2.1.14
Residents of Bradley-Paterson Hall hurry through the lobby on their way to class, often too preoccupied to notice the tall man with the salt-and pepper beard cleaning the tile floors. He stands quietly in his bright green, yellow and red Rastafarian hat that contrasts with his university-issued grey uniform. Ed, two simple letters, is the name embroidered on his nametag.
Edward Needum has worked in Bradley-Paterson for more than 15 years and at Ohio State for almost 24 years. Although reserved and focused on his daily custodial responsibilities, his global experiences, artistic talents, and military service during the Iran Hostage Crisis are far from typical.
On the surface, Needum’s brightly colored cap is the single hint of his expressive character. He has dark dreadlocks extending to his lower back, hair that he tucks in his cap for work every day.
While Needum spends days working as a custodian, he is also a military veteran, bilingual speaker and an active musician, a man whose vibrant interests are not lost on his coworkers.
“Ed is a hard worker and a dedicated guy, with a pretty good sense of humor,” Rufus Morgan, the South Campus Housekeeping District Manager. Aware of Needum’s musical reputation he said, “I believe he’s a drummer, I have yet to go out and see him perform. I have to get out and do that.”
Needum spends the majority of his time, 40 hours a week, working for OSU.
As a result, he has been exposed to many scenes in his years as a residence hall custodian. Although some events have been shocking, he said in a quiet, relaxed manner, “I take everything in stride, I just accept it and keep moving.”
Laughing, Needum recalled one moment that even a decade later, still makes him chuckle.
“Once there was a kid who locked himself out of his room and he locked himself out of his room just in his underwear” he said. He went on to explain this pant-less student was wearing only his little “tighty whities” and came strolling down to the lobby in order to get a spare key from the front desk.
It was around lunchtime “which is an especially bad time for that to happen,” he said. Many students were coming back from classes and it was clear the student was embarrassed because “he was not just red in the face, he was red all over his whole entire body,” Needum said.
As the boy approached him, he recalled thinking, “Oh god, I don’t want to see that,” and offered the boy a roll of paper towels in order to cover himself.
“And he actually took it, and he wrapped himself up and walked down the hall looking like a mummy,” Needum said while chuckling. “It was about 10 years ago, it was about the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.”
After recalling this comical “pant-less” incident, Needum reflected on his own life and the only crisis “that truly scared the pants off me,” he said.
Needum was referring to the time he served as a Forward Observer in the military during the Iran Hostage Crisis, when fifty-two American hostages were held for 444 days after a group of Iranian students seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
Needum was born into a military family; his father had served in the Army Air Corps. His father served briefly with the Tuskegee Airmen, the famous Red Tail Squadron, an all African American fighter group in World War II. Although his family moved repeatedly when he was younger, his father accepted a permanent change of station in Columbus. Needum, the only boy and middle child of eight sisters, served four years in the military from 1977 to 1981.
For two years he was stationed in Illesheim, Germany and as a result he learned to speak the language.
From Germany Needum was sent to Iran to assist the U.S. in its first rescue attempt of the hostages.
When the U.S. went in to retrieve the American hostages on April 24th, 1980 an advanced unit went in “to get the people out” Needum said.
“We were the mop-up crew,” sent in to guard the helicopters after the hostages got out, Needum said. The plan was to follow after the helicopters safely took off and “hold the campsite for a while,” he said.
“But the helicopters had a problem, something to do with the sand messing up the turbines,” and crashed into one another, he said. As a result, eight U.S. Servicemen were killed and many more were injured.
This first attempt, Operation Eagle Claw, failed while Ed Needum’s crew was refueling in Italy and his crew was forced to return to Germany.
“I cannot to this day say where I landed because it was a quiet operation, or in other words secret. No one was supposed to know we were even there,” Needum said.
After four years of service, Needum finished his enlistment and left the military. He said he never intended for the military to be his career. Referring to his rigid training and the war he said, “It was not as romantic as I thought it was going to be.”
Instead, Needum said his passion has always been music; he is a member of four bands and plays the drums, base and acoustic guitars.
Following his time in the military and before becoming a custodial worker, he toured with a popular reggae band called Addis, an Ethiopian term for flower. He only intended to work at OSU as a temporary solution for after that band broke up, he said.
As a member of three reggae bands (A.A.R.M.S., Demolition Crew, and Dougie Simpson and the Faith Band) and one Americana group (Chittenden Hotel) he is an active performer around Columbus. In the past, a few students passing through Bradley-Paterson have recognized him from his musical performances at the Newport, Skully’s or other local venues. If students ask if he was present at these venues, he said he teases them and says, “No that’s my twin, he saw you there and told me about it.”
In reality, “I’m the same person” he said, “sometimes I just stand on stage and stand in the light.”
For students who fail to recognize that the man on stage and the man in the lobby are the same person, Needum is unbothered. Continuing his work, he laughed and said, “They don’t even know who I am and I like it.”
Very few students know about Needum’s background, his military service, or his musical career. Instead of engaging, most students walk past Needum as he rhythmically cleans the floors each morning– as he has nearly every morning for the past 15 years.
Although it is rare, Needum said, “If somebody wants to talk to me, I’ll talk to them. If they ask for a little advice, if I have that ability to share a little advice with them I will. But other than that, you know I say, ‘Hey how are you doing, I hope you’re having a good day’ and I hope for the best for them.”
For some students who ignore him or turn their heads away, he said, “they might have something else going on or they might not have the social skills to interact with someone that’s older than they are.”
“Basically, I speak to the students, make note, I check on them a little bit, make sure everything’s okay,” he said.
As for the future Needum said he hopes to retire with his wife in Rossford, a town that sits between Perrysburg and Toledo.
“Where it sits at is kind of unique,” he said, “it is kind of woody and it has a park, one of the best bicycle parks you could ever go to,” he said. In addition, he hopes to continue pursuing music.
“I want to have another band,” he said laughing while pushing his cart into the hallway.
“A band called The Geezers.”
Interested in learning more?
Click for more information on Mr. Needum’s bands:
Dougie Simpson and the Faith Band
Or listen to Chittenden Hotel here