Which is how he recently discovered - much to his surprise and delight (and totally unknown to the National High School Sports Record Book) - that Cincinnati has the oldest public high school football rivalry in the country (Hughes vs. Woodward, 1878).
"It figures that it would be after our book ("Schoolboy Legends") had already gone to the printer," deadpanned John Baskin, who co-authored that book with former Cincinnati Post sports columnist Lonnie Wheeler, and with considerable research from "O.B."
If O'Bryant's discovery winds up being certified - "I don't know why it wouldn't," O'Bryant said - it will come as a bitter pill to two famous rivals in Northern Ohio. "Massillon vs. Canton" is listed in the National High School Sports Record Book as having the longest running prep rivalry in Ohio, dating to 1894.
But according to articles O'Bryant found in the local newspapers of Nov. 30, 1878, and Dec. 1, 1878, Woodward vs. Hughes has Massillon vs. Canton beat by 16 years.
"And I've found articles that Woodward and Hughes played one another at least 10 times before Massillon played Canton," O'Bryant said.