One of Buckeye football's oldest traditions takes place away from the public eye.
1.
It's 4:00 on a late summer afternoon. That peculiar Ohio heat, the kind that sticks around longer than one from outside the heartland might expect, lingers. The weather is what Faulkner might have called Augusttremulous -- shimmering, trembling, with the anticipation of fall.
In the southeast corner of Ohio Stadium, a bell is ringing.
The bell is rung, as it has been since 1954, by brothers of Alpha Phi Omega. Brothers is a bit of a misnomer, as women are also part of APO's ranks (and in Ohio State's chapter actually make up the majority of members), but the important thing to know is that Alpha Phi Omega is the nation's largest co-ed service fraternity.