IT ISN’T often that Albert Einstein and former Ohio State Buckeye Chris Gamble are mentioned in the same book, but “The Winners Manual” is unusual.

Known as the manual for the game of life, the book was written by OSU head football coach Jim Tressel with Chris Fabry.

Tressel describes the manual as “a personal playbook for success, filled with insights on what it takes to be a winner in the game of life from some of the greatest coaches, athletes, writers, thinkers, and leaders in world.”

It contains the heart of the Winners Manual, first given by Tressel to Youngstown State University football players in 1986. The manual has changed in size over the years as well as in content.

The first was about 75 pages long and had a flimsy plastic cover, and now it is a nearly 400-page handbook containing everything that Tressel and his coaches think would be helpful for the players. However, it isn’t all X’s and O’s, but contains material ranging from the Gettysburg Address to the “Buckeye Battle Cry” as well as a step-by-step process of personal assessment and goal setting.

Outstanding quotations from a variety of sources are scattered throughout the book, and there are several at the beginning of each chapter of the 268-page book.

Tressel mentioned a quotation by Einstein now is a permanent fixture on the wall of OSU coaching offices.

He saw it when his son, Zak, was touring the OSU campus in preparation to attend the university, and they were in an engineering presentation where the professor put a slide on the screen. It included the Einstein quote – “Concern for man and his fate must form the chief interest of all technical endeavors. … Never forget that in the midst of your diagrams and equations.”

Noting that the quotation hit him right between the eyes, Tressel commented, “I wasn’t thinking about football when we walked in, but I could see those words fitting perfectly into the world of football.”

He explained if the coaches are caught up in the mechanics of the game and making sure the athletes are in good shape “but leave out a concern for our players and their fate, then all our technical endeavors in football will mean nothing.”

Later in the book, Tressel praised Chris Gamble’s talents as a wide receiver, adding that Gamble’s dream was to play that position in the NFL.

Even though that was Gamble’s dream, he played both sides of the ball when asked to do so. Numerous times when the coach asked him to play a different position, he’d ask Gamble if that was all right with him, and the player’s answer was: “I’m straight.”

Gamble’s versatility on the football field didn’t go unnoticed as a spoof of his workhorse performances was featured by a Columbus news channel.

Tressel said that on that TV piece, Gamble “was shown as a sideline reporter, public address announcer, and drum major in the marching band. He sold concessions and tickets and wore the costume of Brutus, the Buckeye mascot. The feature ended with Chris sweeping up the stands after the game – and as he’s working, the maintenance supervisor comes by, flips him the keys and says, ‘Chris, can you lock up when you’re done?’ It was priceless.”

Gamble now is in his fifth year as cornerback for the Carolina Panthers. Tressel points out the moral of this story is “that if you do what the team needs and let your dreams and desires be shaped as you give to and support others, things will work out well for the team and for you.”

The coach even includes one of my favorite quotations, “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be,” and that’s from Abraham Lincoln.

Tressel also notes that the poem, “God’s Hall of Fame” helps in giving him perspective each day.

An illustration of the “Block O of Life” also is in the book, and it lists both purposes and goals with explanations.

Despite the uplifting quotations, Tressel points out that life isn’t all sweetness and light. He noted, “Adversity comes to us all – it’s only a matter of when,” and then goes on to explain the important thing is a person’s response to it.

It’s not surprising that Tressel also places emphasis on family, especially his parents, Lee and Eloise Tressel. Photos related to his family and OSU football are among the book’s features.

Sometimes, players and former players are featured in the book, and one of these is former OSU player Maurice Clarett. He reveals some surprising information about Clarett and the hope he’ll be able to turn around things in his life.

Chapters in the book focus on “The Big Ten Fundamentals,” which are attitude, discipline, excellence, faith and belief, work, handling adversity and success, love, responsibility, team and hope.

A portion of proceeds from the book will go to the William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library campaign at OSU.

The prologue in the book begins with a question asked by former major leaguer Bobby Richardson when Tressel was a teenager at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes camp.

That question, which also is listed at the end of the book, is: “If the game of life ended tonight, would you be a winner?”

Extremely thought-provoking, isn’t it?

Pokas can be reached at timesleader@timesleaderonline.com.