…for Catholic-related Ohio State stuff. From the past at least.
Bus doors opened, and coyotes could be heard howling in the southern California night.
The Ohio State football players had no idea where they were.
They had gone to dinner and a movie, checked out of their upscale, art-deco hotel in Pasadena, boarded buses and ridden about 10 miles into the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.
Now, trip complete, they were standing outside the idling buses, confused on New Year’s Eve 1968, wondering why men in black habits walked past them praying.
"The place looked like one of those old Lon Chaney movies with a castle," recalled Phil Strickland, a sophomore guard on that undefeated team.
Today, those former OSU players still call the place "The Monastery," although its actual name is The Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, still in operation in Sierra Madre, Calif., on 83 acres owned by the Passionists, a Roman Catholic order of priests and brothers.
"Why would they have thought of bringing them to a Catholic retreat center?" asked Elizabeth Velarde, the current retreat administrator.
She obviously hasn’t heard of the legendary idiosyncrasies of Woody Hayes, who on the night before the 1969, ’71 and ’73 Rose Bowls made his players stay at Mater Dolorosa, then home for 50 to 70 Passionists priests, brothers and monks.
Read Previous Post
