In 1958, Dwight Eisenhower was the president of the United States, Major League Baseball played its first game in California and a group of young men who would go on to become the Beatles had their first recording session.
That was also the year that Dick Woolison, who is the timekeeper for men’s basketball and football, became an employee of Ohio University.
He began his work as a student assistant in the intramural sports department, and became a graduate assistant for the same program before leaving for three years to teach outside of the university in 1963. After those three years were up, Woolison returned to the university and has had held a multitude of job titles.
Woolison explained that he has done everything from teaching an officiating class to becoming director of the Ping Center when it initially opened in 1996. But the job that he’s held longest has been as the timekeeper at The Convo and Peden Stadium.
“I helped work with the scoreboard at freshman basketball games at Grover Center and also worked on it at Peden Stadium,” Woolison said. “When The Convo was built (in 1968), I started the timing and began doing the same for the football games.”
Though he’s worked there for 42 years, the most memorable moment at the Convo for Woolison would be the first game he timed. The Bobcats were taking on Indiana, and he remembers being so nervous that he felt like his hand was glued to his time clicker.
“We’ve had big games, we’ve had blowouts and we’ve had overtime games,” Woolison said. “But nothing really specific stands out to me, other than the first game.”
Because Woolison has been working at Ohio for more than a half century, he’s seen his fair share of characters on the sideline. But one of his favorite people to see come to The Convo was former Miami basketball coach Charlie Coles.
“The O-Zone just tormented that poor guy, but he would just get up and wave to them,” Woolison said. “He did something for basketball and I hate to see him retire.”
But not everyone who traveled to play the Bobcats was as kind as the recently retired Miami men’s basketball coach.
Woolison recalled that a long time ago, an athletic director from an opposing school sat right next to him at the scorer’s table. The AD was berating the Ohio players, as well as the officials. Finally, after repeated requests to leave, the man was escorted away by a police officer.
Jason Farmer, Assistant Athletic Director for facilities and operations at Ohio, has known Woolison since arriving at Ohio University 10 years ago. Farmer says that Woolison is one of the people he can always count on.
“I’d say that ‘reliable’ and ‘dedicated’ are good words to describe Dick,” Farmer said. “He always gives me one less thing to worry about on game day for football and basketball.”
And even though he’s behind the main clock, Woolison feels he wouldn’t be where he is without his crew.
“It takes more than one person to succeed in basketball,” Woolison said. “We all work as a team down there.”
ch203310@ohiou.edu
