Ohio State's John Wooldridge remembers Akron high school coaching legend Tim Flossie

John Wooldridge remembers entering deer-in-the-headlights mode one day during his recruitment as a running back at Central-Hower High School in the early 1980s.

Fortunately for Wooldridge, he had legendary football coach Tim Flossie by his side.

“Tim Flossie was like an angel that was sent from heaven to really help, guide and direct me,” Wooldridge said Tuesday afternoon by phone.

Flossie, a former head coach at Central-Hower, Buchtel, Barberton and Firestone who won Division II state championships with Buchtel in 1987 and 1988, died Monday at the age of 73 after battling several illnesses for about the past six months.

“He was a champion — not only a champion for football players, but he wanted to champion you through life,” said Wooldridge, 58, who lives in Delaware, Ohio.

After Wooldridge transferred from North, his first season at Central-Hower in 1979 coincided with Flossie debuting as a head coach. They experienced winning seasons together when Wooldridge was a junior and senior, capturing a City Series title in 1981.

With Wooldridge established as a bona fide star, Earle Bruce (Ohio State), Jim Tressel (Syracuse), Bo Schembechler (Michigan) and Joe Paterno (Penn State) visited Central-Hower to meet him. Because of an apparent scheduling snafu, Wooldridge said they all showed up on the same day.

Flossie escorted the group to Central-Hower's student-run restaurant and navigated Wooldridge through the important meeting. Wooldridge recalls being left speechless at times.

“We sat down and had lunch together, and I'm looking in the eyes of these legendary, historical people,” Wooldridge said. “As a 17-year-old kid, I was like, 'Do you realize how nervous I am when I'm trying to eat a french fry?'

“I'm saying, 'This is larger than me right now. What do I do?' But guess what? I had the guidance and the direction of a very, very strong individual who helped me represent who I was and what I needed to be.”

Wooldridge ultimately decided to join Bruce at Ohio State, where Tressel served as an assistant after two years as Syracuse's quarterbacks coach (1981-82) and long before he became the head coach of the Buckeyes in 2001.

Like Flossie, Wooldridge was born and raised in Akron. The coach and player became lifelong friends.

“I've come to realize Coach Flossie was so much more than a football coach,” Wooldridge said. “He was such a mentor. He was a father to so many kids, so many young, inner-city kids who had hardships in their lives.

“They needed father figures. They needed role models. I needed a role model. I was blessed to have my parents in my life and my siblings, but still, you want those outside-of-the-family influences.”

In 1986, Wooldridge suffered a devastating knee injury in the first game of his senior season at Ohio State. The Dallas Cowboys still signed him as an undrafted free agent, but his comeback attempt from reconstructive surgery didn't pan out. An NFL career never materialized.

Wooldridge returned to Ohio State and graduated with a degree in criminal justice. He held jobs in several professions preceding his launch of Excenture Business Solutions in 2009. He is the president and CEO of the company, which specializes in business development, strategic consulting, diversity and inclusion initiatives and national procurement services. He also owns a substantial amount of real estate in the Akron area and Florida.

Wooldridge attributes much of his success in the business world to Flossie pushing and inspiring him as a young man.

“Society's tough. We all know it, but Tim Flossie was a tough man, so he prepared us for toughness,” Wooldridge said. “The Tim Flossies of the world, they can't coach today. They're not going to be allowed to coach today.

“That style and that mode of coach doesn't exist today. In part, they're not allowed to, but it was a mindset of understanding not only am I going to make you a tough individual to tackle the essence of life, I'm going to make sure that you understand how to be a good citizen, how to be productive in society.”

Wooldridge said Flossie attended his inductions into the Central-Hower and Summit County Sports halls of fame along with speaking engagements he's had at business symposiums and seminars.

Their relationship began when Wooldridge introduced himself in Flossie's office and declared, “I intend to be the best running back you've ever seen.” Flossie simply told Wooldridge he had heard bold proclamations before and ordered him to get to work.

Wooldridge listened and was eventually named the Beacon Journal's high school football player of the year for the 1981 season. The only problem was he didn't have a suit to wear to the awards ceremony at the University of Akron.

“The suit that I wore for that event was given to me by Tim Flossie,” Wooldridge said.

After Flossie passed away Monday, Wooldridge spoke to several members of the family. He told Flossie's daughter, Jill Ammerman, about the suit her father had gifted him. She asked Wooldridge to send her a photograph of him accepting his trophy in the outfit.

“Tim Flossie was always there,” Wooldridge said.

Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com.

On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: John Wooldridge remembers high school football coach Tim Flossie