Bob Day can remember the year like it was yesterday.
1956.
He played football for the Butler Cubs.
He played for the Fairview baseball team that won the Butler County Church League championship.
He played for the Steelworkers slow-pitch softball team that won the Independent League title.
Day played and played and played.
The 1952 Karns City graduate will turn 80 in October. He played baseball, slow-pitch and fast-pitch softball practically every day during the summer. Besides playing football for the Butler Cubs, he played basketball for Karns City High School.
“My brothers, Biz and Dick, and me ... all we did was play ball,” Day said. “Put the three of us on the same team and we were probably going to win.
“Fast-pitch softball was always played under the lights, around 8:30 at night, so I was usually able to get there from some other game.”
Does anybody do stuff like that anymore?
In this era of specialization in high school sports, not many athletes play multiple sports these days, let alone play for multiple teams.
Back in Day’s day, it was commonplace.
When pro sports teams came calling for young talent, the athletes weren’t as willing to go, either.
Day said that his brother Biz went to Durham, N.C., to play in the Detroit Tigers’ farm system. He came home, got married and never went back.
Day said that he himself was ranked as the No. 1 prospect out of a 150-player tryout camp conducted by the New York Yankees at Pullman Park.
“But I was only 17 at the time,” he said. “I wasn’t going anywhere.”
Maybe not, but he never stayed home, either.
While Day played ball in Butler County Monday through Friday, he played for the National Guard teams on weekends.
“I could never sit for very long,” he said. “I had to be up doing something.”
The multisport performer hasn’t exactly disappeared at Karns City. Members of the Gremlins’ baseball team also compete in track and field. They’ve played football and basketball at Karns City as well.
That scenario may still be commonplace at smaller schools, as there are fewer athletes to go around.
When Day played, no high school had a soccer or lacrosse team. Swim teams weren’t around, either, and no one had even heard of in-line hockey.
Kids today have so much more to choose from, even outside of sports.
To hear a guy like Bob Day speak throws me back to my childhood days. Our spare time was dictated by the season: We played football in the fall, basketball and street hockey in the winter, baseball and softball in the spring and summer.
We knew nothing else.
Working toward a college scholarship is important for obvious reasons. Hone your skills in a particular sport, to be sure.
But as a young athlete, be like Bob Day.
Play, play, play.
The day will come when you can’t.
