College Traditions, a locally owned Ohio State merchandise and memorabilia store on Lane Avenue, found their Brutus Buckeye statue vandalized Sunday. The vandalization raises questions for local businesses concerning game day disputes. Credit: Courtesy of Kelly Dawes
As the Buckeyes gear up to face the Michigan Wolverines at Ohio Stadium Saturday, fans across Columbus wait in anticipation. One Buckeye, however, will be missing in action.
The Brutus Buckeye statue outside of College Traditions — a locally owned Ohio State merchandise shop located at 286 W. Lane Ave. — was vandalized early Sunday morning.
Kelly Dawes, co-owner of College Traditions alongside Nancy Muldoon, said she learned about the incident from employees at the Varsity Club, a restaurant and bar neighboring her store. Early Sunday morning, staff members sent her a photo depicting a “badly beaten” Brutus, which prompted her to contact the police.
According to a Columbus Division of Police report of a preliminary investigation, the vandalization of the Brutus statue — worth $40,000 — occurred between 2:30 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. Sunday. The suspect is a 21-year-old male from Franklin County, according to the report.
Dawes said she viewed security camera footage in which the man “kicked [Brutus], and broke him off the platform he was on.”
Afterward, the man in the video “threw [Brutus] against the ground, kicked him up and down Lane Avenue and threw him at our Woody statue.”
Finally, the man in the video “threw [Brutus] down the Varsity Club stairs,” where he was later found, Dawes said.
“I have no idea who would do this, but we’re working with OSU and Columbus police,” Dawes said. “They’re very helpful; they’re looking at videos and they’re investigating.”
Dawes and Muldoon said the vandalism has taken a heavy toll on their business. During the week preceding “The Game,” fans often visit the store to take photos with their Brutus statue, making this crime “even sadder,” Dawes said.
“You know, I’m super busy this week,” Dawes said. “The store is super busy, and to have something happen, it’s disappointing. We don’t have our Brutus statue.”
Though the vandalism of Brutus was “highly emotional,” Dawes said it’s also out of the ordinary.
“I think this was kind of isolated,” Dawes said. “We’ve never really had a problem with [vandalism]. There are police down here right in the area during game days. We feel pretty protected; nothing like this has ever really happened. It’s sad.”
Still, Brutus’ vandalization has sparked concern among University District business owners about game day safety and violence.
Josh Harden — owner of Clothing Underground, a local Ohio State-themed vintage store on High Street — said rivalry week is “one of the biggest weeks of the year” for the store, requiring full inventory, backup inventory and precautions “in anticipation of” Friday and Saturday.
Harden said Clothing Underground has never experienced significant property damage as a result of “The Game,” but has nevertheless encountered “little things” over the years.
“We have, like, a little frame sign that we sit outside, and people tend to grab it and throw it out on the road and just weird stuff,” Harden said. “There’s just so many people walking around, like, it gets kind of wild on High Street.”
Clothing Underground has never had to get the police involved with any problems related to vandalism or violence, but Harden said the store does adopt other measures to ensure customers’ and workers’ safety on game days.
“We always had a security guard here on game day, because you never know what can happen,” Harden said.
Notably, the Brutus Buckeye statue outside of College Traditions has never been intentionally vandalized before. Even so, this is not Brutus’s first encounter with destruction.
In 2021, a car swerved into Brutus due to poor weather conditions, and Dawes said “he went down.”
The event led Dawes and Muldoon to contact Eclipse, a creative services company located in Gahanna, Ohio, according to its website, to get the statue fixed.
“It was so horrible. I was, like, panicked because I didn’t know if I was going to be able to get him fixed,” Dawes said. “Eclipse Graphics in Gahanna fixed him for us, and we got him all up and back. This is just, this is so much worse than back in 2021.”
Dawes said she and Muldoon are currently contacting the Eclipse staff to see if they can repair the Brutus statue and get him back up “as soon as possible.”
“We do have insurance on him, but once again, I don’t know what it’s going to take this time,” Dawes said.
