Urban Meyer, Skip Holtz gather with community to remember Lou Holtz in East Liverpool
· Yahoo Sports
EAST LIVERPOOL, Ohio (WKBN) -- It was a big night for East Liverpool Thursday, as the community memorialized the legacy of one of the most famous people to come out of the city.
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To do that, they brought in his son Skip, a football coach himself, and former Ohio State Coach Urban Meyer.
Skip and Meyer posed for pictures and signed autographs in East Liverpool's Upper Ohio Valley Museum and Learning Center at the Lou Holtz Hall of Fame. It was a meet-and-greet, part of a fundraiser for the museum and a way to honor the legacy of East Liverpool's favorite son, football coach Lou Holtz.
"But this for dad, it was never about I want the Lou Holtz Hall of Fame. It was about I want the Ohio Valley Hall of Fame, because then he talked all the time about all the great people that had come out of here," Skip said.
"He was my advisor. When I had to make some decisions, when I had to do some stuff, first phone call was Lou Holtz," Meyer said.
All around them were pictures of Lou, including the youngest days in a football uniform growing up in East Liverpool.
"But this was always home. Obviously with his Mom being here, I mean we used to come back here quite a bit. So it brings back great memories," Skip said.
Lou would go on to be head football coach at Notre Dame and South Carolina.
"Without Coach Holtz may career never takes off. He hired me at Notre Dame in 1996, and for the rest of my life and career I was very close with him," Meyer said.
When asked about his favorite Lou Holtz story, Urban Meyer said it was when he was offered the coaching job at Bowling Green.
"But I turned it down, and he was the one that pushed me. And I called him up, and he was really upset with me. And I said, 'I turned it down.' And he said, 'Why did you turn it down?' and I said 'It's just not a good job,'" Meyer said.
Urban Meyer would take the job at Bowling Green and eventually end up as head coach at Ohio State.
Lou died in March. He was 89. This was a moment for East Liverpool to say goodbye. For Skip, it was a part of the healing process.
"You know, any time there's loss, there's sting, there's hurt from going through loss. But at the same time, part of the healing process is looking at all the good that they've done. And looking at all the people they had the opportunity to interact with," Skip said.
After the meet-and-greet, Skip and Meyer attended an event that was open to anyone in the auditorium at East Liverpool High School. There, they told stories about Lou and answered questions.
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