Hubbard grad to ‘Dot the I’ in Buckeyes’ home opener
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HUBBARD -- Robert Gawdyda spent the majority of his high school band career as a clarinet player, but a request from his band director to compensate for a lack of players changed his future.
"For marching band in 10th grade, we had a couple of seniors leave, who were tuba players -- I think we had three less sousaphones than we would normally have," said Gawdyda, a 2022 Hubbard High School graduate. "So when Dan Nestich, my band director, came up to me and said, 'Hey, do you want to play tuba,' I said, 'OK, sure, I can try -- let me see a tuba.'"
"I picked up the tuba, played a couple notes, and I was like, 'I think I can do this,' and from there, it became sort of its own thing."
Gawdyda, now in his fourth year as a member of the Ohio State University marching band, plays the sousaphone, a type of tuba shaped in a large circle to fit around the player's body.
He's set to dot the script "I" in Script Ohio at the football team's Sept. 5 home opener against Ball State University.
Script Ohio was first performed by the band in 1936 and is considered the "quintessential formation" of the group, according to Ohio State's website.
A different fourth- or fifth-year sousaphone player is chosen to be the dot "I" each time the band performs it.
Gawdyda credited Scott Killian, the district's pep band instructor, for introducing him to the marching band, joking that Killian strung him along a bit.
"He was telling me about auditions and the tryout process, and summer sessions and the traditions, some of the more well-known traditions of the band, like the Script Ohio," Gawdyda said. "He showed me the Script Ohio, and I don't remember which video it was, but I still remember being in that band room at Hubbard with him there, nobody else.
"And I don't know what -- I don't know what in me at that moment said, you know, 'I want to do that,' but that's what it was."
Gawdyda said he visited Columbus but had never set foot in Ohio Stadium, adding that he and his peers were still feeling lost because of the COVID-19 pandemic they were in the midst of, but watching the sousaphone player go to the top of the "I" gave him a goal.
Gawdyda said he started taking marching band more seriously, practicing "Buckeye Battle Cry" and "Fight the Team" in the school's band room.
He said he became the band's vice president in 11th grade and president the following year, explaining that he was gearing himself up to be in a position where he could be someone people would look up to.
Gawdyda, who attended as many summer sessions with the Ohio State band as possible despite living in Hubbard, said he was admitted to the college in May 2022, but started at its Newark campus for reasons unknown to him.
Gawdyda said he continued to perform regardless of not making it there, joining the school's athletic band, the marching band's counterpart, which performs at sporting events outside of football.
"I did that for both semesters, and I got the school songs and band tunes under my fingers," Gawdyda said. "The whole year after I had not made it, I was absolutely dead set focused on making every single summer session, and putting in every possible ounce of effort into making it."
Gawdyda's efforts paid off that next year, obtaining a regular spot in the band -- adding that he was confident at that point, because he scored high during the band's audition process, which grades on both marching and music.
Gawdyda said making the band was only the beginning, saying that every week and football game is a challenge, with the band's higher-ups upping their expectations.
"My first year definitely was an incredible experience, but also sort of a humbling one because at that point I still hadn't known what it takes to be in the marching band at Ohio State," Gawdyda said.
Gawdyda said the fourth-year band members get together and have a system to pick who gets to "dot the I," and he picked the very first game because he wanted an experience similar to his first ramp entrance against Youngstown State University.
Gawdyda said he realized the Ohio State University Alumni Band reunion, which features hundreds of alumni performing alongside the current band, happens between the first or second game of the season.
He said he wanted to "dot the I" in that particular game because he wanted to march with Killian, who introduced him to the band to begin with.
"I really hoped to get Ball State because I knew Ball State was the very first game and it was the alumni game, so it was going to be harking back to that feeling that I had," Gawdyda said. "It's been a four-year dream in the making -- more than that, really -- so I'm incredibly excited. (I) can't even put into words how excited I am."
Nestich, in his 25th year as a band director, said the marching band will feature three Hubbard alumni, adding that Jackson Corbett, a freshman, will also be on the field with them.
"I'm super proud of Robbie to achieve this, and this is probably going to be a once-in-my-career opportunity," Nestich said. "This has never happened here in Hubbard, and I'd be honored if it does happen again."
Nestich said he plans on traveling to Columbus to be at the game.