Brutus Buckeye was not born in Mansfield, but his “mother” was raised here.
Sally (Huber) Lanyon, who grew up on Arlington Avenue and went on to attend The Ohio State University, became one of the creators of Brutus Buckeye while she was still a student at OSU in Columbus. She is also the author, with her Brutus Buckeye co-creator Ray Bourhis, of “The Autobiography of Brutus Buckeye: As Told To His Parents.”
Lanyon now lives in Arizona, but is traveling back to Ohio for a visit and will be at Main Street Books in Mansfield on October 3 from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM, for a book signing. All are welcome to attend.
Ms. Lanyon will be available to sign copies of her book and talk about Brutus Buckeye, but also hopes to catch up with Mansfield friends and family while she is in town. We recently asked Ms. Lanyon to discuss her days growing up in Mansfield, and will be sharing her reminiscences in the first-ever post in our new Richland Recollections series this weekend.
After graduating from Mansfield Senior High in 1963, Lanyon moved to Columbus to start college at OSU. Parents and students take note: College is time for learning and growing up, and Lanyon has been able to identify many life lessons that came from her time at OSU.
“I learned that you need to keep after something if you really want it,” Lanyon recently shared with 1812Blockhouse. “I tried out for a play my freshman year. When I didn’t get the part I didn’t try again. Several years later I ran into the casting director, who recognized me, said I was very good and asked why I hadn’t tried out again. I learned from him that it was expected that you hang out, maybe do scenery or props, then work up to an onstage role.”
One of the other important lessons she learned was that there is nothing wrong with asking for help. “When I was writing my Student Response speech for March 1967 – graduation – I asked PR Professor Walt Siefert to critique it. He not only helped improve the speech, he helped me get my first job out of college.”
One thing we already knew about her time at OSU: When Ms. Lanyon started her freshman year at OSU, there was no school mascot; by the time she left, Brutus the Buckeye (he’s since dropped the “the”) was on the scene to help get the athletic crowds cheering.
Readers will need to buy Brutus Buckeye’s autobiography to learn the whole story, but we can tell you that he has grown and changed a lot over the years – he started out as a heavy papier-mâché nut that would likely not be recognizable to fans who are only familiar with Brutus Buckeye’s current incarnation.
You can visit Ms. Lanyon’s Brutus Buckeye Blog at TheBrutusBlog.com.
Photo: Creative Commons License, Sally Huber Lanyon
