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Canfield native dots the ‘i’ in OSU game
By Billy Ludt
CANFIELD
In his fourth football season with the Ohio State University Marching Band, one Canfield native experienced one of the highest honors bestowed upon a sousaphone player in a collegiate setting: Dotting the “i” in Script Ohio during a football pregame performance.
George Hoeferlin, a biomedical engineering major and a fourth-year sousaphone player in the OSU marching band, dotted the letter “i” in the visitor-facing “Ohio” in the university’s season opening football game against the Indiana University Hoosiers.
“It was pretty awesome, because after four years of doing this and having all that hard work paid off,” he said.
Hoeferlin will dot the i once more in OSU’s game against Penn State on Saturday at home.
To be able to dot the i, sousaphone players must perform in the marching band for four years. During his first year at OSU, however, Hoeferlin didn’t make the cut for marching band.
That’s part of the reason why he decided to stay at the school for a fifth year.
The decision to stay a fifth year isn’t uncommon, Hoeferlin said, and he wanted the opportunity to dot the i. And having the extra semester, he said, helped with his school workload.
Up until his sophomore year of high school, Hoeferlin played the trumpet. That year, his instructor at Canfield High School asked if he’d be interested in playing the sousaphone.
“It was a lot of practice, because you have to get your legs pretty high with a 35-pound instrument – it’s a lot,” he said.
Hoeferlin and fellow sousaphone players have been practicing and stretching for this football season since spring. They’re assisted by the marching band’s drumline players, who have also conditioned themselves to carrying heavier instruments during performances.
The fourth-year sousaphone players have a self-regulated ranking system for determining who will dot the i at which games.
“It’s really a prideful moment for us, and we’re all just honored for this opportunity,” he said.
Hoeferlin joined the ranks of decades of sousaphone players and nonband members who have dotted the i. These include former OSU football coach Earle Bruce, comedian Bob Hope, golfer Jack Nicklaus and a number of former university presidents and team coaches.
“Being a single mom for many years, it’s just nice being able to see what my kids accomplish,” said Zina Hoeferlin, George’s mother. “I’m equally proud of all of my children, and this moment is for George.”
Zina Hoeferlin made sure to acquire tickets for the season opener at Indiana University, and for the Buckeyes’ bout against the Nittany Lions.
“As a mother, it was exciting,” she said after watching George dot the i. “Bittersweet and tearful. Tears of joy, of course.”