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Blackwell: Stories no stranger to fiction

The candidate says he embellishes his football tale to entertain, not to mislead.

By Laura A. Bischoff

Staff Writer

COLUMBUS — Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell admits not all the details of his stories are true, but that doesn't mean he won't keep telling them.

One of Blackwell's favorite yarns harkens back to his college football days, playing for Xavier University against the Quantico Marines in 1969.

Blackwell tells audiences he was knocked unconscious and rushed to the hospital, and the next day The Cincinnati Enquirer headline proclaimed: "Blackwell head X-rays show nothing."

There was no such headline, and it seems Blackwell wasn't rushed to the hospital, either.

"I've been telling that story for 25 years as an ice breaker and as a self-deprecating story, that shows I don't take myself too seriously," he said Tuesday.

And the injury? "I was not injured to the point where I got a headline for my injury. I came out with aches and pains every game I played ... I was not injured in any game that career-ending. There was no concussion."

Blackwell said he first heard the headline story from John Wiethe, who played pro football and led the Hamilton County Democrats for 34 years, and later from Jack Kemp, a fellow conservative Republican and another former football player.