Serving on the High Seas: O.H.I.O. pride on USS George Washington

In our special series Serving on the High Seas on Tuesday, we took you aboard a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. Not only do those sailors take pride in serving their country, but also where they come from and when they heard a Youngstown TV station was flying in, they wanted to show us their Ohio pride.

The O.H.I.O chant started as a simple football cheer in 1947 at Ohio State University, but has become a rallying cry for buckeyes everywhere, even on the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS George Washington.

"Surprising number of Ohioans on this ship," Lisbon native and Assistant Navigator John Toolis said. "It is one of those states that I think that you don't realize how many are from there until you start talking about them so, it's a small world thing but there are a number of well represented Ohioans on this ship."

Toolis, Ryan Smith from Akron, Jeffrey Melnek from Youngstown and Sara Kupevitz, who went to OSU took time away from work to do the O.H.I.O chant for us.

"Growing up as an Ohio State fan from me and my father and down to the family, being able to go to games when I go back home is unbelievable," Melnek said.

"It's a pride thing honestly to get to represent Ohio and this fine Navy that we have," Smith said.

"I am actually from the state up north however, I went to the Ohio State University, so I have a lot of great deal of pride in four years that shaped me and kind of led me to this so, my in-laws however still live in Springfield Ohio and my husband is from there as well and that is where I met him, yep, I love Ohio for all of those reasons," Kupevitz said.

"Ohio is one of those states that I think embodies almost Jason Aldean's fly over state, one of those one's that if Ohio wasn't there, people would miss it but I have been very proud and happy to see how far Ohio and big cities like Cleveland, Columbus Cincinnati have come over the years from even when I was a kid to the times I have been able to visit back there again," Toolis said.

Here's an interesting twist, the chant was actually invented by U.S. Navy Sailors on the aircraft carrier USS Lexington in the 1940's. Some of them later enrolled at Ohio State and one became a cheerleader. They taught that chant to the crowd. They also created the hand symbols that go with the chant and can be seen all over the world.

Coming up Thursday on Serving on the High Seas, a naval musicial who perfected his craft in Youngstown at the YSU Dana School of Music.