Actor and comedian Richard Lewis passed away Wednesday at age 76.
Lewis graduated from Ohio State in 1969. The avid sports fan loved the Buckeyes almost as much as he hated Michigan.
In a 2022 profile about his love of sports and friendship with Larry David, Lewis explained his scorn for Michigan to The Athletic’s Bill Shea.
“I have such a hatred for that institution. I have never missed an (OSU-UM) game since I was 17,” Lewis said. “People who go to Ohio State have such a disdain for the Wolverines. Is this like a cult? No, there’s a big history involved with these two teams. Until the day I die, I will want to crush that team up north. I never put the letter M on anything.”
Lewis said he became “like a satanic figure” when the Buckeyes lost. He discussed feeling at home once he arrived in Columbus.
“I fell in love with the campus,” Lewis said. “I was so taken by it, I didn’t care about other schools at that point. I was a Buckeye right out of the gate.”
At the time of The Athletic piece, Lewis enjoyed a long run of domination in the Big Ten feud. Ohio State had won 16 of the last 19 meetings against Michigan, who have since picked up two victories.
“I cannot tell you the pleasure I get rooting against the coach of Michigan, the team and university, the groundskeeper,” he said.
Unfortunately for Lewis, he witnessed the Wolverines win the national championship in January. But perhaps he took a small bit of solace in his nemesis defeating Alabama in the Rose Bowl, as Lewis also called it his “dream” to see Nick Saban’s “smirk fall into the mud.”