Mom: Girard man is excited to be dot

A contingent from the
Mahoning Valley has
traveled to watch the ‘i’-dotting.

By LAURE CIOFFI

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

GIRARD — Little did Jordan Rader know that when he took up the sousaphone in the sixth grade, he would be part of an Ohio football tradition.

The 24-year-old Girard man is dotting the “i” as the band takes the field to form the scripted Ohio at today’s Ohio State game against Michigan State.

“We are thrilled to death he’s finally made it. He’s excited because so few people get to do this,” said his mother, Lori Cook of Girard.

Dotting the “i” is a coveted spot on the field that is given only to fourth- and fifth-year sousaphone band members. It has been a tradition since 1937.

The honor is so big that Rader’s mother and 40 friends and family from the Mahoning Valley traveled to Columbus today for the game. An “i”-dot party with about 75 guests will be held after the game at an area hotel, his mother said.

Cook said she talked to her son multiple times by telephone on Friday and sensed the impact of being the “i”-dot was starting to sink in — and so were his nerves.

“He’s been calling his mother multiple times on a Friday with little to say. It’s starting to sink in,” she said.

Rader, a 2002 Girard graduate, is majoring in geological sciences and expects to graduate this year.

But that doesn’t mean he’s done with the band or dotting the “i.”

Cook said her son will attend graduate school at OSU next year and hopes to continue in the band. After all fourth-year sousaphone players dot the “i,” the fifth year sousaphone players get the chance again.

“That’s probably why he’s going to graduate school,” Cook said jokingly.

cioffi@vindy.com