At today's Men's Rally, Tressel recalls a comment he can't forget

YOUNGSTOWN

Jim Tressel is no stranger to halls of fame.

The longtime football coach and current president of Youngstown State University has left his footsteps in nearly a half-dozen of them, including the College Football Hall of Fame, the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame, and the YSU Athletics Hall of Fame.

But he’s got one more in sight, and in his eyes, it means more than the others. That’s God’s hall of fame.

The door to that hall, Tressel said, can only be opened by a life well-lived according to God’s plan and instruction.

Tressel, who coached teams to national championships at both YSU and Ohio State, kicked off the annual Men’s Rally In the Valley Saturday at Covelli Centre downtown. The event, now in its seventh year, is aimed at encouraging men to be strong in their Christian faith and challenging them to grow in it.

He recalled the aftermath of YSU’s first national championship in 1991, and said the frenzy that awaited the team upon its return to Youngstown that day was unlike anything he’d ever seen before or since.

“All along Belmont Avenue, there were cars and people lined up,” he said. “People were cheering and honking their horns. Stores and businesses had signs in their windows. The community outpouring was unbelievable.”

The football team’s success that day helped to lift the spirits of a community that had been crushed by economic collapse, which had been brought on by the fall of the once mighty local steel industry.

Among the throngs of people who crowded around the team that day, Tressel said he felt a tug on his coat and turned to see an older-looking man, who told him, “Coach, this is the greatest day of my life since VE Day.”

Tressel said that sobering comment stuck with him, because it helped him realize that the impact of the team’s feat went far beyond the football field, and he used that brief encounter to inspire his players toward a selfless attitude.

“What they did for that guy, who they didn’t even know... that’s what life is about,” Tressel said.

Read more about the event and his remarks in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.