Senior guard Aaron Craft holds up a Taco Tuesday T-shirt Feb. 10 during interviews at the Schottenstein Center. The shirts are $20 and are set to be sold in the southwest entrance of the Schottenstein Center as well as the team shop inside, and proceeds will benefit OSU LiFE Sports.
Credit: Eric Seger / Sports editor
The fans who attend the college basketball showdown between No. 22 Ohio State and No. 15 Michigan Tuesday at the Schottenstein Center are set to have a chance to cheer on their teams with a belly full of tacos.
Courtesy of senior guard Aaron Craft’s roommates — who run the Twitter account @CRAFTroomies — and OSU, students and fans are set to have a chance to participate in Taco Tuesday, complete with a taco stand and T-shirt sales.
The shirts are slated to be sold at the southwest (student) entrance at the Schottenstein Center, as well as the team shop inside. The shirts cost $20 each, and patrons will be able to purchase three tacos for $5 at a taco stand in the southwest rotunda. The tacos are from the Schottenstein concessions and are not catered, according to an OSU athletic spokesman.
All proceeds benefit OSU LiFE Sports, a program that allows underprivileged kids to participate in athletic camps on campus during the summer.
Craft said Monday he and his roommates came up with the idea over winter break “to make it more than just about ourselves and make it more than just fun for us to have.”
“We were trying to think of what shenanigans we are probably most known for, and it’s definitely the tacos,” Craft said. “It goes back a few years with some of the guys I’ve lived with. Hopefully doing tacos and making it a night, we can do it more than just at a basketball game.”
Craft and his roommates hosted another Taco Tuesday Nov. 19, where 1,000 OSU students got the chance to ask the senior and his roommates questions, tour the basketball facilities at the Schottenstein Center and even sit at center court on the roommates’ couch and get their photo taken.
Craft said he hopes for Taco Tuesday to become an annual event.
“I have a baseball roommate and a golfer so, maybe at a baseball game sometime this spring and then beyond when I’m here … you can have an annual taco night or something just to continue hopefully helping the kids and everything,” Craft said.
Craft said he got the idea to give the proceeds to an organization from former OSU walk-on Mark Titus, who started “Club Tril,” sold T-shirts and donated money to the nonprofit called A Kid Again.
Titus’ goal as founder of “Club Tril” was to play in a college basketball game and record no statistical significance other than minutes played, thus having his box score have a number one in its first slot followed by eight zeros and look like the number one trillion.
Titus and the organization continue selling T-shirts and donating today, and OSU coach Thad Matta said Monday he’s pleased to see his players reach out and give back.
“I love that,” Matta said. “As I’ve always said to our players, take the opportunity you have here to make the most not only for yourself but for the people around you. I think that Aaron is definitely doing that in his time at Ohio State and I think it says a lot about him that he would do something like that. He’s an amazing kid.”
Tipoff between the Buckeyes (19-5, 6-5) and Wolverines (17-6, 9-2) is set for 9 p.m. Tuesday.
