TOLEDO, Ohio — Student veterans from the University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University will march 24 miles together on Saturday, Nov. 14, carrying the game ball for one of Ohio’s fiercest college football rivalries, UToledo Athletics announced Nov. 12.
The fourth annual Ruck the Ball march brings together the Student Veterans of America chapters at both universities, according to UToledo Athletics. Chapter leaders and members will depart the Nontraditional and Military Student Services Office at Bowling Green at 8 a.m. Saturday and march to the Veterans’ Plaza on the University of Toledo campus, where they will deliver the game ball.
The ball will then be presented to game officials before kickoff when Toledo hosts Bowling Green in the Battle of I-75 on Friday, Nov. 20, at the Glass Bowl, UToledo Athletics said. The rivalry series is sponsored by Fremont Federal Credit Union.
The march is about more than the rivalry. According to UToledo Athletics, the annual event raises awareness of the high rate of suicide among U.S. military veterans and highlights the importance of supporting those who have served the nation — a message carried, mile by mile, by veterans themselves in the week after Veterans Day.
Members of both universities’ ROTC programs and other campus and community organizations will join the student veterans on the route, UToledo Athletics said. Community members are welcome to take part, and no one is required to complete the entire 24-mile route to participate.
The ruck continues a tradition that has quickly become part of the Battle of I-75 week in Northwest Ohio, linking the two campuses along the interstate corridor the rivalry is named for, and putting veterans at the center of the celebration before the teams take the field.
The Battle of I-75 is one of the Mid-American Conference’s defining rivalries, matching two universities about 25 miles apart on the interstate in Northwest Ohio, and the Nov. 20 meeting at the Glass Bowl gives the ruck’s destination its meaning: the ball the veterans carry north is the ball the Rockets and Falcons will play for, delivered first to the Veterans’ Plaza that honors the campus community’s own service members, according to UToledo Athletics.
What happens next is Saturday’s 8 a.m. departure from Bowling Green and the march north to Toledo. Anyone who wants more information can contact the UToledo Military Service Center at [email protected] or 419-530-1392, according to UToledo Athletics.