SIDNEY — Former Sidney resident, Avery Voress, finished out his fifth year with the Ohio State University Marching Band by dotting the ‘i’ in script Ohio at the final home game of the season on Saturday.
Voress is graduating with a degree in zoology in the spring of 2023 and has been with the OSU marching band for five years as a tuba player. He was recently featured in an ESPN commercial for college football alongside students, team members and alumnus from various colleges across the nation.
Voress was top ranked in the marching band and was given the choice of which home game he wanted to dot the ‘i’ in script Ohio during. He chose the most anticipated and biggest game of the season, the OSU v. Michigan rivalry game. Not only is the game huge for fans of both teams, it was a big deal to Voress this year as it was his last game with the marching band.
“It happened really fast. Five plus years working towards this and it’s over in a flash, but it was an experience like no other. 100,000 people cheering on you and clapping and singing along when you’re playing the solo at the top of the ‘i’ is kind of indescribable,” said Voress.
The biggest game of the year filled the stands in Ohio Stadium with a crowd of about 110,000 fans.
“I tried not to think about it. To be honest, it’s kind of a silly thing, but as I was going up the little ‘o’ and I’m about to do the strut to the top of the ‘i,’ I thought about my dog. I just thought about her because it calmed me down and I was able to do it (the solo),” said Voress.
He noted that his family and friends told him the stadium was the loudest they had ever heard during the pre-game but that he was “so in the moment” he did not even notice until his solo was finished.
