COLUMBUS, Ohio – The folks in Oregon, Ohio, found it wasn’t so easy to change their city’s same to display their Buckeye pride, but in Urbana, it’s just a matter of dropping one letter for one day to honor the coach.
The city, about 45 miles northwest of the OSU campus, is changing its name to “Urban, Ohio” on Monday, when head coach Urban Meyer and the Buckeyes play Oregon for college football’s national championship (8:30 p.m./ESPN).
“You’re kidding,” Buckeye head coach Urban Meyer responded when he heard of the plan. “Urbana, Ohio is dropping the ‘A?’… Wow. That’s very nice.”
According to a report in the Dayton Daily News, Mayor Bill Bean issued a certificate of recognition this week stating that the city of a little less than 12,000 people will be known as the City of Urban.
The decision came after the Toledo suburb of Oregon announced Monday that it will be known for the day as “Oregon, Ohio: Buckeyes on the Bay, City of Duck Hunters.”
“Urbanites,” if that’s what they can be called, will gather at a sign Thursday for a brief ceremony where Larry Lokai, a retired city council member and a fan who attends games dressed as Buckeyeman, will block the “a” in the city’s name for a few photographs and other festivities.