U Weekly. Serving The Ohio State University in Columbus Ohio

OSU super fans!

By Bram Fulk

The Chicago Bears can keep Bill Swerski and his band of football fans; here at Ohio State we’ve got folks like the Buck-I-Guy (in his signature cowboy hat and cape) and Buckeye Man to cheer our team on to victory. During this holiest of weeks, we decided to take a timeout and look at two of Ohio State’s biggest fans.

Buckeye Man

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The face of Larry Lokai, mild-mannered public servant and retired school teacher, is just a façade. His true face is the scarlet and grey striped visage of: BUCKEYE MAN! A graduate of Ohio State, Buckeye Man is now very active not only on Saturdays in the fall, but throughout the year with various charities and alumni functions. One of his most remarkable feats: having made and given away 15,700 buckeye necklaces to OSU freshmen, friends, and fans. Though right in the middle of preparing for a whirlwind tour of nursing homes, schools, alumni associations, and pep rallies that will culminate at the Big Game in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Buckeye Man took a moment to speak with UWeekly, finally revealing the secret origins of this Scarlet and Grey crusader.

 

UW: How long have you been an OSU fan and attending the games?

I became an official Ohio State fan back in 1957. I was supposed to be a Notre Dame [and] University of Dayton fan according to the family tradition, but I broke that tradition.

UW:How did you come up with Buckeye Man?

Actually Neutron Man was a part of that. Michigan Game every year is my anniversary. In November of 1998, my son was fortunate enough to win the lottery and get two tickets. However, those two tickets were in the Michigan section. So we decided to do a something a little bit different and I found this ugly old wig [and] a jersey and we had a heck of a good time because we were like the [only] Scarlet and Grey fans in these Maize and Blue fans.

So the next year, I had moved to Columbus and I decided to [put] some face paint on, and I went to get my wig and I couldn’t find it. I went over to Conrad’s and bought a couple wigs, had a jersey, and went to a couple games. Actually, I did face-paint for a couple games — I had half the face painted red, half the face painted grey — and that looked terrible. So I decided, me being [part] Indian — a little bit of heritage there, I looked at Indian photos and thought, “You know, they put these stripes on their faces.” That’s how I got the stripe idea. Then, after the third game, I thought “You know, [you’ve got] this guy called Neutron Man and you’ve got Brutus Buckeye — I’ve got an idea: I’m going to take the last half of Brutus Buckeye and take the last half of Neutron Man and combine the names and you get Buckeye Man.

 

Jeff Norris and the Neutron Man

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The incomparable Neutron Man was (and is) the epitome of an Ohio State Superfan. From the shorts to the jersey to his trademark Scarlet and Grey wool cap, the Neutron Man is as much a symbol of Buckeye Game Days as Brutus, The Band, and the ‘Shoe itself. To those fortunate enough to have known him, the Neutron man was Orlas King, an Ohio businessman and avid fan of all things Ohio State who was especially generous to and appreciative of The Ohio State University Marching Band as well as the OSU Cheerleaders. Jeff Norris was a longtime friend of King’s and one of the organizers of the Orlas King Memorial Golf Outing, the proceeds of which go to a scholarship fund for the marching band. Mr. Norris sat down to tell us a little about the life of the man in the Scarlet and Grey cabby cap.

UW: How did you know the Neutron Man?

We just got acquainted through mutual friends, and both of us are big — in more ways than one — were big Buckeye fans.

UW: How long have you been an Ohio State fan?

I started at Ohio State in 1967 and I went to my first game in ‘56 or ’57 — I think my dad took me. Me being from Worthington, and attended Ohio State [in] ’67 — the following year, of course, was our National Championship year — so I’ve been basically a fan ever since.

UW: Do you know how Mr. King got to be such an Ohio State fan?

Well, Orlas loved sports. Many of you probably don’t know this, but he was an All-Ohio player in High School and he was recruited by several Big Ten schools to play football. However, his grades didn’t quite meet up to the admission standards to get in so he went to the University of Dayton for one year, still struggled with the academic part of it, then he joined the Air Force. He was obviously a good athlete, because he was recruited by Iowa, Wisconsin, and I think there [were] a couple [other] ones — I think that just [contributed to] his overall love of sports and everything. And the fact that he eventually ended up in Columbus and lived on campus.

UW: Do you know how he came up with the Neutron Man, the look and everything?

Well, I can’t — I knew you were going to ask me this. I am guessing, it’s been at least 20 or so years ago, when Orlas — I don’t know how it started and I don’t know if it was with the actual Neutron Dance by the Pointer Sisters — but Orlas would be attending the games and the band would strike up and start playing and he would just start dancing. But I don’t know if it [The Neutron Dance] was the song where he first started dancing with the band or not.

UW: You don’t know if the song came first or if he came first.

Right.

UW: Do you know if you’re going to be headed up to Ann Arbor for the M*ch*g*n game?

We haven’t decided yet. I don’t like the experience in Ann Arbor.

Originally Published: November 14, 2007

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