Kurt Schumacher played offensive line for the Buckeyes from 1971-74. He was selected to the All-Big Ten team in both 1973 and ’74 and was also voted to the All-American team in ’74. He was drafted by the New Orleans Saints with the 12th pick in the 1975 NFL draft and spent five seasons in the NFL with both the Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Lantern: What are you doing today in life after football?
Kurt Schumacher: I currently work for a company called Excellence in Motivation. It is based in Dayton and deals with marketing for fortune 1000 companies.
TL: You had the opportunity to be honorary captain for the OSU football team earlier this season during the San Diego State game, what was that like?
KS: Actually there’s a really funny story that coach Tressel told me that day. I got to keep the coin that was used in the coin toss. This thing was a huge coin – it has to be three inches across. On the head’s side of the coin is the head of a cow, and on the tails side is the back side of the cow. According to Jim, the story behind that is that back in the 1920s the students at Ohio State actually elected a cow named Maudine as their homecoming queen.
TL: The Buckeyes have the biggest game of the year coming up this weekend – the Michigan game. What did this game in particular mean to you as a player?
KS: Well when I was in school it was a bit different than it is now. Back then the Rose Bowl picked one team from the Pac-8 (now Pac-10) and one team from the Big Ten and no one else from those conferences went to a bowl game. So the OSU-Michigan game always decided whether your season was over or whether you were going to play in the Rose Bowl. So the game meant a lot even above and beyond the rivalry. I remember my sophomore, junior and senior year they won every game except against us. They lost to us twice and tied us once, and they never played in a bowl game during those three seasons.
TL: The team travels up to Ann Arbor this weekend for the game. What were your experiences like playing up north?
KS: Thankfully I only had to play up there once. Unfortunately it was a 10-10 tie in a game we were heavily favored. Both places are great stadiums to play in. One thing I hated about playing up there is that the fans are so close to the field. The noise level there is actually greater for the players. It’s like you go two steps behind the bench and you can order a hot dog. But that game was an enormous disappointment for us. Nobody had won and nobody had lost, but in the tunnel leaving the field the Michigan players celebrated as if they had won, and we felt like we had lost. We had been ranked No.1 all season, and that tie cost us an outright national title. We still ended up going to the Rose Bowl that year because of a vote by the Big Ten athletic directors, but we were surprised that there even was a vote, let alone that they chose us. Luckily they did, because of the three Rose Bowl’s we went to, that was the only one we won, beating USC.
TL: Is the season a failure if the team doesn’t win this weekend?
KS: It’s not quite that black and white. I think Tressel has done a great job of getting the team ready to play against Michigan, but there isn’t really a clearly dominant team in the Big Ten right now. If they go and don’t win it would be a huge disappointment, and the guys up north would have bragging rights for a year. But let’s keep things in perspective, it’s not like losing a parent.
TL: Would it have been a failure to Woody Hayes?
KS: Yes. Every coach wants to win every game. And every OSU coach wants to win this game first and foremost. Coach Hayes was so intense. He simply didn’t accept losing. It wasn’t an acceptable option for us to consider. He worked so hard, and the staff prepared us so well and we always had very good players. We never lost to Michigan when I was there, but when Woody did I’m sure he was not a happy camper, until the next spring when he could start preparing for them again.
TL: What is your one lasting Woody Hayes memory?
KS: Woody really didn’t care what people outside the football program thought about him. He wasn’t a politician; he didn’t care about the press. He earned the respect of everyone that worked with him or played for him. My first season in New Orleans I went back to Lorain High School and did my student teaching to complete my degree. A few months after that I went to visit people I know in Columbus and they asked me where I was at graduation. Woody had taken all the guys to lunch to congratulate them on getting their degree. That was just who Woody was. There was nothing any of us could do for Woody anymore. We were all done with our OSU playing careers. But Woody always cared more about the person than the player. You don’t find that everywhere.
