Michael Barnett (soccer)

Transcription

[Music playing] >> KAREN BELL: I met Larry in 1993. His story with Ohio State begins before that. He was both going to school and practically had a full time job booking his orchestra. He chose going off and building his career to be president of the Music Corporation of America, going on to spending much of his life at Kris Craft, and his life of Isabelle, one of the classiest dames ever born, a Tony Award-winning actress. But Ohio State was always in his heart and mind. >> WAYNE LAWSON: Larry and Isabelle understood what the arts meant to everybody. They believed so deeply in what students were doing and believed so deeply that they wanted to help those students understand the world in which they lived. That they put up the money to put down the pathway for those kids to go out and understand entrepreneurship, realities of the work world, and be practical about it. That's what the Barnett's understood. That's why they were so fabulous. >> GRETCHEN McINTOSH: I would love to run an arts council or work summer in the arts field, and the Barnett fellowship allowed me to come to graduate school full time. It really had a huge influence on basically changing my life and my whole perception of my future. People like the Barnett's are so vitally important to offer ways perhaps for those who couldn't make it on their own to go ahead and strive for success and to provide that pathway. >> KAREN BELL: He just really wanted to help people. He did that a variety of ways in his life, but it was at Ohio State where he could help students realize their dreams. And it was always important for him to see students, to sit with students, to be with students, to find out about them, and to help them. So now there is this center where arts students and people interested in the arts and in furthering arts policy, can come and there will be a central place for them. You know, he got an honorary doctorate here in 1996. The highlight of his life. I mean, his whole family came. He always said that Ohio State made him feel like a big man. Of course we always said he made us feel so special and worthy. [End recording]