As Luke Lachey returns to Columbus, his Buckeye family has fully become a Hawkeye family too

IOWA CITY — Luke Lachey’s family will hold a tailgate in Ohio Stadium’s west parking lot, as has been a tradition ahead of Ohio State home games.

His father Jim Lachey estimated that “maybe 20” people are usually in attendance for a Lachey family tailgate. It’s the site of many of Luke’s favorite Ohio State memories — “tossing the ball around” with friends and family outside the stadium.

The Lachey family, which lives a couple miles from the stadium, has Ohio State roots that run deep. Jim Lachey is Ohio State’s radio commentator (and was a former Ohio State and NFL offensive lineman). Three of Luke’s four siblings attended Ohio State. That’s not to mention Luke’s uncles, brother-in-law and others with strong Buckeye connections.

But ahead of this weekend’s Iowa-Ohio State football game — presumably Luke’s final game going against his childhood team as a fifth-year Iowa tight end — the Lachey family tailgate will have much more of a Hawkeye flavor as attendance is expected to be up “tenfold at least.”

The tailgate is a symbol of how the Buckeye-rooted Lachey family has become as much of a Hawkeye family as it has been a Buckeye family during Luke’s tenure in Iowa City.

“Luke’s the baby of the family, so he kind of got dragged around to a lot of sporting events with his sisters and then his brother growing up,” Jim said. “This is an opportunity for him to shine, so they’ve all paid him back by supporting him.”

Luke’s sister Paige has especially embraced the Hawkeyes.

“We call her an Iowa freak,” Lachey said. “She loves Iowa. … Whenever we see any of those Herkys that are standing around, she’ll take a picture with it. And she’s 32, I will say that now. But she’s a huge fan. She loves Caitlin Clark.”

Luke’s brother James and several friends from Ohio State country went to the Iowa-Troy game while wearing black-and-gold overalls.

“That was pretty cool to see James’ high school buddies all embrace Iowa for the day and get their Iowa gear on and go out and support James’ little brother,” said Jim, who could attend the game because it was Ohio State’s bye week.

Their Hawkeye attire did have one major drawback.

“They all got so burnt,” Luke said. “It was hilarious. … It’s supposed to be like a high of 68 on Saturday in Columbus, so it might be a little chillier.”

With the exception of the 2020 Purdue game, Luke’s mother Ann has yet to miss any of his Iowa games and also spent extended time with him last year after he suffered his season-ending injury. That entails either making the 500-plus-mile drive each way or flying with layovers in Chicago or Minneapolis.

“She’s excited because the road trip is only about three miles,” said Jim, who lives in nearby Grandview Heights.

Jim usually does not make it to many of Luke’s games because of his broadcasting job. (The exceptions are when Ohio State has a bye week or one of the teams has a Friday game.)

Iowa City has left enough of an impression on him in those limited opportunities, though, that the Buckeye great might have to catch some Hawkeye games “even if Luke’s not there.”

“When Ohio State’s not playing and Iowa is, I’d like to go back,” Jim said. “I have so much fun being in Kinnick. … It’s just a special place, and the fact that we’ve made a lot of friends in Iowa City.”

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Saturday’s ‘business trip’

As for Saturday’s game, Lachey is trying to treat it like “another business trip.” At the same time, particularly for someone who grew up a few miles away from Ohio Stadium, it is “certainly everyone’s dream to be able to play in the Horseshoe.”

“I'll probably take a moment, look up at the press box where my dad's sitting and everyone that he works with,” Lachey said. “It'll be cool to see that and just take it all in.”

Should a Lachey touchdown happen on Saturday, his father does not have a prepared call for the moment. (He plans to wear neutral colors in the radio booth, by the way.)

“I’ll probably scream,” Jim said. “I do a lot of that during touchdowns.”

Lachey’s 2024 trip to Columbus will be under different circumstances from the 2022 game.

In his first trip to Columbus, Lachey was the No. 2 tight end behind Sam LaPorta, who now is in the NFL as the Detroit Lions’ starting tight end. Lachey had one catch for 6 yards in Iowa’s 54-10 loss.

“I was really stressed,” Lachey said, looking back at the 2022 game. “I felt a lot of pressure in that.”

Now, Lachey — a team captain who ranks second on the team with 12 receptions for 97 yards — feels “great going into it.”

“But at the end of the day, it’s another game, and we just got to be ready to play,” Lachey said.

Well, another game with a lot of ticket requests.

Lachey acquired “probably like 15 tickets from teammates,” as of Tuesday’s late-morning player interviews. Then it will be up to his family and friends to get their hands on as many additional tickets as they can.

The 2022 tailgate had “close to 200” people between family and friend, Jim estimated.

“Still working on parking spots for everybody,” Jim said on a Wednesday phone call with The Gazette.

That is a problem the Buckeye-rooted-but-Hawkeye-adopted Lachey family will happily take, though.

“We’re very honored that Luke chose to be a Hawkeye and how his career has gone and now an opportunity to come back,” his father Jim said. “He’s going to get that chance again to play in a stadium that he grew up watching a lot of games in. … It’ll be fun.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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