North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
And again because it was a home game, coaches out
everybody to dressing dress. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
So the night before that game, when Varsiti they went
away to a hotel, was fresh Missouri. We would lead
up with the varsity dad the game at the stake.
That game against North Carolina started in North Carolina blocked
the pun of bars and they went ahead of US
seven to nothing. And all of a sudden midway through
the first quarter, call from the bench called kept calling it,
and I knew he wasn't talking to me. He couldn't
(21:23):
have hit me. Man, I'm the fifth team tailback. I'm
on a scout squad. I had fumbled the week before,
and I was a freshman. Couldn't admit me. But the
calling griffin, and I was the only Griffin on the
team at the time.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
So I went up and he grabbed me by the
shoulder pad and he told me to go into tailback.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
But right then I got all excited and went to
run into the game. And as I went to run
out into the field of one of my good friends
having to call me back because all of the excitement
lebar I forgot to take my helmet with it.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Didn't even take your health.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
That is amazing.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Couldn't couldn't believe it.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Wow Together, I went into the game, and I will
tell you I was in a daze the whole time.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
All I could tell you is my number was being
called and I was just running with the ball. It
was just a big fall. And I know that I
played about two and a half quarters. I came out
of the game in the beginning of the fourth quarter.
And when I came out of the game and the
beginning the fourth quarter, the eighty six thousand fans that went,
ohiose game that day, they stood up and gave me
the standing ovation. They did it because those two and
(22:20):
a half quarters I had rushed for two hundred and
thirty nine yards, which at that time.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Was no happen It was directord that's right.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
And I just couldn't. I just couldn't believe it. But
to me, it was a miracle. And I will say this.
The night before that game, when I prayed, as I
do every night, I asked the Lord to give me
a chance to play in that game. It wouldn't give
me a chance to help me play to the best
of my ability. So I do count that as a miracle,
and I'm so very, very thankful because that was really
(22:47):
the springboard to my career at Ohio State.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
That's amazing. Okay, then you go into your next year
and you do start breaking a thousand yards rushing and
you are dominant. You know the one thing about being dominant.
I said this to Sakwan Barkley his last year, going
into his last year at school, When you're at the
bottom of the totem pole, you know, at the flag pole,
the wind don't blow that heart there. People don't see it.
(23:14):
It ain't high enough everybody. People can see it I closed,
but they don't see it from far and wide right.
But when when you show that you can play and
you get there and now he's coming out of that
freshman year and he's going into that sophomore season and
he's playing well, and then it goes into that junior
year and you win it. You win that Heisman Trophy.
(23:36):
You're one of the most dominant players in all of
college football. What was the mindset to know that coming
out of your sophomore campaign that it was going to
be what it was going to be, how hard it
was going to be to actually play well enough to
win a Heisman? And then what is the mindset of
(23:58):
once you're at the top of the flagpole and listen,
you come to the table, you can grab off of
the table, you grab the food, because they're like, who
was just grabbing the food? Oh? He got some food
out way, now we've seen coming. You ain't just gonna
come to the table and take the food off of
the table. Now you got you got to come take
this food.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Right, That's that's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
How did you do it? How'd you do it?
Speaker 1 (24:20):
After my freshman year and especially after my sophomore year.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
It got harder and harder and harder, no question about it.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
And and uh, you know my coach with he Hayes,
he used to always have the same and he always
said you're either getting better or you're getting worse.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
You never stayed the same, you never say at the
same level.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
So for me, and it was probably a little warp
thinking even on my part, I felt that after after
my after my sophomore year, and you know, you mentioned
I finished fifth in the heids and the voting. Uh,
so I was I was a target. I mean, people
were going to be out getting me. So I had
to try and up my game. Will do the best
that I could do to up my game, and I
(25:04):
continued to work hard.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
You know. I wanted to make sure that I was
in the best condition that I could be in.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
I wanted to make sure that mentally I was right
and I didn't want to make mistakes, you know, So
I tried to be at the top of my game
mentally and physically. One of the things I would do
from a physical standpoint, we had a guy by the
name of Brian Bashmaker who played for the Chicago Bears
for several years. But Brian was one of those guys
(25:32):
who worked extremely hard. I mean, he was always in
the best condition of anybody. And one of the things
I would always do is I would always work out
with Brian because I knew that if I could hang
with Brian in the workouts, that I would be in
the best condition I could possibly be and I would
be ready to play no matter what. So I would
always work out with Brian to make sure that I
(25:54):
was in the best position I could be in, and
I felt that that would help me during the course
of the season. And I will say this coach with
Hayes helped out a lot because I wasn't the guy
that ran the ball thirty times a game. I may
have run the ball thirty times in a game, maybe
two or three times in my whole career at Ohio State,
but I didn't run the ball that much because once
(26:15):
we got a lead, once we once we got comfortable
or comfortable lead, you know, he taken me out and
wrest me. Uh he wanted me to get at least
one hundred yards, but he would take me out and
rest me and let some of the other guys play.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
So I always.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Appreciated that because that meant that he cared about me
physically and didn't feel that I had to carry the
ball thirty times a game to do what we what
we needed to do. And we had some good backs too.
I mean I played with Pete Johnson, I played with champions,
and those guys were real good. I mean they were
outstanding as a matter of fact. So so we could
we could.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Share the load. That had a great quarterback in Cornelius Green,
who was a great option quarterback. All yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Had always called him a magician with the football, so
that was helpful as well. So you know, I just
tried to be the best that I could possibly be.
I was elected captains as a junior, and I felt
a big responsibility in that because it was unusual for
junior to be captain anyway, and so I felt that
I had to be a leader on that team. And
(27:19):
when I say leader, I had to lead from a
conditioning standpoint, I had to lead from a leadership standpoint,
and those things were all very very important to me.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
But I did the best I can do. I always
tell people what I do is I.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Do the best I can do with the opportunity that
I had, and you can expect to get the best
out of me. And and that's all I could.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Could, really really do, be the best that I could be.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
It has and this is now where the rubber meets
the road, because there's the transition from that mindset and
what it went into to be the type of player
that you were. But the one thing that that always
always precedes you is the reputation of how amazing a
(28:12):
man you are, how great a person you are. It
the the energy that you exude is that that makes
you instantly be inspired when I saw you. Every time
I see you, I'm inspired. Every time I'm around you,
I feel a sense of pride that that makes me
(28:34):
want to be better. When you left the game, you
took that mentality, the humble approach that I'm going to
be the best I can be, And it has translated
in you're after your post career life. How How has that?
How has that those experiences that you learned from football
(28:57):
translated Because so many times it's very difficult for us
to take and become civilians, become normal everyday people, you know,
and regardless of what our accolades are and what we accomplished.
For some of us that at the highest level of achievement,
(29:18):
it's the hardest to be able to adapt and adjust
to not being that star that you were when you
were an active player. But you have. You have impacted
the community. You have continued to work with the university.
At one point you were assistant athletic director. You're the
president of the Alumni club association. That you had guys
(29:41):
have had. You have been so entrenched and so active
that you have created a blueprint for us guys like
myself to follow post career. What went into that How
did it translate into you being able to establish being
such a well res expected person that sits on boards
(30:02):
of major corporations and sits on boards of charities and foundations.
What went into that?
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Well, that that goes back to home my parents again.
They gave us great directions. And one of the things
that uh, they taught us, LeVar that I'll never forget.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
I say the same thing to my kids, and that
is you treat people right. You know, you treat people right.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
They always taught us or told us about following the
golden rule, do unto others as you wish they wouldn't
do unto you, and that and that was so important.
And I always, whether it's on my job as presidency
or the hous State University of Alumni Association, or whatever
job I've ever had, I've always wanted to make sure
(30:50):
that I treated people right, that I treated people in
situations the way I would want to be treated in
those situations. And usually when you when you do that,
the results are a good thing, because nobody ever wants
to be treated bad. And when you think about, you know,
how if you've got to let somebody go this, that
(31:11):
and the other, what's the proper way to do that.
You know, how would it would if you were being
let go? How would you like to be treated? Those
things come to mind when I'm in those situations. And
then the other thing is the good Lord up above.
I've been a man of faith all my life, and
again that comes from my parents. And I also think
(31:33):
about my former football coach, what he hates. He had
this thing, what he talked about, that he talked about
every year to us, paying forward, doing things to help
other people.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Every year he preached that.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
To us, and not only did he preach it to us,
but you could see him do it. And that was
so very very important. That was so influential in my
life because when it comes to charities and things of
that sort, I want to pay for it. I want
(32:08):
to do things to help other people. There were people
out there when I was a kid doing things to
help me, help my family, and I want to be
able to help others if I could possibly can. And
Woody Hayes was the best at that he talked to.
He got it from Ralph wa Wims say on compensation,
(32:28):
where it says you can never pay back the good
that someone may have done for you, but you can
always you can always pay forward.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
And he preached that us. He paid forward.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
You could watch him every year and all the charities
that he got involved with. And I can remember on
Thursday evenings after alf practice, a lot of us, a
few of us would get into the back of his
El Camino and he would drive us down the children's
hospital and we would meet up with some kids that
were in children's hospital that look forward house State players
(33:01):
coming down on Thursday nights, and they would leave a
door open for Woody to bring us in. Now, he
didn't want anybody nobody. He wouldn't He didn't want the
press or anybody nobody. If the press would have known
about it, he wouldn't have done it. But the fact that
the folks that children administrated the children's hospital wanted him
to come down and bring some players to meet with
(33:22):
the kids meant a lot to him, and he wanted
to make sure that he would do it. And he again,
we'd get in the back of his l Comino, we
drive down and we'd meet with those kids, and those
kids had great smiles on their faces and.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
They look forward to it.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
And Coach a he loved doing that because he knew
that it helped those kids. But paying forward was his
big mantra and everything that he would do, he would
talk about paying forward, doing things to help others.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
I love that. Before I let you go, I'm gonna
ask you one more coach question. And the podcast is
called good in the Game? What would you're good in
the game? Message be to today's athletes, whether it's the younger,
younger generations of guys that are aspiring to make it
(34:11):
at the high school, college level, maybe even the pro level.
What is the good in the game message that Archie
Griffin will want them to know and take with them.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
First of all, the game is a great game. It's
not an easy game. It's a tough game, but it's
a great game. If it was an easy game, everybody
would do it. But everybody can't do it. But you
gotta be tough enough to do it. But the game
is a game that you learn a lot of valuable
life long lessons. And I spoke earlier some of the
(34:48):
lessons you learn how to get up after being knocked down, folks,
that's a lesson that you can take with you throughout life.
I had a junior high school guidance counselor God by
the name of mister Gil great inspirer in my life,
(35:10):
but I'll never forget. In junior high school, he told
us about three words that he thought would help us
in our lives, three words that he thought would help
us be successful.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
And those three.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Words were desired, dedication, and determination. And I remember him
telling us that if we'd apply those three d's Desire,
you have to want something out of life. Dedication, you
must be committed to achieving that certain something. In determination,
you must be able to overcome the obstacles that might
somehow get in your way. I remember him telling us
that if we'd apply those three d's to anything that
(35:43):
we want to do, then we could always feel good
about ourselves. And we can feel good about ourselves because
if we use those three d's in essence.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
What we have done is we have given a total commitment,
a total commitment.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
And when you think about those three d's, when you
think about a total commitment, nobody can ask you to
do anything more, no matter what you're asked to do.
If you give a total commitment, nobody can ask you
to do anything more. So my challenge to those playing
the game is to make sure that when you go
(36:17):
out on the field, and when you leave that field
that you have given a total commitment. Remember those three d's, desired, dedication,
and determination. They all add up to be a total commitment.
So my advice would be totally commit yourself to being
the very best that you could be.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
That's what it is for me.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Powerful. That's got Griffin right there, y'all. Griffin, if y'all
didn't know, now you know, and then you do know.
You know why you know because that's one of the
most special dudes to ever do it, not just on
the field, but off the field, the great Archie Griffin
of Ohio State. He's a part at first annual show
of Good in the game. We appreciate you coming on
(37:02):
og I mean, man, humbling, humbling. Now I can add
to my resume that I interview one of the goat
of goats. So thank you so much for making some
time for us and keep being you, man, because you
really inspire us. Man, you inspire so many people. Just
keep being you well.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Thank you, Labar, Thank you for having me man. I
greatly appreciate that and always great seeing you. I was
so happy when I saw.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
You at Rosebow.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
That was a terrific man, so thank you, so very much,
appreciate it.
First of all, the game is a great game. It's
not an easy game. It's a tough game, but it's
a great game. If it was an easy game, everybody
is doing but everybody can't. You gotta be tough enough
to do it. But the game is a game that
you learned a lot of boys of life and a
(00:20):
lesson I spoke earlier something lessons.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
You learn how to get up after being knockdown, folks.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
That's a lesson that you can take with you through
out life.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Hey, this is lebar and Arrington, your host of the
podcast of the year. Why because this is National Football
Foundation Podcast. Good in the Game, That's right. This is
going to be our first episode. And who better to
started off with than the legend himself, Archie Griffin. We're
(00:59):
gonna talk youth football. We're going to talk first place.
He had an amazing story to tell, recollection of the
first time he ever got into a game for Ohio State.
The Heisman's talking about the preparation, talking about being a
good person in life, living by the golden rule. You're
(01:20):
gonna get all that and more with my conversation with
Archie Griffin. Buckle up, let's get going. It's good in
the game. Here we go, Let's let's try to do this,
and let's do it a little bit of service. This
is a Goat Griffin that we have right here, otherwise
known as Archie Griffin. Some people may not know this
(01:42):
about you, but you finished fifth and voting your sophomore year,
so in theory, technically you almost got the Heisman three times.
People may not know that about you, but then you
ended up getting it in seventy four and seventy five.
(02:02):
Big Ten, Most Valuable Player in seventy three and seventy four.
United Press International Player of the Year twice in seventy
four and seventy five. Walter Camp Foundation named your Player
of the Year seventy four and seventy five. But Maxwell
(02:23):
Award named you Player of the Year in seventy five,
Sporting News Man of the Year in seventy five, College
Football Hall of Fame in nineteen eighty six, enshrined in
the Ohio State Athletic Hall of Fame in eighty one,
(02:43):
Retired New Jersey the famous forty five in ninety nine,
Inducted into the Rose Ball Hall of Fame in ninety
nineteen ninety and you were honored with the statue, which
I had the pleasure of being a part of the
ceremony when they unveiled it in twenty twenty four in
(03:04):
August seventeenth at Rose Bowl Stadium. Not very many people
will have this type of resume, if not any ever
in the history of the game, Archie Griffin. I mean,
I hope I did alright doing an intro on your
(03:25):
accolades and your honors. Did I leave anything I no, No,
you didn't leave anything else.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
You did better than anybody could ever expect anybody to
ever do. Thank you so much, and it just makes
me realize how fortunate, LeVar, that I was to be
able to play on the teams that I played on
during my time at Ohio Street, because as you know,
you know, one man can't do it. And I was
very fortious to be on some great teams. I had
some great players, had some great All Americans playing with
(03:51):
me that certainly helped me to achieve the things that
I was able to achieve. So I count myself as
very purtious, thankful for being in the right place at
the right time, with the right peace.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
It's amazing. I mean, a four time starter in the
Rose Bowl during Rose during Bowl season, Archie, what this is?
This is a podcast about this is the good of
the game, and this was created. This was created to
talk about what good has come from being a part
(04:28):
of this game. And none would be able to give
it any more justice. And speaking to that than yourself.
What I mean, You've been a part of the Columbus
community for the last fifty years since winning your first Heisman.
Can you just talk about what has what has this
(04:52):
game done for Archie Griffin?
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Well, this game, first of all, has done a lot.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I'll come from a fairly large family of our I've
got six brothers and a sister. My parents they were
the type. They gave all of us priorities to live
by trusting in God.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
It was the first one.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Getting a college education was the second, and that third
one was for all of us to participate in sports.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
And they wanted to persuade.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
In sports because when you get involved in sports, you
learn a lot of life's valuable lessons. You know, things
such as the will to win, coping with pressure, getting
along in a team situation, all which you're very very important.
But what is most important is that when you play
the game of football, you learn the real life lesson
of how to get up once you get knocked down.
(05:39):
And when you talk about the game of football and
what it has taught me, it's taught me to get
up after being knocked down. And that's a lesson that's
helped me throughout my life because anytime I get in
any type of situation, I know that if I'm going
to get knocked down or if I'm having tough time,
(06:00):
just see it through and you're gonna be okay because
of the lessons I learned through the game of football
getting up after being knocked down, and the game has
been so very very important and for me personally, my
college education is because of the game of football. As
I mentioned, my folks had a goal for us to
all get college education. Well, all six of my brothers
(06:23):
and my sister got college education. My six brothers all
played college football and they were all on college scholarship
and were all able to get their education because of
the game of football, and that was something that was
so very very important to us. And people ask me
all the time about, you know, going into pro football
(06:45):
this day in other world.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Pro football was never a goal of mine.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
My goal was to play football, get a college scholarship
and get out and make a living.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
That that was my goal.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
And college, I mean high school football and all the
football that I played before college, I was gonna help
me do that. And it got me a scholarship to
go to House State. I was able to go there
graduate a quarter early, and unfortunately I.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Had the opportunity to play some professional football.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
But the education was the big goal that I had
in the back of my mind because that was one
of the goals that my folks had for all of us.
And my parents didn't make a lot of money. They
could have never afforded to send eight kids to college.
And the game of football sent seven us, seven of us,
(07:34):
and then track and field sent my sister. So sports
in general was very, very important, but football, the game
loved it.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Growing up. I loved watching Jim Brown. He was the
guy that I wanted to be like.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
And I'll never forget one of the greatest compliments I
had when I played little league football my first year
playing position of fullback. At the banquet, I was about
eleven years old, and the coach told me that I
told the whole crowd at that time at our BANKT
introduced me as the next Jim Brown, and I never
ever forgot that, and that was always in the back
(08:13):
of my mind when I played the game, when I
went on to high school, and even when I went
to college. You know, I wanted to be the best
that I could be. In watching Jim Brown as I
grew up played for the Cleveland Browns, you know, it
was remarkable and set a great example for me and
how to run and how to be tough and how
(08:35):
just to play the game.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Can you talk about you talked about that experience and
being tough and playing at a high level. What what
went into your development? Like what when you played little league,
when you played high school and eventually made it into
Ohio State. The game of football was a truly, truly
(09:00):
more physical game when you were coming through. You know,
the rules are a whole lot different now and the
physicality of the game in which you came up in
and you played in. Can you talk a little bit
about what went into what molded You talked about wanting
(09:23):
to play like Jim Brown. But was there an influence?
Was there? Was there something close? Because for me being
from Pittsburgh, our influence was me and Joe green It
was else Greenwood. It was it was Jack Hammond and
Lambert That that's what influenced guys like me. It was
you know, Greg Lloyd and Kevin Green. I patterned myself
(09:48):
after those guys when I was growing up. Before it
was even about learning about fundamentals or anything like that.
I made my molded my mindset to what I envisioned
to match what the intensity of what those guys were doing,
even at a young age. What was your influence. Was
(10:08):
there a real influence on that or was it just
I got God's gifts. I'm out here, I'm gonna run
over these cats. I'm a run around and I'm run through.
What was a part of how you developed coming up well?
Speaker 1 (10:23):
First of all, again, Jim Brown was my influence at
a young age. When I first started playing football, I
played guard, offensive guard, and nose guard on defense. When
I was a young kid, I was pretty heavy. I
was could never play with the kids my own age
because I weighed too much, So I played up in wait.
(10:47):
So when I was nine years old, I was playing
with guys that were like from twelve to fourteen years
old because I couldn't make the weight of the younger teams.
So I played I played offensive guard and those guard
on defense. And be honest with you, playing with those
older guys, I didn't. I got in every game, but
(11:07):
I didn't play a whole lot because those guys were
older and they were better. I mean I was nine
years old, they were twelve thirteen years old. But we
had a coach who really believed in letting young people play,
and he let me play every game. And probably the
reason he let me play every game is because we
never lost the game had the opportunity to put me in.
(11:29):
But he was an influence on me. He encouraged me
to be the best I could be, even though I
was playing guard and those guard on defense. Well, when
I got a little bit older, my family moved and
we had to leave the area where I was at
nine and ten years old, nine ten eleven years old.
So when I was twelve years old, I started playing
(11:52):
for another team, but it was in the same league.
But at that time I had gained a lot of weight.
I was over the one hundred and thirty five pounds
limit that they had as the weight limit for the
Bearcat League that was the league that I played, So
I had to lose weight and.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
I did all kinds of crazy things to lose the
necessary weight. But I lost the.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Trash, trash bags to a gum, sat in a hot
bath top half high bath water. Been there, been there.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
We had this old white station wagon that sit out
in our backyard where sit in it, let the back
seat down, did push ups, did set ups, did all
kinds of stuff, Wrapped those uh cleaner's bags you go
to cleaning close to cleanse put those old sweater put
it under all kinds of clothes, went out, ran around
(12:43):
the block, the whole works. But I lost the necessary
weight that I needed to continue to play in that league.
And at that time, uh, I started out playing guard
again and and those got on defense. But one day
no fullback showed up for practice and coach asked volunteers
played fullback. Well, I always admired Jim Brown, so you
(13:04):
know me, put me in.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
And I played fullback that day in practice.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
And it never never changed, never changed.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
After that, And from that point on, I wanted to
be Jim Brown. I mean I did everything he did.
Jim Brown ran hard, got hit, he would get up
real slow, walk back slowly to the huddle.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
He didn't think that he was gonna come back again.
For the next played through.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
I tried to do exactly that and and uh and
and everything that I did.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
I wanted to be like Jim Brown.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
I had success doing that, so that made me believe
that I could play the position. So when I played
the position, I played it with that attitude that nobody's
going to bring me down. And the first position that
I played was full back in the Little League, and
then once I reached high school, I played fullback throughout
high school. But when I got to college, I had
to change because my size I didn't grow much.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
You're normal, right, You're normal that.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
I didn't grow much after that, so I was only
about one hundred and eighty five pounds, And so I
ended up playing tail back and I tried to take
the same attitude to that position as I did the
fullback position. But again, LeVar, being in the right place
at the right time, with the right people really really helped.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Yeah, I mean it makes a lot of sense. Can
you expand a little bit on playing because it's funny.
I started off as a nose guard. I started off
as a tackle. And you and I know, culturally speaking,
we want to be quarterback or running back or receiver.
We don't want to do the dirty work, but we
(14:38):
had to. Like for some of us, because of our size,
we had to play those positions. Did that have any
impact on how you developed and were able to play
the game as a running back?
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Like?
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Did any of the like the idea of it? For me?
I took a lot of what I learned early on
as a nose guard and as a tackle, and I
thought how they would think, like, what are they going
to do? I taught myself anticipation as a back just
based off of thinking, Okay, this is how I thought
when I was blocking, or this is how I thought
(15:14):
when I was a nose tackle. Did any of that
play a part in your development as a running back?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (15:19):
No, no question about it. It gave me great appreciation
for those lines, for those offensive guards, for the center,
for the tackles, and the job that they had to
do to make sure that we were successful in running
to play. The appreciation that they gave me really really
helped me a long way, and I think it helped
(15:41):
me in my own dealing with our offensive line and
dealing with our defensive team and how much they how
much importance they played for the success of our football team.
So having the opportunity to play those different positions makes
you appreciate, shate what these guys do, and it helps
(16:03):
you in your running And one of the things that
I always did it as a running back is I
tried to learn everybody's position. I mean, I knew what
everybody on my offensive line was going to do. I
mean not just that I had to run through this
hole or that whole, but I want to know what
the blocking scheme was, the whole works. And that certainly
helped me in my playing at the House and university
(16:25):
and beyond.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Let's talk about that. So you get there, you have
a strong freshman season. You don't break a thousand yards Russia.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
No, I don't break a thousand yards. Matter of fact,
my freshman year Leavar was the very first year the
freshmen were eligible to play because you I might remember
back in was it nineteen seventy I think Marshall University
and Wichita State University had those plane crashes, right, and
freshmen at that time weren't able to play Division one football.
(16:56):
They had their own freshman team, but Marshall wanted to
continue their football team and they couldn't do it because
a lot of they lost a lot of their sophomores, juniors,
and seniors in the plane crash. So NCAA then allowed
freshmen to play. So nineteen six two was the very
(17:17):
first year the freshman were usboll. So going into that year,
my main goal was, hey, I want to make the
varsity team. Because when I was coming out of high school,
so a lot of people told me I shouldn't go
to a house state. They said that I was too small.
They said the coach Woody Hayes, he only recruits the
big backs well over two hundred pounds, and that I
would never get a shot at playing at Ohio State.
(17:39):
And I ought to go somewhere where the guys were
smaller and I'd get a good chance for being an athlete.
And you know this, you feel, you know your ability
is bear than anyone else. So I took it as
a challenge to go to House steag University. And I'll
never forget when I reported the camp, I was put
at the back, and put at the back, and then
playing on the fifth team, and playing on the fifteen,
then playing on the scouts squad. You know, we were
taking the beating every day from the first team as
(18:01):
our job was to run the opposing team players while
the first team defense got their practice off of us.
And that was kind of discouraging because you really had
a hard time seeing you know, when you were going
to get.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Your opportunity right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Especially you know, being a freshman. This being the very
first year that freshman.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Well, well, I'll never forget in that first year when
we had our first home game, Coach as he had
this belief that if you dress for House, if you
practice for House state, then you should be identified in
Ohio State University uniform at a home game. And I
was really happy about that because that would at least
show that I was part of the team. And I'll
(18:41):
never forget that first game that we played against Iowa.
In the fourth quarter, about a couple of minutes to
go in the game, Coach A gave a few freshmen
an opportunity to play, and I was one of those
freshmen and him calling me off the bench to go
into the game. I remember how excited I was. This
was my big opportunity. If I could get in the
game and run for it touch down and make it
big play, maybe he might just put me on that
(19:03):
varsity team. Well, he put me in with two minutes
to go, got in the huddle. First day called was
an eighteen. It was a pitch out to me going
around the right side. Big opportunity for me. We broke
the huddle, balls, quarterbacks started calling to say was ball snapped.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
As soon as the ball was snapping, le Bar, I
did something that was fundamentally wrong. And you know this
is the truth. When I tell you, you know, when
you're running back.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Or a receiver and you're gonna get a pitch out
or pass, one of the fundamental things that you taught
first in little league is.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
That you got to look the ball into your hand,
hand from.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
The quarterbacks hands right to your own hand. But when
the ball was snapped, the first thing that I did
is I focused my attention on the home which I
was going.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
To run through. And when I looked towards that hole.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
I was shocked because those guys had opened up a
whole big enough you could drive a truck through it.
So instead of me turning back towards the quarterback and
watching the ball come to my hand, I kept my
eyes on that hole because I wanted to make sure
it didn't go anywhere me with my eyes on the hole.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
The quarterback Christal ball.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
The ball hit me in the hands and I fumbled,
and man, I got the I've got to tell you
that I thought that I had blown my big chance.
He took me out of the game, and I was
I was hurt, man, because I just felt that, you know,
I might not ever get another chance.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Well, I was going home.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
I'm from Plumbers, Ohio, and I remember going home that
evening and my dad said something was wrong with me here.
He asked me about and I told him, I said that,
you know, you know, I don't know I'd give hi
another chance. You know, I'm fifteen, tailed back on the
scout squad. I fumbled the ball with my only chance.
You know, I just don't and I'm a freshman. I mean,
I just don't know if I'm ever gonna get another chance.
(20:36):
With my father, like he'd always gave me a courtin,
he said, you know what, if they didn't think you
could play, they wouldn't have put.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
You in there. So you know, just go back, continue
to do what you've been doing.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
But I went back to practice that next week, but
I was still on that fifteam, still on the scout squad,
still taking that beating every day from the first Steamers.
But our next game was also a home game and
it was against the University of North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
And again because it was a home game, coaches out
everybody to dressing dress. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
So the night before that game, when Varsiti they went
away to a hotel, was fresh Missouri. We would lead
up with the varsity dad the game at the stake.
That game against North Carolina started in North Carolina blocked
the pun of bars and they went ahead of US
seven to nothing. And all of a sudden midway through
the first quarter, call from the bench called kept calling it,
and I knew he wasn't talking to me. He couldn't
(21:23):
have hit me. Man, I'm the fifth team tailback. I'm
on a scout squad. I had fumbled the week before,
and I was a freshman. Couldn't admit me. But the
calling griffin, and I was the only Griffin on the
team at the time.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
So I went up and he grabbed me by the
shoulder pad and he told me to go into tailback.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
But right then I got all excited and went to
run into the game. And as I went to run
out into the field of one of my good friends
having to call me back because all of the excitement
lebar I forgot to take my helmet with it.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Didn't even take your health.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
That is amazing.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Couldn't couldn't believe it.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Wow Together, I went into the game, and I will
tell you I was in a daze the whole time.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
All I could tell you is my number was being
called and I was just running with the ball. It
was just a big fall. And I know that I
played about two and a half quarters. I came out
of the game in the beginning of the fourth quarter.
And when I came out of the game and the
beginning the fourth quarter, the eighty six thousand fans that went,
ohiose game that day, they stood up and gave me
the standing ovation. They did it because those two and
(22:20):
a half quarters I had rushed for two hundred and
thirty nine yards, which at that time.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Was no happen It was directord that's right.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
And I just couldn't. I just couldn't believe it. But
to me, it was a miracle. And I will say this.
The night before that game, when I prayed, as I
do every night, I asked the Lord to give me
a chance to play in that game. It wouldn't give
me a chance to help me play to the best
of my ability. So I do count that as a miracle,
and I'm so very, very thankful because that was really
(22:47):
the springboard to my career at Ohio State.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
That's amazing. Okay, then you go into your next year
and you do start breaking a thousand yards rushing and
you are dominant. You know the one thing about being dominant.
I said this to Sakwan Barkley his last year, going
into his last year at school, When you're at the
bottom of the totem pole, you know, at the flag pole,
the wind don't blow that heart there. People don't see it.
(23:14):
It ain't high enough everybody. People can see it I closed,
but they don't see it from far and wide right.
But when when you show that you can play and
you get there and now he's coming out of that
freshman year and he's going into that sophomore season and
he's playing well, and then it goes into that junior
year and you win it. You win that Heisman Trophy.
(23:36):
You're one of the most dominant players in all of
college football. What was the mindset to know that coming
out of your sophomore campaign that it was going to
be what it was going to be, how hard it
was going to be to actually play well enough to
win a Heisman? And then what is the mindset of
(23:58):
once you're at the top of the flagpole and listen,
you come to the table, you can grab off of
the table, you grab the food, because they're like, who
was just grabbing the food? Oh? He got some food
out way, now we've seen coming. You ain't just gonna
come to the table and take the food off of
the table. Now you got you got to come take
this food.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Right, That's that's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
How did you do it? How'd you do it?
Speaker 1 (24:20):
After my freshman year and especially after my sophomore year.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
It got harder and harder and harder, no question about it.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
And and uh, you know my coach with he Hayes,
he used to always have the same and he always
said you're either getting better or you're getting worse.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
You never stayed the same, you never say at the
same level.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
So for me, and it was probably a little warp
thinking even on my part, I felt that after after
my after my sophomore year, and you know, you mentioned
I finished fifth in the heids and the voting. Uh,
so I was I was a target. I mean, people
were going to be out getting me. So I had
to try and up my game. Will do the best
that I could do to up my game, and I
(25:04):
continued to work hard.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
You know. I wanted to make sure that I was
in the best condition that I could be in.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
I wanted to make sure that mentally I was right
and I didn't want to make mistakes, you know, So
I tried to be at the top of my game
mentally and physically. One of the things I would do
from a physical standpoint, we had a guy by the
name of Brian Bashmaker who played for the Chicago Bears
for several years. But Brian was one of those guys
(25:32):
who worked extremely hard. I mean, he was always in
the best condition of anybody. And one of the things
I would always do is I would always work out
with Brian because I knew that if I could hang
with Brian in the workouts, that I would be in
the best condition I could possibly be and I would
be ready to play no matter what. So I would
always work out with Brian to make sure that I
(25:54):
was in the best position I could be in, and
I felt that that would help me during the course
of the season. And I will say this coach with
Hayes helped out a lot because I wasn't the guy
that ran the ball thirty times a game. I may
have run the ball thirty times in a game, maybe
two or three times in my whole career at Ohio State,
but I didn't run the ball that much because once
(26:15):
we got a lead, once we once we got comfortable
or comfortable lead, you know, he taken me out and
wrest me. Uh he wanted me to get at least
one hundred yards, but he would take me out and
rest me and let some of the other guys play.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
So I always.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Appreciated that because that meant that he cared about me
physically and didn't feel that I had to carry the
ball thirty times a game to do what we what
we needed to do. And we had some good backs too.
I mean I played with Pete Johnson, I played with champions,
and those guys were real good. I mean they were
outstanding as a matter of fact. So so we could
we could.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Share the load. That had a great quarterback in Cornelius Green,
who was a great option quarterback. All yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Had always called him a magician with the football, so
that was helpful as well. So you know, I just
tried to be the best that I could possibly be.
I was elected captains as a junior, and I felt
a big responsibility in that because it was unusual for
junior to be captain anyway, and so I felt that
I had to be a leader on that team. And
(27:19):
when I say leader, I had to lead from a
conditioning standpoint, I had to lead from a leadership standpoint,
and those things were all very very important to me.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
But I did the best I can do. I always
tell people what I do is I.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Do the best I can do with the opportunity that
I had, and you can expect to get the best
out of me. And and that's all I could.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Could, really really do, be the best that I could be.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
It has and this is now where the rubber meets
the road, because there's the transition from that mindset and
what it went into to be the type of player
that you were. But the one thing that that always
always precedes you is the reputation of how amazing a
(28:12):
man you are, how great a person you are. It
the the energy that you exude is that that makes
you instantly be inspired when I saw you. Every time
I see you, I'm inspired. Every time I'm around you,
I feel a sense of pride that that makes me
(28:34):
want to be better. When you left the game, you
took that mentality, the humble approach that I'm going to
be the best I can be, And it has translated
in you're after your post career life. How How has that?
How has that those experiences that you learned from football
(28:57):
translated Because so many times it's very difficult for us
to take and become civilians, become normal everyday people, you know,
and regardless of what our accolades are and what we accomplished.
For some of us that at the highest level of achievement,
(29:18):
it's the hardest to be able to adapt and adjust
to not being that star that you were when you
were an active player. But you have. You have impacted
the community. You have continued to work with the university.
At one point you were assistant athletic director. You're the
president of the Alumni club association. That you had guys
(29:41):
have had. You have been so entrenched and so active
that you have created a blueprint for us guys like
myself to follow post career. What went into that How
did it translate into you being able to establish being
such a well res expected person that sits on boards
(30:02):
of major corporations and sits on boards of charities and foundations.
What went into that?
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Well, that that goes back to home my parents again.
They gave us great directions. And one of the things
that uh, they taught us, LeVar that I'll never forget.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
I say the same thing to my kids, and that
is you treat people right. You know, you treat people right.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
They always taught us or told us about following the
golden rule, do unto others as you wish they wouldn't
do unto you, and that and that was so important.
And I always, whether it's on my job as presidency
or the hous State University of Alumni Association, or whatever
job I've ever had, I've always wanted to make sure
(30:50):
that I treated people right, that I treated people in
situations the way I would want to be treated in
those situations. And usually when you when you do that,
the results are a good thing, because nobody ever wants
to be treated bad. And when you think about, you know,
how if you've got to let somebody go this, that
(31:11):
and the other, what's the proper way to do that.
You know, how would it would if you were being
let go? How would you like to be treated? Those
things come to mind when I'm in those situations. And
then the other thing is the good Lord up above.
I've been a man of faith all my life, and
again that comes from my parents. And I also think
(31:33):
about my former football coach, what he hates. He had
this thing, what he talked about, that he talked about
every year to us, paying forward, doing things to help
other people.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Every year he preached that.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
To us, and not only did he preach it to us,
but you could see him do it. And that was
so very very important. That was so influential in my
life because when it comes to charities and things of
that sort, I want to pay for it. I want
(32:08):
to do things to help other people. There were people
out there when I was a kid doing things to
help me, help my family, and I want to be
able to help others if I could possibly can. And
Woody Hayes was the best at that he talked to.
He got it from Ralph wa Wims say on compensation,
(32:28):
where it says you can never pay back the good
that someone may have done for you, but you can
always you can always pay forward.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
And he preached that us. He paid forward.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
You could watch him every year and all the charities
that he got involved with. And I can remember on
Thursday evenings after alf practice, a lot of us, a
few of us would get into the back of his
El Camino and he would drive us down the children's
hospital and we would meet up with some kids that
were in children's hospital that look forward house State players
(33:01):
coming down on Thursday nights, and they would leave a
door open for Woody to bring us in. Now, he
didn't want anybody nobody. He wouldn't He didn't want the
press or anybody nobody. If the press would have known
about it, he wouldn't have done it. But the fact that
the folks that children administrated the children's hospital wanted him
to come down and bring some players to meet with
(33:22):
the kids meant a lot to him, and he wanted
to make sure that he would do it. And he again,
we'd get in the back of his l Comino, we
drive down and we'd meet with those kids, and those
kids had great smiles on their faces and.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
They look forward to it.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
And Coach a he loved doing that because he knew
that it helped those kids. But paying forward was his
big mantra and everything that he would do, he would
talk about paying forward, doing things to help others.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
I love that. Before I let you go, I'm gonna
ask you one more coach question. And the podcast is
called good in the Game? What would you're good in
the game? Message be to today's athletes, whether it's the younger,
younger generations of guys that are aspiring to make it
(34:11):
at the high school, college level, maybe even the pro level.
What is the good in the game message that Archie
Griffin will want them to know and take with them.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
First of all, the game is a great game. It's
not an easy game. It's a tough game, but it's
a great game. If it was an easy game, everybody
would do it. But everybody can't do it. But you
gotta be tough enough to do it. But the game
is a game that you learn a lot of valuable
life long lessons. And I spoke earlier some of the
(34:48):
lessons you learn how to get up after being knocked down, folks,
that's a lesson that you can take with you throughout life.
I had a junior high school guidance counselor God by
the name of mister Gil great inspirer in my life,
(35:10):
but I'll never forget. In junior high school, he told
us about three words that he thought would help us
in our lives, three words that he thought would help
us be successful.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
And those three.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Words were desired, dedication, and determination. And I remember him
telling us that if we'd apply those three d's Desire,
you have to want something out of life. Dedication, you
must be committed to achieving that certain something. In determination,
you must be able to overcome the obstacles that might
somehow get in your way. I remember him telling us
that if we'd apply those three d's to anything that
(35:43):
we want to do, then we could always feel good
about ourselves. And we can feel good about ourselves because
if we use those three d's in essence.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
What we have done is we have given a total commitment,
a total commitment.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
And when you think about those three d's, when you
think about a total commitment, nobody can ask you to
do anything more, no matter what you're asked to do.
If you give a total commitment, nobody can ask you
to do anything more. So my challenge to those playing
the game is to make sure that when you go
(36:17):
out on the field, and when you leave that field
that you have given a total commitment. Remember those three d's, desired, dedication,
and determination. They all add up to be a total commitment.
So my advice would be totally commit yourself to being
the very best that you could be.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
That's what it is for me.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Powerful. That's got Griffin right there, y'all. Griffin, if y'all
didn't know, now you know, and then you do know.
You know why you know because that's one of the
most special dudes to ever do it, not just on
the field, but off the field, the great Archie Griffin
of Ohio State. He's a part at first annual show
of Good in the game. We appreciate you coming on
(37:02):
og I mean, man, humbling, humbling. Now I can add
to my resume that I interview one of the goat
of goats. So thank you so much for making some
time for us and keep being you, man, because you
really inspire us. Man, you inspire so many people. Just
keep being you well.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Thank you, Labar, Thank you for having me man. I
greatly appreciate that and always great seeing you. I was
so happy when I saw.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
You at Rosebow.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
That was a terrific man, so thank you, so very much,
appreciate it.
Hosts And Creators
Brady Quinn
LaVar Arrington
Jonas Knox
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