Image provided GO 'EERS — This will be the plate available in Ohio for West Virginia University fans, and can be bought on the state's Bureau of Motor Vehicles website.

WVU license plate to be available in OhioSupporters of West Virginia University living in Ohio should be able to show their love for the university on their vehicles starting Wednesday.

A new WVU license plate for Ohio residents should be available on the state’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles website starting Wednesday, said Neil Armstrong, a Wheeling native who is president of the WVU Alumni Association’s Greater Cincinnati/Dayton chapter. There have been some delays with its debut, and Armstrong said Tuesday he was told all the hurdles had been cleared for it to be sold. It will join Notre Dame and Alabama as the only non-Ohio-based universities that have a plate for purchase in the Buckeye State. When available, it can be found in the “Organizations” category of the BMV website.

“It’s for any West Virginia fans,” he said. “There are a couple of plates that are alumni-specific, but this one is for everyone.”

The plate will feature the immediately recognizable “Flying WV” logo that adorns most WVU items and apparel. Across the top will be the outline of the state of Ohio and its “Birthplace of Aviation” logo. Across the bottom will be a phrase familiar to all WVU fans – “Let’s Go Mountaineers!”

That last flourish was the product of collaboration between Armstrong and WVU’s branding and marketing departments, which suggested the bottom slogan as an extension of its “Let’s Go” branding seen on much of its marketing.

Armstrong said being able to work directly with the university made the project even more special.

“I’ll tell you what, it was great,” Armstrong said. “I think, if you look at our plate versus any other state’s plate, we have the best design.”

The plates will be even more meaningful when purchased, Armstrong said, because $25 of every purchase will go toward scholarships for Ohio residents wanting to attend WVU. The scholarship will be called “Driving Ohio Mountaineers’ Dreams.” The university is popular with Ohioans. According to fall 2005 enrollment figures, Ohio makes up the fourth-most out-of-state students on campus with 1,151.

With that many Ohio residents on campus now, Armstrong figures there are plenty more alumni and fans from the state and now living in the state that would be interested in purchasing a plate. He’s hoping to see between 500 and 1,000 plates sold in the first year.

And if an Ohio resident recently renewed their plates, they don’t have to wait until next year to order a WVU plate, Armstrong said. They can order the plate from the BMV and pay for the plate, but not have to pay for registration again.

This project has been a labor of love for Armstrong, who said that when he became chapter president, this was one of his immediate goals. It took a couple of years to find a sponsor for a bill in the Ohio State Assembly, but that finally happened and Armstrong was able to secure enough signatures to keep the plate on the path to becoming reality.

Now he’ll start seeing those plates on the road, knowing that future students will be helped by them.

“I can’t wait to be driving up and down Interstate 71 or back home to Wheeling on Interstate 70 and just see the ‘Flying WV’ on an Ohio plate,” he said. “We’ll now have a driving billboard through the state of Ohio for our school.”