By Jim Woods
The Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The man known to Ohio State fans for his cowboy hat and flamboyant gear at games is thankful a retired Columbus firefighter was riding shotgun when a large bird came crashing through his car windshield.
John Chubb — known as “Buck-I-Guy” — still has a shiner under his right eye from a broken orbital bone. He said he “thanks the Lord” because he knows it could have been much worse.
Chubb, 51, and Lonnie Poindexter, 59, were returning from Pittsburgh early in the evening on March 17 after the Ohio State men’s basketball victory over Gonzaga.
At the time of the accident, he was driving on I-70 near St. Clairsville in eastern Ohio.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the bird — he thinks it was a turkey vulture or wild turkey — come out from behind a guardrail.
“I said, ‘Look at that big ...’ and I couldn’t get out the word bird,” Chubb said last night from his home on the Northeast Side.
The bird flew into the path of his car and crashed through the windshield, hitting Chubb in the face and spraying glass and feathers everywhere.
That’s when Poindexter took over.
“John was knocked out, and he had his foot on the accelerator,” Poindexter said.
Poindexter grabbed the steering wheel and turned off the ignition. The car struck the guardrail, hit the concrete divider and spun around.
When the car came to rest, Chubb revived. Both men were treated at Wheeling Hospital across the Ohio River in Wheeling, W.Va.
Poindexter, who lives on the Northeast Side and is vice president of operations at St. Stephens Community House, downplays his actions.
“The blessing of the Lord was with us also, and we’re here to talk about it today,” he said.
And Chubb is grateful for that, though he’s still not sure if he’ll be heading to New Orleans to cheer the Buckeyes on Saturday in the Final Four.
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