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Ohio Buckeyes and the legend of the lost camera

hen most people find a camera, their first inclination is to hand it to the police or perhaps into the local lost and found. But not Michelle Montgomery, a human resources consultant from Cliftonville, Ohio, who upon finding a camera at a Columbus Buckeyes game, embarked upon an innovative mission to return it directly to its rightful owner.

Because she was unsure that the university's lost and found would be able to trace the owner of the camera, Montgomery took it upon herself to find him or her on her own. She decided that the easiest way to reunite the lost camera with its no doubt disappointed owner would be to search for them over the internet. And so began a unique social experiment.

First, Montgomery paged through the images on the camera and deduced that it belonged to a young Buckeyes fan. After flicking through the images 32 year-old Montgomery felt even more determined to get the mislaid camera back to that young man.

Next she downloaded the image of the boy with someone who appeared to be his father as they stood with the Buckeyes mascot Brutus outside Ohio Stadium. She then emailed 14 friends and to the message she attached a request: "Does anyone recognize this man?".

If not, she asked, could they please forward the email and picture to as many Buckeyes fans as possible to see if any of them recognized him?

Less than 48 hours later, Montgomery was talking to the camera's owner Kevin John from Shelby, who along with his 10 year old son Noah, had been due to attend the game where Montgomery found the camera. Unfortunately, his seats were allocated to the Ohio alumni band and both father and son were denied entry. They also lost their camera making it a truly miserable day for the two.

"It shows the power of the internet, e-mail and the Buckeye network. It's amazing how many Buckeyes fans there are out there" said a flabbergasted John. "If I hadn't asked a cheerleader to take that picture of us, I wouldn't have my camera today."

Montgomery, happy with the outcome added: "It's taught me that there's a huge capacity for good with all the technology that we have like the internet"

For John it was a result he could never had imagined while he and his tearful son sat in their car in the parking lot of a hotel in Columbus ruing their double whammy of being denied entry to the game and losing their camera. Guess their luck just got better, as not only was the camera found but Montgomery invited them to a Buckeyes game as her guest.
Adam Singleton is an online freelance journalist from Scotland. His hobbies include travelling and hiking.