Events
Thursday, SEPTEMBER 15, 2022
2:30 – 3:15 PM EDT
Indian Ridge Elementary School
Powell, OH
First Grade Class at Indian Ridge Elementary School
Sally is delighted to speak to the first-grade class of Sondra Antinone Petrelle. The students have already practiced making things with papier-mâché, the essence of the original Ohio State mascot. Sondra and Sally met on a plane trip in May. Sondra is a former cheerleader at Ohio State.
Friday, SEPTEMBER 16, 2022
6:00 – 9:00 PM EDT
Le Méridien
Columbus, OH
Brutus & Cheer Alumni Dinner & Awards
Sally will be speaking briefly at the dinner about the creation of Brutus Buckeye. She is eager to connect with her friends who are Brutus & Cheer alumni.
Saturday, SEPTEMBER 17, 2022
3:00 PM EST until end of game
Ohio Stadium and tailgates near Lane Ave.
Columbus, OH
Ohio State vs. Toledo, Annual Reunion of Brutus & Cheer Alumni
Sally will be enjoying food and pre-game celebration with the Brutus & Cheer Alumni. Doug Congrove, Brutus 1990-92 and master tailgate chef, is helping with the reunion tailgate party. If time, Sally plans to sneak into the Skull Session before joining the Brutus & Cheer Alumni for their annual run down the tunnel into the stadium. Sally doesn’t run anymore, so she’ll see how that goes. The Alumni will be seated together in Section 3A for the game, then cheer during the third quarter.
ONGOING EVENTS
January 1, 2021
Podcast
Online available all year
The Gametime Guru Podcast – Guest Sally Lanyon
Whether you watch the football game on TV or in person, when you catch the Ohio State Buckeyes, you’ll notice the mascot jumping around. Brutus Buckeye has become just as much a part of the culture of Ohio State athletics as the band has.
The Gametime Guru host Shane Larson, aka the Boise Buckeye, says, “Sally shares the whole story behind the history of Brutus Buckeye! What an incredible history lesson that shows a lot about the history of Ohio State, especially their football program.”
Available on any podcast platform and YouTube.
PAST EVENTS
FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2022
6:00 PM MST
Tucson Museum of Art
140 N. Main St.
Tucson, AZ 85701
Literacy Connects 10-Year Anniversary Celebration
Sally and her husband Paul Hawkins will be hosting The Brutus Blog table at this year’s Get Connected event for Literacy Connects. The event serves a dual purpose of fundraising and celebrating the organization’s impact on the community in literacy and creative expression from birth to adulthood. For tickets to the event or to make a donation: https://literacyconnects.org/10years/.
Sally is winding up her 6-year term on the Board of Directors. She served as Board Chair, Governance Chair, and headed the Executive Director Search Committee. Her main interests were Board and Staff diversity, setting up an Endowment Fund to assure sustainability, and heading a board-staff-community team to create a dashboard with impact metrics for the strategic pillars of Programs, People, Finance and Advocacy. And to feed her soul, Sally volunteered with Stories that Soar!, helping select the elementary student stories that would be turned into a student assembly stage production.
THURSDAY, MAY 5, 2022
6:30 PM
Founders Auditorium
OSU Mansfield Campus
1760 University Drive
Mansfield, OH 44906
The Ohio State University at Mansfield Graduation Celebration, Keynote Presenter
In addition to walking in the graduation ceremonies at the main campus in Columbus, Mansfield students are feted at a graduation celebration that includes their families and university board, faculty and staff. Sally is this year’s keynote presenter. Attendance is by invitation only. Sally is delighted to be returning to her hometown roots and to be part of a major achievement in students’ lives.
TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2022
11:45 AM EDT
Holiday Inn
116 Park Avenue West
Mansfield, OH 44907
Rotary Club of Mansfield, OH
Sally will be the guest of Cindy Wood, Club President and Director of Development and Community Relations, The Ohio State University at Mansfield. Sally formerly presented to the club, via Zoom, “The Making of a Mascot.” Sally volunteers at her husband’s Rotary Club in Tucson, AZ, and served on the RYLA faculty for three years. The RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) was a four-day camp and challenge course experience for southern Arizona youth held in Prescott, AZ.
MONDAY, MAY 2, 2022
5:30 – 7:30 PM EDT
Deer Ridge Golf Course
900 Comfort Plaza
Bellville, OH 44813
OSU Mansfield Campus Hall of Fame Alumni Awards
Sally is among the Sesquicentennial OSU Mansfield Campus Special Honors recipients to be acknowledged by Molly Ranz Calhoun, President and CEO of The Ohio State University Alumni Foundation. The awards ceremony, originally scheduled for Spring 2020, will also include recent annual awardees. If you will be in the area and would like to attend, please contact Cindy Wood, wood.1183@osu.edu.
April 1, 2021
7:00 PM MST
Online and available throughout the year after April 1
Odyssey Storytelling Presents: CAMP
If you are ready for an hour of giggling, chuckling and guffawing—and who isn’t?—plan to attend CAMP.
I am one of seven true story presenters in the upcoming Odyssey Storytelling show. The shows have moved online for the duration of the pandemic, so you can “be in your pjs with a cocktail,” according to the producers. Yes, it is really happening on April 1. No Foolin’.
The heralded Tucson nonprofit has been operating for free during the pandemic, but is beginning to run on empty. They are figuring out how to charge $10 a household for the show. An excellent value. Details will be up soon on their website and FaceBook page.
Website Link: Odyssey Storytelling Presents: Thursday, April 1, 2021 – Camp
Facebook link: Odyssey Storytelling Camp Event
March 6 & 7, 2021: Replays available all year
Tucson, AZ online
Tucson Festival of Books
UPDATE: Replays of the 2021 Festival are now online at: tucsonfestivalofbooks.org. The 96 presentations run the gamut: History/Biography, Current Issues/Politics/Social Science, Fiction/Literature, Children/Teens, Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror, Mystery/Thrillers, Poetry, Romance, Sports, Nuestras Raices, and Science/Medicine/Technology. Oh, and True Crime. Something for everyone!
Tucson Festival of Books, the third largest Book Festival in the United States, was cancelled in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic was getting a solid foothold across the country. The organizers of the Festival have creatively provided interviews with authors and other content during the year at www.tucsonfestivalofbooks.org. Please join! It’s free and it’s fabulous.
The 2021 event will be a virtual festival with “live author sessions from all genres,” according to their website. I’ll miss the community and food booths, but am delighted to be able to learn from noted authors and to watch the live shows from the various tent stages. As a member of the board of Literacy Connects in Tucson, I am grateful to Tucson Festival of Books for continuing to fund our diverse literacy programs. As an author, I am grateful to learn directly from amazing speakers and to have been selected several years ago to participate in the Festival’s Master Writing Workshop, which follows on the Monday and Tuesday after the Festival. I applaud the Festival organizers for their interest in keeping us safe during the pandemic. While we are celebrating the release of the first vaccines, we can imagine that an event that typically attracts over 100,000 participants will not yet be feasible in 2021. Stay masked, stay socially distanced awhile longer, please!

February 17, 2021
5:30-7:30 p.m. EST/3:30-5:30 MST
Online
Conversation with Gene Smith
Sally will be attending Varsity O’s discussion with Ohio State Athletics Director Gene Smith. The lecture portion of the event will focus on how Smith, a former student-athlete himself, has balanced the drive to compete with his responsibilities to lead and protect Buckeye student-athletes during the COVID-19 outbreak. Hosted by Steve Chappelear, Varsity O president, the discussion will include a Q&A segment for “burning” questions. My blog readers are invited to submit questions for me to ask – use my online Contact Form to reach me!
January 27, 2021
7 p.m. EST/5 p.m. MST
Online
Civil Discourse and Debate
Sally will be attending “Civil Discourse and Debate” with David Axelrod and Chris Christie, hosted by Colleen Marshall, Anchor for NBC4 in Columbus. The event is sponsored by the New Albany Foundation through The Ohio State Alumni Club.
EVENT ARCHIVE
DECEMBER 17, 2020 |
Phoenix, AZ via ZOOM |
Phoenix OSU Alumni Club Student Scholarship Fundraiser |
The Ohio State Alumni Club of Phoenix is putting the “fun” in fundraiser. Come play virtual bingo while supporting their scholarship fund for Ohio State students from Arizona! The event kicks off at 6:00 pm with networking, then gets down to serious business – three Bingo games, ending with a Blackout round. Prizes include Ohio State merchandise, autographed items and gift cards. I plan to donate a signed copy of The Autobiography of Brutus Buckeye. To join in, use Venmo to send @OSUPHX either $10 for each Bingo board or 3 for $25. Include your email address so they can email the cards, the event link and all the details! |
MARCH 14-15, 2020 |
Tucson, AZ |
Tucson Festival of Books |
Sally will be volunteering at the Tucson Festival of Books. Click here to let her know you are attending and would like to meet up with her! Third largest Book Festival in the United States, held at the University of Arizona Campus, 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM. Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Tucson Festival of Books was cancelled. Now and during the ensuing months, I share my heart with everyone. I feel for those who have lost loved ones to this stealth disease. I feel deep gratitude for those who risk their own lives in the medical community and first responders and those providing essential services while the rest of us are staying sheltered. I am grateful for my family, friends and neighbors as we all watch out for each other financially, spiritually and emotionally. If there ever was a time to love, this is it. |
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AUGUST 31, 2019 – JANUARY 19, 2020 |
Columbus, OH |
Scarlet & Gray: The Student Experience |
OSU Archives celebrates Ohio State’s Sesquicentennial. Brutus gear is included in this walk through time at the Gallery Exhibition in the Thompson Library, 1858 Neil Ave., on the Oval. |
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NOVEMBER 3, 2019 |
Tucson, AZ |
Brutus Presentation at The Ohio State Alumni Club of Southern Arizona |
What do Alumni Clubs do during a Bye Week? They hold their annual potluck picnic featuring prime rib marinated in the co-hosts’ secret sauce and cooked in a mammoth outdoor rotisserie in a gorgeous foothills setting. After the meal, Sally will present the history of her “son” Brutus Buckeye. For more information or to RSVP, contact the club president Frank Ramirez, frankaramirez@ymail.com. |
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![]() “Sally Lanyon is a Tucson alumni club member and told the story how she and another student Ray Bourhis created Brutus Buckeye in early 60’s. She also published story with colorful photos in Brutus Buckeye book seen in lower left corner… a very interesting history. “~Dorothy |
OCTOBER 5, 2019 |
Columbus, OH |
Book Signing, Barnes & Noble – The Ohio State University Bookstore |
Join Sally and Keith Burkes and Sandy Glowacki Foreman, former Brutuses, at the campus bookstore from 2:00 to 3:00 PM. Barnes & Noble at OSU, 1598 N. High Street. |
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OCTOBER 4, 2019 |
Clintonville, OH |
Pi Beta Phi Decade Reunion (1960’s) |
Luncheon by invitation only. |
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OCTOBER 3, 2019 |
Mansfield, OH |
Book Signing at Main Street Books |
Sally is happy to be in her hometown to catch up with friends, meet Brutus fans and sign books. 4:00 to 6:00 PM at Main Street Books, 104 N. Main St. |
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