[Ohio-talk] A Blast from the Past

[Paul Dressell]

Great article! Now see if you can get Marshon Lynch to talk to the media. 
Drexler
Hi Jw,

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Smith, JW via Ohio-talk" <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org>
To: <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org>; <gwunder at nfb.org>; <bobcatwin3 at yahoo.com>; 
<Kevin.Miller at ood.ohio.gov>; <mindy.duncan at ood.ohio.gov>; "Eisenstein,Russ" 
<eisenste at ohio.edu>; "Lewis, Carolyn" <lewisc3 at ohio.edu>; 
<joshelynsmith at yahoo.com>; "kh292311-forward" <kjhales at hotmail.com>; 
"Butterworth, Michael" <butterwm at ohio.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2015 2:22 PM
Subject: [Ohio-talk] A Blast from the Past


> Dear NFB of Ohio  Family, Friends and Colleagues,
>
> I was going through some old newspaper articles that have collected in my 
> desk and I found a copy of the following article which you might find to 
> be of some interest. I am including the link here as well as cutting and 
> pasting it below.
>
> Jw
>
>
> http://www.thepostathens.com/article_cc866ba9-10ba-522f-9ede-e17b3f73ef61.html
>
>
> J.W. Smith has attended Ohio basketball games for the better part of the 
> past 15 years, yet he has never seen a single shot.
>
> The associate communications professor was there when Gary Trent helped 
> power Ohio to a Mid-American Conference Championship and was in his office 
> later that season when Trent told him that he would forgo his senior 
> season and enter the NBA Draft.
>
> He was there, in the second row at the 2005 MAC Championship, getting hugs 
> from the team after Leon Williams' tip-in at the buzzer sent the Bobcats 
> dancing.
>
> He's there at just about every Bobcat home game with his 14-year-old 
> daughter, Joshelyn ' or any other Ohio fan willing to go with him ' 
> sitting as close as possible to the floor with the voice of play-by-play 
> announcer Warren Swain humming through his headphones.
>
> The 49-year-old has, and will continue, to go to Bobcat games ' despite 
> the fact that he's been blind since he was three.
>
> I love the sounds said Smith, who was born with infantile glaucoma in one 
> eye and later lost the vision in his other eye after an accident. Even 
> though I can't physically see I love the sounds of the ball on the court 
> the whistles and the hits on the field.
>
> To hear (former Bobcats' announcer) Derek Scott or somebody announce a 
> play and then feel it and hear it at the same time it's pretty cool.
>
> Smith admits, though, that he wasn't exactly in a hurry to add Ohio to his 
> list of favorite teams when he arrived in Athens 16 years ago. Growing up 
> in a non-sports family, Smith learned to love sports on his own. A 
> die-hard Chicago Cubs fan, he began following the Indiana Hoosiers while 
> attending the university in the late '70s.
>
> So when Smith came to Athens, he was less than enthralled with the 
> athletic landscape. That was until Trent took one of his classes during 
> the team's MAC championship run in the 1994-95 season.
>
> The first few years I was here I was like 'It's all right ' Smith said. 
> (But) when you have somebody in your class like that and you have a season 
> like that and to just get to watch that.
>
>
>
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