For Van Raaphorsts, This New Year’s Day Is a Father’s Day

When Jeff Van Raaphorst was a high school senior in El Cajon, Calif., in 1982, the University of Miami wanted him to join a couple of its other prize quarterback recruits, Bernie Kosar and Vinny Testaverde. But Van Raaphorst told his father that he wanted to play for a Pacific 10 Conference school.

“If I can go to the Rose Bowl, it will be for both of us,” he said.

Van Raaphorst will be in the Rose Bowl today, starting at quarterback for Arizona State against Michigan.

His father, Dick Van Raaphorst, will be there as a spectator, feeling more proud, he said, than if he had played there himself 25 years ago.

The elder Van Raaphorst was the All-Big Ten kicker for an Ohio State team that won the conference championship and qualified for the 1962 Rose Bowl game. But Ohio State’s faculty council voted, 27-25, to prohibit the Buckeyes from participating in the game.

Big Ten runner-up Minnesota replaced Ohio State and beat UCLA, 21-3.

“The faculty wanted to show the country that football was not overemphasized at Ohio State,” Dick Van Raaphorst said.

The defensive coordinator for that Ohio State team was Bo Schembechler, now the coach at Michigan.

“Bo was a very motivated, dedicated person,” said Van Raaphorst, a real estate developer in El Cajon. “He didn’t leave anything to chance. He expected everyone to be 100% involved.”

Van Raaphorst has more vivid memories of the Buckeyes’ head coach at the time, Woody Hayes.

“I have very, very deep respect for him,” Van Raaphorst said. “He’s a perfectionist. When something happened that wasn’t perfect, it frustrated him. It boiled over and came out in ways that were not good. But he is one heck of a fine gentleman, and the guys who played for him acted like gentlemen. Over 27 years, 87% of his players on scholarship got their degrees. He expected you to go to class, do your work and graduate. He was like a mother hen. He would say or do anything to his players. But let anyone else try it, and look out.”