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Baseball was Meyer’s first love
- Updated: December 31, 2016
Mark Lemke was 17 years old, a 5-foot-10, 160-pound infielder from upstate New York embarking on a career in professional baseball that he had no idea would one day take him to World Series glory.
Lemke was surrounded by talent: future Braves do-everything outfielder Ron Gant, all of 18 years old himself, at a nearby locker. Sturdy future reliever Paul Assenmacher, a team statesman at 22, getting his daily work in. And in another corner of the clubhouse, one of the most athletic and promising members of the 1983 rookie-level Atlanta Braves: a tall, rangy 18-year-old shortstop named Urban Meyer.
“I remember being wide-eyed and young and not knowing a whole lot back then,” Lemke said now. “But I think we all thought Urban, more than any of us, even, would be in the big leagues someday.”
Meyer, now 52, has gained fame as the steely eyed, maniacally prepared and amply decorated coach of the Ohio State University football team. Meyer won a national championship with the Buckeyes in 2014 after pulling the same trick with Tim Tebow and the University of Florida Gators in ’06 and ’08. He resurrected the football programs at Bowling Green University and the University of Utah in his other college coaching gigs, a career that began in 2001.
On Saturday, the country will watch Ohio State compete in yet another national semifinal when Meyer’s third-ranked Buckeyes take on second-ranked Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl. The winner of that game will play the winner of Saturday’s Peach Bowl, which pits No. 1 Alabama against No. 4 Washington, in the College …
