Welcome to The Loss Room

Every college football team that has traveled to Oxford to take on Miami since September 2018 has left with a loss.

14 straight opponents… and counting.

Of course, that makes sense if you know the name of the visiting team's locker room at Yager Stadium.

The plaque outside the door says it all:

THE LOSS ROOM.

Perhaps you're familiar with the Iowa football team's pink locker room for its guests. Maybe you've even heard of the 'Fail Room' for road teams playing at Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium, named in honor of donor James M. Fail.

But do you know the story of The Loss Room?

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Don and Phyllis Loss were ardent supporters of Miami University and Miami Athletics for decades. They both graduated from Miami in 1950, eventually settling in the greater Toledo area. The 'Miami Merger' couple was part of a Red and White family that has gone on to span several generations.

Phyllis' uncle Willard 'Peg' Elsesser played baseball for Miami back in the 1920's. Don and Phyllis' daughter Karin (Loss) Rowe and son Rick Loss both graduated from the university, in 1975 and 1983, respectively. Granddaughters Kirby (Loss) Jonas, Brittany (Loss) Beaver, and Kelsey (Loss) Fisher all followed in their grandparents' footsteps, each earning one or two degrees from Miami between 2011 and 2017. All three women also met their spouses there as well to create a new set of 'Miami Mergers.'

"Growing up, we would constantly be going down for alumni weekends and games, with Grandma and Grandpa being super involved," said Kirby, who was a RedHawk cheerleader during her time on campus. "Looking back, it was almost like I was oblivious to any other university because [Miami] was ingrained in our blood. There was so much love and enthusiasm, and I felt that.

"It was always where I wanted to go."

Brittany, who married former RedHawk baseball player Bryan Beaver, agreed. "Some of my earliest memories are in Central Quad for alumni weekend with my grandparents and my family, which is really sweet. I knew from such a young age: I wanted to be a part of that legacy, that love and honor."

Don spent time serving on Miami's business advisory council, and he received the university's John E. Dolibois Award in 1991, which recognizes alumni who have served Miami in a distinctive fashion over many years.

Although their home was more than three hours away from Oxford, Don, Phyllis, and their family made frequent trips back to the Loss clan's alma mater through the years for games and other special activities. They also would host cookouts and mixer events before the school year started, to let students in Northwest Ohio who were heading to Miami that fall get to know each other.

"Grandpa was so spirited," said Kirby. "He was a leader, and he definitely brought the fun and energy…he was just a man of celebration and I think that was ingrained and embedded in the Loss blood."

"He used to dance around the room like he was a drum major for Miami," said Rick. "I can still picture that big hat on his head!"

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The Loss family would put together parties to watch Miami sports events, decorating the event room accordingly in Red and White. There were trips to road games as well, especially when it involved getting to see well-known schools such as LSU or other Power Five opponents.

"They were definitely sports fans," Rick remembered. "I asked them when they first got into it, and it was about 10 years out [after graduating].

"They started talking to people again about Miami and how they missed it…it was a real passion."

"Fans don't get much bigger," Tom Loss, Rick's older brother, said of his parents. "They had a particular group of friends that were all pretty big alums and supporters; they'd all do trips together. They called it Tilohawi to represent a couple letters of each family's name: Ti for Tirola, LO for Loss, HA for Hannon, and WI for Wilson.

"Their college friends were their friends for life."

When Miami came to town to play Toledo or Bowling Green, those were extra-special events for the Loss family on home turf, so to speak. "It was always a big deal," said Tom. "We were Toledo fans too as kids, but there was no getting away from Miami: We knew the fight song at three years old!"

Kirby recalled traveling with the cheer team to perform at a Miami-Toledo football game many years later. "I remember it was freezing and my grandma came. She was so bundled up and so proud. My grandpa was always very proud of his hometown too; He was 'Love and Honor', but me going back to Toledo—and Grandma coming to that game—was super special. Loss Room feature story

"It was like her two worlds met in one."

Phyllis always had a special place in her heart for Wally Szczerbiak, and several family members recalled attending basketball games in the late 1990s, both at Millett Hall and later in the NCAA tournament, as some of their all-time favorite memories.

"She loved her Miami badges and earrings," said Kirby, who even got some help from her grandmother when it came time to move in to college as a freshman. "She was so proud that I was going [to Miami.] She was just beaming, and she wanted to come to everything!"

Don and Phyllis were known for their efforts to raise money and support for Miami Athletics, eventually co-founding the Red and White Club to better accomplish those goals. Don went on to become the first president of the club.

After he passed away unexpectedly in 1997, the group established an award in his honor that continues to this day. The Don Loss Award is presented annually to an active supporter of Miami Athletics who demonstrates unselfish service in support of RedHawk student-athletes and Miami Athletics.

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The Loss family, including children, grandchildren and now great-grandchildren, returns to campus each year to recognize the winner and present the award during a home game in Oxford.

"I think it just embodies who my grandpa was," said Brittany. "He was such an advocate for doing better…it's sweet to go back and see that his legacy is being remembered, as well as my grandma." (Phyllis passed away in 2017.)

"The first year of the Don Loss Award was right after my grandfather passed, and I remember going to that game —I was maybe in second grade—and just seeing how it brought people together for a better good, a bigger good."

While the Don Loss Award has been a special tribute to a special family for a quarter of a century now, the Loss Locker Room is the latest tangible recognition of both how much Don and Phyllis meant to Miami and how much Miami meant to them.

Several generations of the family contributed toward a gift that would express their love and honor for the parents/grandparents who lived out 'Love and Honor' every day.

"In a nutshell, my mom and dad loved Miami. They really did," said Tom. "They made it so that we did as well.

"They would probably say that Miami gave so much more to them [than they gave to it]…they just remembered it as the best days of their lives.

"We knew how much it would mean to my mom and dad," he concluded. "And I'm thinking of our grandkids too. Even though their last name's not going to be Loss, they will certainly know. Loss Room feature story

"We have a lot of little RedHawks raring to go already!"

"Stories and memories one day may fade," said Brittany. "It's cool that it's concrete, and it's there to see [that] legacy live on in a physical aspect."

Kirby said the Loss Room is extra special to her because of how much time she spent at Yager Stadium during her years as a cheerleader.

"With our family growing, thinking of having that place for us to come back and recognize and honor Grandma and Grandpa and the Loss name is pretty cool," she said. "Having our own little guy now, we have a special place to bring him and show him and talk to him about it. He didn't meet Grandma and Grandpa or know either of them, so we are able to carry on that legacy for more generations."

The 'Loss Locker Room' moniker is an interesting mix of tribute and humor, and Rick said the message to the visiting teams that walk through that door is simple: "Good luck, but lose." (More often than not, the RedHawks' opponents do just that: Miami is now 111-79-4 all-time at Yager.)

Still, the name is more than good-natured trash talk.

"It's not just the Loss Locker Room because you're going to lose. It's the Loss Locker Room because this is who we are as a university," Kirby said. "We have people who are committed and loyal and will carry on for generations to come."

For more Front Row Features, visit MiamiRedHawks.com/FrontRowFeatures.

Coming to the Spring Showcase presented by Ohio's 529 Plan at the Dauch Indoor Sports Center? Stop by the west side of Yager Stadium (outside the entrance to sections 2 and 1) before or after the event on Saturday afternoon, April 23 and be one of the first people to see or take a picture at the new HOME OF 'THE LOSS ROOM' sign outside the visiting team locker room.

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