WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE, Ohio — University of Michigan senior Mark Bihl is the envy of most young, aspiring athletes. Bihl, the starting center for the Wolverine football team, played in last week’s Rose Bowl against the University of Southern California, one of many highlighted games in his four-year career at Michigan.

And while playing in front of 110,000 screaming fans would be a dream come true for most young athletes, Bihl dreams of quieter days on his family farm in the small, central Ohio city of Washington Court House. Glamour and glitz on the gridiron doesn’t lure Bihl like a workday on the barnyard.

“Farming is a style of life that’s non-existent these days,” Bihl said. “As I look back on my life, it’s how I want to raise my family. Ever since I was a small kid I’ve enjoyed farming. I could do that all day long.”

Bihl grew up on his family’s 200-acre Fayette County farm, tending to 25 cows and showing his steers in 4-H was his first love. Football was secondary on his list of things he enjoyed doing. He started playing pee-wee football in the fifth grade, following in the footsteps of his father and brother.

“Dad played college football at Mt. Union College and my brother was an athlete, too, so playing football was a natural thing to do,” Bihl said.

He was so good at playing football at Washington Court House High that colleges and universities began to take notice.

He received offers from Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State, Louisville, South Carolina and Notre Dame.

Bihl only chose Michigan because that school was the first with the offer and quickly signing the letter-of-intent papers meant a quick return to the family farm.

“I just wanted to get back home and work on my 4-H steer and start baling straw for people,” Bihl said. “So I committed to Michigan immediately.”

Bihl and his brother, Luke, recently purchased an additional 20 acres of land in Fayette County. The two have baled thousands of bales of hay for friends and neighbors over the years. Neither shy away from hard work.

“Luke and I know how to work,” Bihl said. “A lot of kids don’t know how to work these days.” For the past four years, Bihl made the trek from Washington Court House to school in Ann Arbor in his large pickup truck.

“Everyone on the team teased me about growing up on a farm,” he said. “I have a big, loud pickup truck and I’m that minority on the team when it comes to the culture aspect of things. There are a lot of farm stories going around about me up there at school.

“Coming to Michigan has been a great education for me and this school is second to none when it comes to education, but I’m happy with my choice of wanting to return to farming,” he said. “It makes me respect the way I was raised. Growing up in a farming atmosphere and having chores to do is a great way of life.”

Others tease him about his days on the farm, but Bihl wouldn’t trade the farming life for all the glory and fame football could possibly bring. Even making a move to the professional level doesn’t interest him.

“The main thing I enjoy about being back on the farm is having the animals follow me around and getting on that old tractor,” he said. “Most of my friends head to the beaches of Florida when it comes time for spring break. Not me. I head back to the farm to continue what I love doing the most.”

While the NFL will lure many college players, Bihl yearns for a more satisfying way of life, and that’s something only farming can bring. “I’m studying history in college and eventually I’d like to be a teacher by day and a farmer by late day and on weekends,” he said. “That would be ideal.”

For more information on Mark Bihl’s football career at University of Michigan, visit http://mgoblue.com

This farm news was published in the Jan. 3, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.