Raleigh cancer patient will be there, OSU's treat

His legs hobbled by a rare cancer and his body suffering from a painful attack of shingles, Joe Downing of Raleigh was learning to walk again when the physical therapist asked him what his goals were.

Downing, a 1959 Ohio State graduate and diehard Buckeyes fan, had an immediate answer: to make it to OSU's stadium, the famed Horseshoe, Sept. 10.

Tonight, he'll be there, sitting eight rows above field level with a prime view of the long-awaited meeting of the No. 4 Buckeyes and the No. 2 Texas Longhorns. It's considered one of the toughest tickets ever in Columbus. He thinks he got two because Coach Jim Tressel has made him part of the team almost 50 years after he unsuccessfully tried to walk on to Ohio State's varsity as a tight end.

Downing, 68, suffers from multiple myeloma, a rare bone marrow cancer. Two stem-cell transplants and multiple chemotherapy treatments have driven the disease into remission 2 1/2 years after he was diagnosed.

Tressel, whose brother also needed a stem-cell transplant, learned of how Downing was trying to fight the disease by mapping out a daily game plan based on football terms.

One day last year, the phone rang in Downing's North Raleigh home. The caller said, "Joe, this is Jim Tressel." Downing didn't believe him. Tressel told him how he learned about his game-plan approach to cancer and said, "I just wanted to call you and encourage you and see what I can do for you."

They talked for 45 minutes. The coach told him, "We Buckeyes take care of each other."

Since then, two Ohio State shirts have came from the athletics department with no mention of the sender. Every year, Downing is entitled to two tickets to one OSU home game. This year, he got prime tickets.

Downing, who saw his first OSU games as a boy selling programs, isn't parting with them.

"I had people call from Columbus and say, 'You want to sell your tickets for a thousand bucks?' I said, 'No, I'm 68, and I want to see every game.'"

By NED BARNETT, Staff Writer, The News & Observer, Raleigh, North Carolina