My book is about history and the talk of living that on Tuesday is not the least bit overstatement.

Imagine for a minute if you could have been at Philadelphia for the signing of the Declaration. Or at Gettysburg for Lincoln's address. Maybe with Lee and Grant at Appomattox? In Berlin when Jesse won the medals? How about riding on a tank when the Allies liberated Paris, or on the aircraft carrier when MacArthur accepted the surrender? What if you could have been on the bus for the freedom rides, or at the Lincoln Memorial when Martin Luther had the dream? Perhaps in Berlin when the wall came down? All of these things shattered barriers on the roads named freedom and opportunity. Today this nation will shatter another one. Through the miracle of modern electronics, we can all be there.

Ohio Stadium in its own way has played a part in helping shatter those same barriers. As I watch today, I will think of all of you who have shared with me your stories to reveal that proud part of the stadium's history. I will think of Bill and Chuck, Cornelius and Archie, then Bobby, Rudy, Judge D, Tracy, Bonnie, and of course, what you all shared about the role of the old man himself.

Most of all, I will think back to a little over a year ago, when I sat in the back of the First Congregational Church for the funeral service of Bill Willis. Bill's pastor, the Reverend Timothy Ahrens, closed the service that day by recalling his account of having taken Bill to the Freedom Center in Cincinnati to meet noted civil rights leader, Dr. Fred Shuttlesworth. Pastor Ahrens shared, "At the end of the day as we were leaving the Freedom Center, there on the banks of Cincinnati, we were looking over to the Kentucky side of the Ohio River. We had spent the day hearing once again the stories of those who had come through the underground railroad to freedom and I asked Bill, "What do you think as you look back over the Ohio River after today? And Bill said to me, I think of all the people that never made it. I think of all the people that never made it and what we have to do to turn this around."

Tomorrow is a day to both honor all those that didn't make it, and also to celebrate those that did, those that are helping to turn this around!