Laurinaitis leads animalistic life

MINNEAPOLIS – The autograph requests increased steadily as the Ohio State football season unfolded. Hats, shirts, paper all made their way into James Laurinaitis’ hands.

A high-profile athlete getting swamped by autograph seekers is nothing new or novel, of course. That it happens during the middle of lectures seems to border on the absurd.

“It happened a lot,” he said. “Especially towards Christmas. (Students) will pass a jersey down the aisle, have you sign it and pass it back. Crazy.”

Laurinaitis, however, knows crazy. He lived it every day in Minnesota growing up the son of a famous pro wrestler whose stage name is “Animal.” While other kids saw their dads put on a suit and tie and go to the office, Laurinaitis watched his father, Joe, don makeup and spiked shoulder pads as half of the popular tag-team duo Road Warriors, also known as the Legion of Doom.

His unconventional upbringing attracted as much national attention this season as his stellar play as Ohio State’s middle linebacker. In his first season as a starter, Laurinaitis, a true sophomore from Wayzata, Minn., exploded onto the scene, earning All-America honors and one national defensive player of the year award to help the top-ranked Buckeyes earn a spot in Monday’s BCS national championship game against Florida.

Laurinaitis began the season as a relative unknown after serving as an understudy to Ohio State’s trio of star linebackers last season. He now has his own cult following, a legion of fans who wear wrestling garb to games and affectionately refer to him as “Little Animal.”

“Life has changed a little bit,” he said.

Laurinaitis never viewed his family life as odd, although he finds humor in parts of it now.

“He’s not normal,” James said with a smile as his father entered the kitchen of their suburban home on Christmas Eve.

Joe, an Irondale graduate, played junior college football before pursuing a wrestling career. James’ mother, Julie, was a competitive body builder. The two met in a gym when Julie asked Joe to spot for her while she lifted weights.

“Meathead,” James said, rolling his eyes.

Even as his father and Michael (Hawk) Hegstrand became one of the most popular and successful tag-team duos in pro wrestling history, James saw his childhood as nothing but normal.

“The whole ‘Animal’ thing wasn’t an issue in high school,” he said. “People ask if I was nicknamed ‘Little Animal.’ Well, no, because my friends knew him as Joe or Mr. Laurinaitis.”

His father’s occupation wasn’t exactly a family secret, though. Joe always outfitted James’ youth sports teams with Road Warriors uniforms in place of the standard park board jerseys.

James also threw parties when his dad wrestled in pay-per-view events. The boys would put a king-size mattress in the middle of the living room and mimic the wrestlers’ signature moves while jumping from a second-floor loft.

“We would do all the big-time finishing moves,” said current Gophers safety Dominique Barber, one of James’ best friends.

Joe said he traveled 300 days a year at the height of his popularity. But he said he made every attempt to make it to all of his three kids’ games. He also coached many of their teams.

“Wrestling was part of my life as a job,” he said. “But it wasn’t part of my life when I came into the house.”

Wrestling remains part of his life. The greeting on the home answering machine has an option for “Road Warrior Animal.” Joe, 46, still makes appearances, including one scheduled in Phoenix this week while in town for the championship game.

Joe said he believes his son would be a natural at wrestling if he chose that career path after football.

“He knows how to sell a product,” Joe said. “That’s a big thing. He’s a natural at talking to people. Ninety percent of your business is the verbal sell. The stuff in the ring, all they want to see is chairs and blood and stuff like that.”

James naturally gravitated to sports as a kid, excelling in football obviously but also hockey. He earned the nickname “Shrek” as a defenseman at Wayzata because he was, well, an ogre on the ice.

Laurinaitis said he believes he could have played college hockey, but it became obvious that his future was in football.