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Ohio State-Clemson stirs memories of Woody Hayes, Charlie Bauman and The Punch

 
Published Dec. 30, 2016

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Ohio State and Clemson are playing again, for the third time in history, and that can mean only one thing. You know, other than Saturday's national playoff semifinal.

We get to remember Woody Hayes and Charlie Bauman.

We get to remember The Punch.

Go to YouTube.

I've been doing it all week.

The straight-armed sock to the throat that got Hayes — coach, educator, mentor, maniac — fired.

The Punch.

It landed Dec. 29, 1978 — 39 years ago Thursday.

If it happened today, there would be wall-to-wall coverage.

It wasn't today.

It was the 1978 Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla. In New York, I was watching ABC on a grainy color TV. Keith Jackson and Ara Parseghian were doing the call.

I watched all the bowl games back then. That's what young sports fans did.

Anyway, it happened.

I saw it live.

Did you?

Late in the game, with Clemson up just two points, Ohio State quarterback Art Schlichter threw an interception that sealed the Buckeyes' fate. The Clemson middle guard, named Charlie Bauman, took off with the ball and rumbled toward the outside. Bauman was hauled down at the Ohio State sideline.

As he rose to his feet: The Punch.

I was watching the game alone. Nobody else in the house. I was watching when Hayes grabbed Bauman and hauled off and hit Bauman right under the facemask.

Woody really brought the hips. Got his weight into it.

I looked at the screen, then looked around. Then looked around again.

Did that just happen?

Here's the thing: Jackson and Parseghian made no mention of The Punch, even after an on-field brawl ensured between the teams.

Really: Did that just happen?

Was I the only one watching?

My own private prison riot.

I wasn't alone. In Colorado Springs, Colo, Chris Fowler was watching the game, too. He was 16 at the time. Today, Fowler is an ESPN broadcaster, college football a specialty.

"I you watched it, they didn't talk about it on television," Fowler said. "Technology has changed so much. If that happened today, we'd have 50 cameras on it. We'd have 50 angles on it. It wasn't talked about on the broadcast. They didn't see it live. There was something ... they had to get the relay from New York. Only after the fact did they see it."

Hayes was fired the next day.

But there was no prolonged coverage, no extended outrage.

It was over like that.

What if The Punch happened today?

Can you imagine?

"I think that was such a sad chapter for anyone who had affection for him and the sport to have it end that way," Fowler said. "But you're right. It would be on Twitter in about 15 seconds. Every hot-take show would be talking about it for a month."

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I still marvel at The Punch.

It's the granddaddy of all psycho coaching moments.

A few months after The Punch, Woody Hayes called Charlie Bauman in his Clemson dorm room. They spoke. Bauman later noted, "No apology. Merely a brief, respectful conversation."

Bauman hardly talked about it all these 38 years. No, not even when Clemson and Ohio State met for the second time, in the 2014 Orange Bowl. Clemson won again.

"I think it's a sign of class that he has never talked about it," Fowler said.

It says a lot about Charlie Bauman.

So does this: At last report, Bauman lives in Cincinnati and frequently, quietly attends Ohio State football games.

Ain't life a hoot?

Wayne Woodrow Hayes stayed on as a professor of military history at Ohio State even after The Punch (yeah, sure he'd be allowed to stay on and teach today). Hayes, who won 205 games and two AP national titles at Ohio State, died in 1987. He was 74. Former president Richard Nixon delivered the eulogy at Hayes' funeral.

It's just as well The Punch didn't happen today.

"It's a very sad chapter," Fowler said. "A guy lost his mind for a second. Time has passed. But the fact that there wasn't media inundation, Woody is rightly remembered for many, many other things than that. Except when they play Clemson."

Woody really brought the hips.

Martin Fennelly is a columnist for the Tampa Bay Times. Contact him at mfennelly@tampabay.com. Follow him at @mjfennelly.