Time and Change: Larry Romanoff
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"Time and Change will surely show, How firm they friendship, O-H-I-O." In all my years as a Buckeye, I may have never met an individual, who espoused those words more than Larry Romanoff.
Often, in these Time and Change columns, I talk to former players about 'Who is their Bob Fenton'. Who is that one person who has gone out of their way, un-asked or unbeknownst to you, to help you progress and succeed in life.
You have read about Archie Griffin with his. Oscar Gill and Chris Spielman with Frank Hoak or Tim Fox with Harry Meyer.
I then always asked them for their thoughts about Romanoff, who I personally feel is one of the greatest Buckeyes ever, regardless of the fact that his countless efforts were most often accomplished behind the scenes or under the radar.
Amazingly, each and every one of those former players said, "I was going to say Larry as one of their Bob Fentons." Obviously, in my own case, Bob Fenton is that one person who always went out of his way for me. However, I will never forget all the terrific things that Larry did for me.
As I entered Ohio State as a freshman, I was enamored by our great university, but I was also full of myself, thinking that I was "bigger than life", now playing for one of the greatest powers in college football. I felt things should be given to me or certainly made easier, including classes and my grades. Oh, how wrong I was!
During my freshman year, I had missed classes and failed to apply myself to my studies, believing that things would be handed to me. One day, on the way to the then Ernie Biggs Athletic Facility for practice, I was summoned to Larry's office at St. John arena. I knew something was up. When I walked in to Larry's office, there sat my father, who had been notified by Romanoff that I was under performing in my school work. My dad had taken a day off from his engineering position at the Caterpillar Tractor Company to drive nine hours to visit with Larry and to help set his son straight. I was told that I would not be allowed to attend the Gator Bowl with the team, unless my grades improved dramatically.
To put it mildly, I studied my butt off! I was not going to let them down, but I also learned not to let myself down. It was a pivotal moment in my experience at Ohio State. It taught me how to be a Buckeye, that nothing comes easy and you have to earn everything you get. It was one of those parental moments, not only with my father, but with Larry as well. Needless to say, those grades grew substantially and I not only participated in that Gator Bowl, but the Rose Bowl in the next year as well.
On a lighter note, I will never forget my freshman year during double sessions and fall camp, when Coach Woody Hayes, unhappy with the effort in one of our practices, threw a temper tantrum as he was known to do from time to time.
Woody, in a blaze of glory, actually a blaze of rage, reached up and grabbed those recognizable iconic silver glasses and crumpled them in his hand. As a young freshman, I was stunned. Woody was continuing his "constructive criticism" of the prior play, blood dripping from his hand onto the turf, when Romanoff came running up with a shoe box. He opened the box for Coach Hayes and inside sat 12 pairs of brand new silver prescription glasses. Woody snatched a pair, put them on his head and stormed back to the huddle. It was one of many light hearted moments I experienced with Larry, as well as so many others when Larry extended himself to help someone else.
Larry began his career at Ohio State as a team manager in 1969. During his 43 years with the Ohio State University, he moved on to Assistant Academic advisor for the football team, then to Head Academic Adviser, then to Assistant Athletics Director for Academics, next onto Director of Development and finally to Director of External Relations.
Surprisingly, hailing from Toledo and having a father who was a Michigan grad, Romanoff grew up a Michigan fan. That wouldn't last for long. As a high school graduate, Larry wrote letters to Bump Elliott, then the head football coach at Michigan and to Ohio State Assistant Coach Dave McClain and Hayes.
"I never heard a word from Michigan, Larry said. But, I received personal letters from Dave McClain and Woody Hayes, both inviting me to enroll at Ohio Stated and become a team manager. The dye was cast and one of our greatest Buckeyes was on his way to a tremendous legacy of support and 'Paying Forward' at Ohio State.
Most Buckeye fans are aware of Hayes' commitment to 'Paying Forward' as he used to describe to us from Ralph Waldo Emerson's Essay on Compensation. Romanoff remembers countless examples of Paying Forward by Woody and shares two with me during our discussion.
"I remember one evening after practice and study table when I was team manager," Larry said. "Woody came up to me and said 'Larry, do you have your homework done?' When I told him yes, that I was all caught up, Woody said 'Good, I have a football to deliver to a terminal cancer patient in Cleveland and I'd like you to come along.'
"It had been a long day, but we jumped in the car and drove two and a half hours to Mt. Sinai Hospital in Cleveland. We went into the Cancer Ward and Woody delivered an autographed football to this man who was terminal with cancer. He spent 25 to 30 minutes speaking with this gentleman, offering him care and encouragement. You should have seen the look on his face. We then drove back to Columbus and the Biggs Facility, where Woody went right to the film room to watch films of that Days practice.
"Many years later, I met a man here in Columbus, who asked how long I had worked with Ohio State Football. When I told him that I had been there from 1969 to the present, the man said, 'Then you must have worked for the great Woody Hayes.' When I told him that I did, he told me the story of how his mother worked in the Neo-Natal department of the Ohio State University Hospital and had told him how Woody used to frequently arrive in the wee hours of the morning to help feed the babies. 'My Mom loved him ever since,'" he said.
Regarding that same paying forward topic, I asked Larry to share some of his best memories while at Ohio State. Not surprisingly, Larry said, "One of the greatest experiences was to work with Woody Hayes, Earle Bruce, John Cooper, an awesome person like Jim Tressel and now Urban Meyer.
"Certainly, being a part of the 2002 National Championship was special," Larry said. "One experience that really stands out was the day Mike Lanese was named a Rhodes Scholar. There are very few Rhodes Scholarships ever awarded, let alone to a college football player. We all worked so hard for that and it was a proud day."
Expanding on those thoughts Larry said, ""If I died today, and you put all of the people that I helped get jobs after college or advance in life into one room, that room would be packed. I can be nothing but proud of that. I will never be rich financially, but knowing that I had a little bit to do with those people's success makes me a very rich person," Larry said.
Larry has gone out of his way for so many people at Ohio State. Some things should never change.
Tim Fox, who I recently featured in Time and Change, was emphatic with his compliments.
"Romanoff helped me in so many ways when I was at Ohio State, that I couldn't count them," Fox said. "He helped me with classes, grades, assignments, working, class and test schedules and with my post season travel schedule. But I will never forget, the time and trouble he went to in order to help my daughter Holly, gain admission and become a full-time student at the Ohio State University. Larry didn't have to do that, but he did."
To a person, every one of the former players and coaches with whom I have spoken, have Identified Larry as one of the most influential people in their Ohio State experience. They represent relationships during the 1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s.
I could think of no other way than to list some of the testimonials that these terrific people have given me regarding Larry and I have decided to list them here:
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