Archie's Insights
Paying it Forward
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Paying Forward
When I came to the Alumni Association four years ago, one of the motivating factors for me in taking this job was the fact that it would give me chance to pay forward for future generations of Buckeyes.
As many of you may know, the concept of paying forward has been one of the bedrock principles that I’ve used in my life. My college football coach Woody Hayes was a firm believer in this idea and it was something I heard him preach and watched him practice. Coach Hayes got the idea of paying forward from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay on Compensation. Emerson wrote, “You can pay back only seldom. . . . You can always pay forward and you must pay line for line, deed for deed, and cent for cent.”
These words have always been impactful for me, particularly because I can look back at my life and recognize that any accomplishment I achieved came in part because of the efforts of others. I consider myself an example of how paying forward can help advance a life.
This is why so many of our efforts at the Alumni Association are devoted to paying forward. It is why we decided to support the Recovery School District in New Orleans, an effort that to date has raised nearly $70,000 for kids in need. It is why we decided to make our Alumni Cup golf outing benefit our scholarship endowment, an idea that has led to more than $50,000 in scholarship funds being raised. And it is why I take tremendous pride in the fact that our clubs and societies raise more than $400,000 in scholarship funds each year.
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The State of Perfect Balance
Alumni Association president and CEO Archie Griffin was featured in a Wall Street Journal ad Feb. 13, 2008, on behalf of the State of Ohio. The ad highlights his accomplishments as a businessman and noted philanthropist. This series of ads also featured Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee and former Alumni Association board member Nancy Kramer, founder and CEO of Resource Interactive. These ads are designed to highlight Ohio's importance as one of our country's business centers.
Readable Text:
“Ohio offers great opportunities for education, business and enjoying an extremely satisfying way of life.”
Archie Griffin
President/CEO
The Ohio State University Alumni Association Inc.
Find your balance at OhioMeansBusiness.com.
Outstanding balance helped Archie Griffin become one of college football’s greatest
running backs and the sport’s only two-time Heisman trophy winner. Today, a different
kind of balance drives Archie’s success… the balance between his professional career
and the personal life he enjoys in Ohio.
Extremely articulate, humble yet energetic, Archie is the ideal CEO for The Ohio State
University Alumni Association. He oversees more than 225 local chapters across the U.S.,
keeping alumni connected to the university. On his “friend-raising” trips, Archie visits with
many people who miss living in Ohio, which makes him appreciate his home all the more.
Archie’s travel schedule is busy. But travel in and out of Ohio is easy, which helps Archie
take time to “pay it forward,” as his coach Woody Hayes called it, through his passion for
helping youth. While he and his wife are involved in a number of programs, a particular
favorite is their own Archie and Bonita Griffin Foundation, which supports a variety of
children’s charities.
An Ohio legend at twenty-one, Archie Griffin has gone on to a great career without
sacrificing his personal values. His balance has always been perfect. In Ohio.