COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — Ohio Stadium stands as a monument to greatness.
It’s a place for Buckeye legends, including Archie Griffin, James Laurinaitis, Eddie George and Rick Hausman.
Rick’s name may not be as well known. He answered the call beyond the football field – from the Scarlet and Gray, to the Red, White and Blue.
Henry Richard Hausman, Jr. was a Hilliard standout who went to become a Buckeye walk-on, joining the football team in 1967 as a freshman.
The team photo from 1968, shows a young Rick Hausman, #96, part of the squad that would ultimately win the National Championship. But before the Rose Bowl, the young walk-on walked away.
Hausman joined the Army. Instead of Pasadena, he went to boot camp.
Coach Woody Hayes, giving his blessing, assuring the young Buckeye he would have a place on the team when he returned. But Rick Hausman never came home.
“He loved being a Buckeye,” said Fred Owen, a Hilliard classmate of Hausman.
He goes to Vietnam and he did what Rick Hausman always does – follow me, let’s do it. He saved many lives, and he was going to do what he had to do to save other people not himself.
71 days after arriving in Vietnam, Private First Class Rick Hausman died in a firefight on May 27th 1969, providing cover for his wounded comrades. 1 of 242 deaths that week in Vietnam.
55 years later, these high school friends of Hausman, cherish the chance to talk about him.
“You know, Rick wasn’t a colonel or a general or anything like that,” said Pete Miller, a Hilliard classmate of Hausman. “He was a PFC, but boy what a PFC.”
PFC Hausman earned the Silver Star for Valor in Combat.
At just 19-years-old, he gave his life in service to our country.
“It’s a true sacrifice,” said Doug Maggied, another Hilliard classmate of Hausman.
“It’s a story that needs to be told, and it’s a life that needs to be recognized so that we can all learn from it,” said Miller.
Lieutenant Colonel Mike Kelvington agreed.
“Rick’s a hero,” said LTC Kelvington.
We say the heroes are the ones who never came home.
After 14 deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Kelvington now serves as the Professor of Military Science and Leadership at Ohio State with the Army ROTC.
“It really felt like to me when you looked around campus, there really wasn’t anything about Rick,” said LTC Kelvington.
He wanted to make sure Hausman’s sacrifice would not be forgotten.
“There’s a saying that ‘A man dies two deaths – his physical death and then when his name is spoken for the last time’,” said LTC Kelvington, quoting Ernest Hemingway. “So this helps preserve Rick Hausman‘s legacy at Ohio State.”
Instead of the Heisman trophy, Kelvington created the Hausman trophy.
It is the Rick Hausman Silver Bullet Award for Leadership, given annually to the top cadet in the ROTC program, exemplifying the same grit and determination.
2024 marks only the 2nd year for the award.
Each year, a new name will be added to a dog tag – leaving a legacy for future cadets, inspired by the young Buckeye who gave all.
“It’s just a way of remembering Rick and making sure that that second death doesn’t happen – that his name continues and that people understand, not just his name, but the story behind it,” said LTC Kelvington.
From the football field to the battlefield and from Silver Bullet to Silver Star.
“That calling of send me, but also the love that would lead someone to stay, or put themselves in a situation, where they’re standing between the enemy, and some of their wounded friends, to pay the ultimate sacrifice,” said LTC Kelvington.
That’s a higher calling than playing a game.
“He just felt there was a different calling at that time in his life,” said Maggied.
“I just wonder what Rick would’ve done with his life,” said Owens.
Rick Hausman is part of the Ohio State tradition of excellence and now a legacy of leadership.
No matter the uniform, Buckeyes lead the way.