No wrestling with LB's future
Laurinaitis' father is known for his role as Animal on pro circuit
By Marla Ridenour
Beacon Journal sportswriter
<!-- begin body-content -->COLUMBUS - The first time that James Laurinaitis' picture shows up on the Ohio Stadium scoreboard after making a big play, his fellow Buckeyes will be upset if he's not wearing face paint and spiked shoulder pads.
The freshman linebacker might not make his starting debut until the Fiesta Bowl game Monday against Notre Dame, he's already the most popular guy on the Ohio State team. That's because for 22 years his father, Joe, has been known as Road Warrior ``Animal,'' who partnered with the late ``Hawk'' on the most successful tag team in professional wrestling history.
Joe Laurinaitis, 45, still works the WWE SmackDown circuit, now partnered with John Heidenreich. During football season, ``Animal'' usually flies out after Saturday's OSU games to wrestle and doesn't return home to Hamel, Minn., until Wednesday.
He hopes to wrestle for two more years, then plans to move into production and promotion. Joe's brother John is in charge of talent for WWE and wrestled himself under the name ``Johnny Ace.''
Except for an Oct. 29 trip to his native Minnesota, James Laurinaitis stayed under the radar this season, playing a little late in games and on special teams. That changed Nov. 19 at Michigan, when outside linebacker Bobby Carpenter broke his ankle on the first play and Laurinaitis was sent in.
Carpenter wants to return for the Fiesta Bowl, but he would do so with little or no practice time. His fate might be up to the doctors. Laurinaitis took all the reps alongside senior linebackers Anthony Schlegel and Lombardi Award-winner A.J. Hawk before the Buckeyes took a break for Christmas.
``The way James stepped in without any hesitation comes from being around the (wrestling) business,'' Schlegel said. ``Things don't really get to him.''
Joe Laurinaitis said he tried not to bring too many wrestlers home to influence his children, Joe, James and Jessica. Jessica is a sophomore in high school already being eyed for an ice hockey scholarship. Joe, 24, is an Army sergeant stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
``I had a few guys over to the house -- The Godfather, (the late) Owen Hart, Hawk -- when James was a kid, but mainly when I had a show in town, I would get tickets for the whole football team or hockey team,'' Joe Sr. said.
``When he played baseball, I had them take off their jerseys and wear Road Warrior T-shirts. My daughter's softball team -- picture that, 12 little girls in pigtails and I was 320 pounds -- I gave them all Road Warrior T-shirts to play in.''
James, whom his father calls ``Mr. School Spirit,'' would dress up like his dad for Halloween and put on dad's trademark face paint for high school games, in the appropriate school colors of course.
``He couldn't draw an apple, but he can paint that spider and all that on his face,'' James said of his dad's elaborate makeup. ``I don't know how he does it. Most of it is left-handed and he's a right-hander.''
James Laurinaitis recently had a reunion with his dad's fellow wrestlers when Joe got tickets for a show in Cincinnati. Carpenter, Schlegel and his pregnant wife, Stephanie, and linebacker Marcus Freeman also attended.
``His dad's a character,'' Carpenter said. ``He's a 45-year-old man who still acts like he's 20. It's very refreshing.''
When they went backstage, they took grief from The Undertaker, a University of Texas fan, and couldn't resist comparing themselves with the wrestlers. Joe Laurinaitis stands 6-foot-2 ½, 285 pounds, James is 6-3, 246, and Carpenter is 6-3, 255.
James brags about his dad's physique.
``My dad actually has abs,'' James said. ``Ric Flair, his skin's sagging. I'm proud of my dad. He's a great athlete.''
James credits Joe for his brawn and his mother, Julie, for his speed. Julie was a swimmer and state prep champion hurdler who later won the state powerlifting championship -- ``300-pound dead lift at 123 pounds,'' Joe said.
A guard and linebacker in junior college, Joe Laurinaitis said he turned down a chance to play football at BYU to raise a family. He later skipped a tryout with the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League when he was offered a job in wrestling. He became infatuated with Ohio State during a period when he divided his work between Atlanta and Ohio.
``I flew into Columbus every other Saturday,'' Joe said. ``Andy Katzenmoyer was one of the first jerseys I ever bought for James on the road. How ironic he's playing for the same college.''
James Laurinaitis said his dad ``was a fan of tough guys. He was a big fan of (Chris) Spielman and Katzenmoyer. He always thought Woody Hayes was awesome, that he shouldn't have gotten in trouble for hitting that Clemson player. He doesn't think Woody did anything wrong. He said Woody should have just said he slipped or something.''
With his connections in wrestling, James Laurinaitis could get a job there ``if everything else fails.'' He watched his dad take part in a show in London's Wembley Stadium in 1997 that drew a crowd of 90,000. Animal and Hawk ``rode gold Harleys down to the ring with gold shoulder pads,'' James said.
That's not why James Laurinaitis signed with Ohio State, though.
``My dream has always been to come here and get to the NFL,'' James said.
``Animal'' will be guiding his every move, even if he's phoning on his Blackberry from Helsinki, Finland, where he was working during the Michigan game.
``He'll call every day and see how practice is going,'' James said. ``Even on a day when I don't have practice, he'll call and ask, `How's practice?' I'll say, `You've been body-slammed too many times.' ''
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12-21-2005, 02:08 PM
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