It's early afternoon in Lemay Auditorium. Dr. Uwe Tritman is conducting a final for over 40 Otterbein students in his INST: Our Place in The Universe (astronomy) class. Palms are sweating, eyes are blinking rapidly in an attempt to fend off the sleepiness caused by zero hours of sleep and endless cramming of notes from the 10 weeks that sit in the rearview mirror. Through the windshield: a stack of papers that equal a high percentage of your grade. Stress levels are sky high.
Sitting in his desk and focused on the task at hand, Otterbein's then-junior point guard Ross Banaszak dives head first into his final hurrah with Dr. Tritman. In the back of his mind . . . his girlfriend Jessica O'Connors is nine months into her pregnancy, and is due any minute now.
"Do not call me unless it happens; I need to focus on this final," Banaszak tells his girlfriend before leaving.
Five questions into the exam, his phone vibrates louder and harder than it ever has before. The caller I.D. flashes "JESS." That's right. It happened.
A hello was not in store, instead Banaszak proclaimed, mid-exam, "You've got to be kidding me, really?"
"Yup," said the mother-to-be.
The Athlete
Ross Banaszak exemplifies everything 36-year head coach Dick Reynolds wants and needs in his floor general: tough, humble, talented, stoic, athletic, intelligent beyond belief and able to read defenses the way Reynolds demands of his point guard.
Over 1,000 points later (and enough all-conference recognition to fill a trophy case), Banaszak sits in the midst of his senior season with little to prove. As a junior, Ross played the most minutes of any player in the entire Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC).
My WOBN counterpart Heath Trabue dug deep into the archives and figured that he missed only 20 minutes the entire 2007 season. To put this more into perspective, the 1,480 minutes that the Cardinal men were on the hardwood last year, Ross was on the floor for 1,460 of those! Phew, makes me tired just typing that.
Few people realize that the current leading scorer in the OAC is also the proud father of Andrew Lawrence Banaszak. Born February 27, 2007 to Ross Banaszak and Jessica O'Connors at Riverside Hospital. 8 lbs., 8 ounces.
It was June of 2006 and Banaszak was going toe-to-toe with world-class athletes at the Worthington Summer Basketball League. It was always play, change and call the girlfriend. This summer's day was a little different.
"I got a call from Jess saying she was pregnant. Of course I asked if she was sure, and three tests already had come up positive. I told her to take another one and come over," Banaszak said.
Ross and Jessica explained the situation to her mother, who was a young mother at one time herself. She was cool and collected and talked the two through the situation. Then, they call Ross's older brother Matt to inform him of the news. Otterbein Head of Security and Ross's dad Larry Banaszak was yet to be informed.
"I went home for the weekend and was sitting on the couch with my family. My dad got up and went out the door, then he poked his head back in and asked 'Ross, is Jess pregnant?'" Banaszak said.
Ross shot a look over at Matt as if to say "You told him?!" Matt's shrug and raised eyebrows told the story that he was not the culprit.
"I had a dream last night that she was," Larry Banaszak explained.
The eerie premonition from the night before was correct.
"I told him yes and he just said 'I'm going for a run,' and took off," Ross said.
Once everyone was on board it was time to inform his coach, Dick Reynolds, of the news.
However, Coach Reynolds had to hear it through the grapevine.
"I always keep school and family life separate. I don't know why, I just never told him. It's one of my biggest regrets ever--not telling him right away. If I could do it all over again, I wish I could change that," Banaszak said.
After nine hours of labor, Ross and Jessica were officially mommy and daddy.
The Father
"I just couldn't believe it. It's like any father. I was shocked, yet so happy. I'm responsible for a living, breathing person. Words just can't describe it," Ross attempted to explain.
Then came the realization that they actually were mommy and daddy.
"We came home that first night and it was like 'What do we do?' I mean, we read all the books and asked our parents a bunch of questions, but nobody can prepare for what it's actually like," he said.
Like only a mother can be, Jessica was "on top of her game," as Ross put it.
"Hold the baby this way, change the diaper like this, swaddle the baby with the blanket like this and so on. Within a couple of days she had the baby's schedule down pat.
From his eating schedule, to his nap time, it was all a routine for her," Ross said.
Then came basketball.
"I knew I was going to play from the get-go, it was just how we were going to do it financially. Daycare is just too expensive, so we had to stagger our class schedule so that I was home when she wasn't, and she was home when I wasn't, and when our parents were off and when our siblings could take care of him," he said.
Now that baby Andrew can walk some, it makes leaving for class in the morning more difficult than breaking down the walls of Fort Knox.
"He sees me put my sweat-shirt on and he shakes his head 'uh-uh,' and stands in front of me and cries when I try to leave. It's really hard," Banaszak said with a shake of his head.
Separating family life and basketball is done in such a way that only an all-world point guard can do. "I know when I'm on the floor, I'm responsible for the 12 other guys. When I'm at home, I'm responsible for those two [Jessica and Andrew]. I can't explain it, but as soon as I get in that car, I'm Dad and no longer a basketball player," Banaszak said.
Words can't explain what it's like to be a new daddy. Words can't explain many things. But they can attempt to tell a story that few people will ever go through. If Webster's Dictionary had an entry for "Otterbein Athlete," Ross Banaszak's mug would be planted right next to it. Ross is the poster boy, and the guy you point at when someone asks "What's an Otterbein Cardinal?"
That's him. Right there. The point guard.
