BrutuStrength
It's time to bring it!
I just received an email of a story from my mother and was searching to make sure it wasn't already here before I posted it. Of course, It was posted more than 6 years ago in the Woody Hayes thread (post #17). Regardless, I still want to create a thread for Rob Lytle.
Having spent the weeks prior to Thanksgiving preparing to host my wife's side of the family, I didn't realize that Rob Lytle had passed away. It wasn't until I saw a "we will miss you" sign being held by a Buckeye fan on TV at the start of The Game that I really became aware of his passing (even though I think someone told me over the phone at some point). Reading that sign touched me, as he was my all-time favorite Wolverine.
I had never known who he was as a player, in college or in the NFL. I didn't know who he was until I met him as senior in high school, when he agreed to be an assistant coach for our team, the Port Clinton Redskins. Well who wouldn't want to be part of our program, we had just come off of a perfect season, 0-10. Our head coach was Pete Moore, a long time Fremont guy, and he persuaded Lytle to help us out and coach our RBs and DBs.
Lytle was energetic and coached with a positive style. Even when we were running laps under the August sun during two-a-days, he'd always try to keep things light. "Remember boys," he'd say while we were trudging along, "if you want to play in the Pacific Coast League, you've got to practice in the Pacific Coast League." Such comments were welcome from the players, and always elicited chuckles and humorous responses. He was the only coach that I remember being able to lighten the atmosphere, no matter how miserable the task was at hand.
Since I didn't play either of the positions he coached, I didn't get to spend a lot of individual time with him, though I always appreciated being around him. I remember one week of practice where we were going up against a team that had a big RB, around 230 pounds. I had accepted his role on the scout team that week, despite never having been a RB in organized football. After a frustrating run up the middle, where I was yelling at one of our LBs for going at my knees, he was immediately over by my side, trying to calm me down and coach me up, even though he was supposed to be working with the DBs.
"Keep your shoulders low and lift your knees when you hit the line" he said. "Like my coaches always told me, when I?m behind you and watching you run, I don't want to see anything but assholes and elbows... assholes and elbows." "Now line up and try it again."
We had a tradition where the boosters paid for the seniors got to go to an Ohio State game after our last game of the season. That particular year, since tOSU had an away game that week, Rob organized for us to go to the UM game. Before the game we got to tour the facilities and speak with their strength and conditioning coach. Then we got to sit in the background and watch Bo address the recruits that were there for the game. I have to admit, being part of a group of kids who?s best offers were from D2 and D3 schools, that was pretty awesome, UM fan or not. UM went on to whoop the Hoosiers who were led that year by Heisman runner-up, Anthony Thompson. All-in-all, it was a great day, and it was made possible thanks to Rob Lytle.
Having looked up his information on Wikipedia this morning, I read where he was listed as being 6?1?. I can tell you that I remembered him being more like 5?9? (a little shorter than me and I was just over 5?10?) and looking like a muscular Robert Redford. I?ve always had pretty big shoulders and was pretty strong back then, and his shoulders were every bit as big as mine and he weighed 20-30 pounds less than me.
I only really knew him during that one football season. Since he lived and worked in Fremont (20 minutes away), it wasn't that easy for us to stop by his business and talk to him. We did stop by once or twice, and he was happy to drop what he was doing and spend some time with us. Having had so many coaches yell at me every time I did something wrong, no matter how tiny the mistake, I can tell you that I will always remember his funny, positive, and supportive attitude.
Rest In Peace Coach
Having spent the weeks prior to Thanksgiving preparing to host my wife's side of the family, I didn't realize that Rob Lytle had passed away. It wasn't until I saw a "we will miss you" sign being held by a Buckeye fan on TV at the start of The Game that I really became aware of his passing (even though I think someone told me over the phone at some point). Reading that sign touched me, as he was my all-time favorite Wolverine.
I had never known who he was as a player, in college or in the NFL. I didn't know who he was until I met him as senior in high school, when he agreed to be an assistant coach for our team, the Port Clinton Redskins. Well who wouldn't want to be part of our program, we had just come off of a perfect season, 0-10. Our head coach was Pete Moore, a long time Fremont guy, and he persuaded Lytle to help us out and coach our RBs and DBs.
Lytle was energetic and coached with a positive style. Even when we were running laps under the August sun during two-a-days, he'd always try to keep things light. "Remember boys," he'd say while we were trudging along, "if you want to play in the Pacific Coast League, you've got to practice in the Pacific Coast League." Such comments were welcome from the players, and always elicited chuckles and humorous responses. He was the only coach that I remember being able to lighten the atmosphere, no matter how miserable the task was at hand.
Since I didn't play either of the positions he coached, I didn't get to spend a lot of individual time with him, though I always appreciated being around him. I remember one week of practice where we were going up against a team that had a big RB, around 230 pounds. I had accepted his role on the scout team that week, despite never having been a RB in organized football. After a frustrating run up the middle, where I was yelling at one of our LBs for going at my knees, he was immediately over by my side, trying to calm me down and coach me up, even though he was supposed to be working with the DBs.
"Keep your shoulders low and lift your knees when you hit the line" he said. "Like my coaches always told me, when I?m behind you and watching you run, I don't want to see anything but assholes and elbows... assholes and elbows." "Now line up and try it again."
We had a tradition where the boosters paid for the seniors got to go to an Ohio State game after our last game of the season. That particular year, since tOSU had an away game that week, Rob organized for us to go to the UM game. Before the game we got to tour the facilities and speak with their strength and conditioning coach. Then we got to sit in the background and watch Bo address the recruits that were there for the game. I have to admit, being part of a group of kids who?s best offers were from D2 and D3 schools, that was pretty awesome, UM fan or not. UM went on to whoop the Hoosiers who were led that year by Heisman runner-up, Anthony Thompson. All-in-all, it was a great day, and it was made possible thanks to Rob Lytle.
Having looked up his information on Wikipedia this morning, I read where he was listed as being 6?1?. I can tell you that I remembered him being more like 5?9? (a little shorter than me and I was just over 5?10?) and looking like a muscular Robert Redford. I?ve always had pretty big shoulders and was pretty strong back then, and his shoulders were every bit as big as mine and he weighed 20-30 pounds less than me.
I only really knew him during that one football season. Since he lived and worked in Fremont (20 minutes away), it wasn't that easy for us to stop by his business and talk to him. We did stop by once or twice, and he was happy to drop what he was doing and spend some time with us. Having had so many coaches yell at me every time I did something wrong, no matter how tiny the mistake, I can tell you that I will always remember his funny, positive, and supportive attitude.
Rest In Peace Coach
