Ohio State basketball legend Katie Smith will make history Saturday as the first woman to ring the Victory Bell before the Buckeyes host Kent State at noon inside Ohio Stadium. Smith, a Logan native who starred for the Buckeyes before becoming one of the most decorated players in women's basketball history, becomes the 10th person and second figure of the 2026 season to take part in the pregame ritual.
Smith's selection was announced as part of Ohio State's ongoing pregame ceremony, according to 10TV. The 2,420-pound bell hangs 150 feet high in Ohio Stadium's southeast tower, a gift from the graduating classes of 1943, 1944, and 1945 that members of the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity began manually ringing after wins starting October 2, 1954, according to Ohio State University Libraries. Directly above the bell, the phrase “For Vigor” remains etched into the stadium's 1922 concrete tower as a permanent call for game-day effort, according to Ohio State Buckeyes.
A New Tradition Meets an Old Landmark
The pregame bell-ringing ceremony itself is new, launched in August 2025 as part of Athletic Director Ross Bjork's “Tradition Evolved” initiative, which also turned the bell's toll into the stadium's official third-down signal. The move expanded a 70-year-old, postgame-only tradition into a way to boost crowd energy before kickoff. Before Smith, the honor had gone to Buckeye figures including Archie Griffin, John Cooper, Clark Kellogg, Michael Redd, Urban Meyer, Jerry Lucas, Jim Tressel, Jackson Smith-Njigba, and most recently Maurice Clarett, who rang the bell as this season's first honoree ahead of the September 5 opener against Ball State, as Hoodline reported in its full-circle redemption moment piece.
Smith's own résumé at Ohio State is the stuff of program lore. She joined the women's basketball team as a freshman in 1992 and scored 28 points in a game that helped lead the Buckeyes to their first NCAA championship game appearance, a 84-82 loss to Texas Tech. That freshman season also made her the first freshman since Cheryl Miller to earn Kodak First Team All-America honors, along with national and Big Ten Freshman of the Year recognition.
A Buckeye Scoring Record and a Retired Jersey
Smith finished her Ohio State career with 2,578 points, still third all-time in program scoring. She was named Big Ten Player of the Year, and in 2001 Ohio State retired her jersey, making her the first female student-athlete in school history to receive that honor. That same year, she continued to build her legacy.
Her success continued locally with the Columbus Quest, where she won two American Basketball League championships in the 1996-97 and 1997-98 seasons before a 15-season WNBA career that included two titles with the Detroit Shock, seven WNBA All-Star selections, and the 2008 WNBA Finals MVP award. She won Olympic gold medals with Team USA in 2000, 2004, and 2008. Smith was later inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. By the end of her playing career in 2013, she stood as the second-highest scorer in U.S. women's professional basketball history with 7,885 combined points across the ABL and WNBA, trailing only Diana Taurasi, according to the WNBA.
From the Sidelines Back to Columbus
Smith's coaching path included stops as head coach of the New York Liberty in 2018 and 2019. She returned to Ohio State as an assistant coach for the women's basketball program in November 2024.
Saturday's game carries its own set of festivities beyond the bell. Ohio State's matchup with Kent State doubles as both the “Helmet Stripe Game,” with fans in the horseshoe wearing gray and students dressing to match the team's helmet stripes, and the “Scarlet & Gray Game” honoring all Ohio State student-athletes. Ohio State and Kent State will meet Saturday.
Season Context and What's Next
Ohio State opened its 2026 campaign with a 56-3 win over Ball State on September 5 before falling to Texas 24-23 on September 12. The Buckeyes will host Illinois on September 26, when current assistant coach and former linebacker James Laurinaitis is set to ring the bell to coincide with his College Football Hall of Fame induction festivities, according to Scarlet and Game. The season continues through the fall.
