EDITOR'S NOTE -- This is the latest installment of BSB Flashback, where we look back at some of our readers' favorite stories from the first 22 years of Buckeye Sports Bulletin.

In this edition we look back at 1999, when Archie Griffin’s uniform No. 45 was the first to be retired by Ohio State in football. This article was originally published in the Nov. 6, 1999, edition of BSB.

It was also included in our 20th anniversary yearbook, published in 2002 and titled "20 Years Of Memories." Enjoy this trip down memory lane with BSB and the Buckeyes!

Archie Griffin may now be the No. 2 man in the Ohio State athletic department, but he was not clued in on one very important policy decision: the retirement of his old football jersey number 45.

Griffin was on the field at halftime of the Oct. 30 OSU-Iowa Homecoming game as his 1974 Big Ten championship team was recognized.

But he was stunned as athletic director Andy Geiger presented him a framed uniform jersey No. 45 and public address announcer Dave Parr announced that the university was retiring its first athletic uniform number.

“It’s just such a surprise, knowing it had never been done before here at Ohio State,” Griffin said moments after the ceremony. “I am really surprised. This is just a wonderful honor. I want to thank Andy and everyone involved who made this happen.”

Geiger announced plans that OSU will retire the numbers of all five of the school’s Heisman Trophy winners in time for them to be recognized within the stadium when renovations are complete in 2001.

But Griffin, who played for the Buckeyes from 1972-75 and is still the college game’s only two-time Heisman Trophy winner, was the first.

“It means a lot, but I’m only a part of the tremendous tradition we’ve had here,” Griffin said. “I am so proud to have attended this university and to have been able to play football here. Coach (Woody) Hayes was a great coach and I thank him for everything he did for me.

“To be able to have your jersey retired in front of your teammates was really very special.”

Geiger said this announcement was long overdue, adding, “Archie Griffin is the spirit of this place.”

OSU plans some type of Ring of Honor — perhaps on the facade of C-deck — to post not only the retired uniform numbers but all of the school’s special award winners.

For now, though, there are plans only to retire the numbers of Heisman Trophy winners. That would include 1944 winner Les Horvath (No. 22), 1950 winner Vic Janowicz (31), 1955 winner Howard “Hopalong” Cassady (40) and 1995 winner Eddie George (27).

“It’s an important statement to make,” Geiger said. “The Heisman Trophy is an extraordinary achievement, and he won it twice.

“If you’re going to start honoring people, this is where you would start. We have plans to retire the numbers of the remaining Heisman winners as well.

“We will recognize them some sort of way in the new stadium. We plan to also recognize all of the great award winners we’ve had — the Outland Trophy winners, the Butkus Award winners, the Lombardi Award winners and the rest.

“But you can’t retire them all. The Heisman Trophy is just so special.”

Geiger, who arrived at OSU in May 1994, was mystified by the school’s policy to neither issue special uniform numbers like these nor retire them.

“I just felt we were inconsistent with how we had dealt with this in the past,” he said. “By not giving those numbers out to new players, we weren’t really recognizing them. They were retired, but it was never official.”

Banners have already been placed on the stadium concourse recognizing many of the football program’s past greats. Geiger and his staff want to take things to the next step with more displays of that nature inside the venerable Horseshoe.

“We have a nice display in the concourse of the Schottenstein Center,” he said. “We want to do similar things here once we’ve renovated the stadium.”

According to an OSU release, Griffin’s No. 45 will be recognized in the stadium next season. Plus, OSU plans to stage a ceremony to retire the numbers of the other Heisman winners sometime next year. Horvath and Janowicz are deceased, while Cassady resides in Columbus and George plays for the NFL’s Tennessee Titans.

In addition, Ohio State also will retire at least three numbers in men’s basketball. Those numbers were worn by John Havlicek (5), Bill Hosket (25) and Jerry Lucas (11).

Griffin Caught Off-Guard

As members of OSU’s 1949, 1954, 1974 and 1979 Big Ten championship teams were announced, a collection of media members and photographers — briefed literally minutes earlier — began to surround Griffin.

He truly had no clue what was coming next.

“This was a total surprise,” said Griffin, an OSU associate athletic director. “To have this happen when they were recognizing our 1974 team and to have them with me here on the field was really special.

“The first hint I got something was going on was when my son, Adam, came out on the field. I don’t usually take my son out on the field.

“We usually tell guys when they’re going out on the field to be recognized not to bring their kids because it gets kind of confusing. When Adam came out, I had to figure out what was going on.

“Then, Steve (Snapp) came out and said, ‘We want you to hang around a little bit.’ All of a sudden, I said this is 25 years since I won the Heisman Trophy. Maybe I’m getting a plaque or something.

“Then, I saw Andy walk out with the jersey in the frame, and my emotions got away from me. I figured maybe they are going to retire No. 45. I kind of lost it at that point.”

Griffin had been privy to department discussions on how and when OSU would begin retiring selected jersey numbers. He just had no idea it was going to happen so soon.

“We had been talking about it quite a bit, Steve Snapp, Andy Geiger and a bunch of us,” he said. “We’ve been talking quite a bit about how we’re going to do that.

“I figured it would happen after the stadium renovations were complete. That’s one of the reasons they caught me by surprise today.

“I knew we were working on some things. But I didn’t think it would happen today.”

No More No. 45s

Nobody had worn No. 45 since Griffin left OSU in 1975 until linebacker Andy Katzenmoyer arrived on campus in 1996.

The high school All-American requested the same number he had worn in high school at nearby Westerville South. At the time, the decision created a minor furor among OSU fans.

“I knew it was a controversy, although I had just been here a year or two when that happened,” Geiger said. “Andy Katzenmoyer was a great football player at Ohio State.

“This has nothing to do with that. It has everything to do with Archie Griffin and the great tradition he set here. This is the perfect time to do it.”

Griffin reportedly was asked by members of the OSU coaching staff whether he would “surrender” his number for Katzenmoyer to use it. He was asked by reporters what his response would be if that question were ever posed again.

“My answer would probably be, ‘If he’s going to help us win, then I guess he’s got to wear it,’” Griffin said.

“But, I tell you what, I think we answered that today. I’m sure Coach Cooper or any other coach who is here will tell them that No. 45 is out.”

OSU coach John Cooper, standing beside Griffin at the podium during the postgame press conference, assured as much.

“I can answer that question loud and clear — that number will not be worn while I’m coaching here,” Cooper said. “Arch, maybe the next coach will do that.

“Arch was the only two-time Heisman Trophy winner. Let me congratulate him. I think that’s fantastic to do that. And obviously some other players on down the road it might happen to, but I think that’s a great honor for Archie and very, very deserving.”

The numbers of Horvath, Janowicz and Cassady have been in limbo in recent years. George’s No. 27 was reissued to Jerry Westbrooks in 1996. Westbrooks, a junior this year, figures to be the last Buckeye to wear it.

EDITOR'S NOTE -- In 2002, we published "20 Years of Memories," a 20th anniversary yearbook for Buckeye Sports Bulletin. If you like the story you just read, click on the link below for details on how to obtain this special yearbook with reprints from the first 20 years of BSB.