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Even outside the Buckeye state, Archie Griffin’s shadow looms large. The only two-time Heisman Trophy winner in college football history and the only player to start in four Rose Bowls, he’s made his mark on his sport and holds a special place in the hearts of Ohioans everywhere (and they are everywhere). So you can imagine what it meant
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for Mangiamo’s, the island’s go-to pizza place for Ohio State fans, to get name checked by the legendary No. 45 in his final interview as president of the Ohio State Alumni Association. “Just recently I traveled to Hilton Head to visit a group of alums there… We met beforehand at a place down there called Mangiamo’s, which is an Ohio State
bar and restaurant,” said Griffin in the interview. “It was a ball. When you see that kind of enthusiasm, at a place almost 700 miles from our Columbus campus, it’s pretty doggone special.” For Mangiamo’s owner Brian Bambeck, whose walls show him posed for photos with an all-star lineup of Buckeye greats, it’s a standout moment. “I was blown away by it. As soon as it came out I had people texting me left and right asking if I’d read it,” he said. It should come as no surprise, though. After all, Hilton Head Island has always been an unofficial colony of the state of Ohio dating back to the 1970s. And for those ex pats driven south by frigid Ohio winters, Magniamo’s has become their capital. And to think, it all started with one flag. “When I first opened, I had one Ohio State flag and one TV. Just a little 2x3 flag,” Bambeck said. And then the memorabilia started coming in. Some was Bambeck’s, some was donated by his fellow Buckeyes who had been itching for a place to call their own. “The more I