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OSU senior ready to dot 'i'
BY CHUCK MARTIN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Ohio State senior Austen Rau of West Chester plans to be a nuclear engineer one day, but it's an act of peculiar penmanship that will probably stay with him the rest of his life.
A member of the
OSU Marching Band, Rau has won the privilege of dotting the "i" in "Ohio" on the field before the BCS National Championship game Jan. 8 in Glendale, Ariz., between Ohio State and the University of Florida. Like hundreds of
OSU sousaphone players before him, Rau will high-step to his position when the time comes, doff his cap and bow dramatically to the crowd.
"I think I'll be a little bit nervous that day," says Rau, a frustrated trumpet player who began playing the sousaphone as a sophomore at Lakota East High School (Class of 2002) in Liberty Township. "But once I get out there, I'm usually more excited than nervous."
Rau isn't planning anything different before his national limelight performance - no special workouts or diets. He usually doesn't party hard the night before big games and says he won't stay up late this time either.
The routine, in which band members spell "Ohio" on the field with their marching bodies, began 70 years ago and has been an
OSU tradition.
This will be the third time Rau has dotted the "i" in the script formation. Earlier this year, he performed the "i-dot" when
OSU played Michigan State in East Lansing, and Indiana in Columbus. More than 60 family and friends cheered him on at the Indiana game in October.
During the regular season, senior sousaphone players are allowed to choose their performances based on rank. But for bowl and national championship games, "i-dotters" audition for the privilege. Last week, Rau competed against seven other sousaphone players, and his peers voted him the best. He will dot the "i" on the home side of the field for the national title game.
Dan Wanders of Hudson, Ohio - who finished second in the audition - will dot the "i" on the visitors' side.
"I try to get my legs up as high I can when I march," says Rau, who credits his long-distance running in high school for his high-stepping abilities.
At 5-foot-8, 140 pounds, Rau also began weight training early this year, which helps him lean far back - only a few feet from the ground - while carrying the 40-pound horn. Rau practices pulling off his cap - there is a correct technique - but it's the quick bow to the crowd that's most important, he says.
"When you bow, your right bicep should stop the horn from falling to the ground," he says. "And if you do it right, you should get bruises on your bicep."
The worst thing, Rau says, would be to stumble, fall down or sprain an ankle before fulfilling his i-dotting duty. That hasn't happened before, and he isn't counting on being the first.
Majoring in physics and German, Rau plans to get his Ph.D. in nuclear engineering. But no matter how accomplished he becomes, he probably will be most proud of his strutting performance one night in Arizona before the national championship football game.
"I get goose bumps every time I hear this song we play during the script formation," he says. "I can't imagine what it will be like after this."
) I got to skull session early, had the best seats in the house (front and center--right behind that first section which I felt belonged to band parents). The trombones played a rendition of 'Hey Jude,' which I believe they only use for that one game each year. On the last run through the chorus at the end, the sound, the sights, the environment--there's no other word for it but "perfect."