Pat Leahy.

The former New York Jets place-kicker is a part of Butler County sports history. He was the first player ever selected in the Rusty Nail Fantasy Football League 40 years ago.

The league is believed to be the first fantasy football league ever started in Butler County.

Bucky Parisi was owner of the Rusty Nail restaurant in Butler and decided to start the league “because I figured it would be good for business.”

He was right.

“The official book was kept behind the counter at the Rusty Nail,” original league member Bob Straney said. “The draft was held there. Any trade or player transaction during the season had to be done there.

“Guys would come in, make their move, then stick around and drink for a while. That was a pretty good deal for Bucky.”

Straney said Parisi heard about the idea of fantasy football from an acquaintance in California.

“The biggest mistake I made was that I didn't patent it,” Parisi said of the concept. “I never would have guessed that thing would grow so popular.

“People are playing fantasy football all over the world now. We were the first to play it in Butler.”

The league's rules were — and still are — rather basic. Each team drafts a quarterback, two running backs, two receivers and place-kicker.

The only points that count in the league are points scored on the field: Touchdowns, field goals and PATs. Yards rushing, receiving, passing, none of that matters.

No computer tracks the scoring or the draft, keeps track of what players are available, who's released, etc. That has always been logged by hand in a book maintained by the head of the league.

Tom Ballon, who may be the only person who's been in the league all 40 years, has been running the book since 1988.

“I've been keeping pretty good records year to year,” Ballon said. “We had a lot of school teachers in the league at first. Usually, two people run a team and it's been $100 per person to get in.

“We've doled out some pretty good money through the years.”

The league does not consist of a head-to-head weekly schedule. Every team's score counts against everyone else each week. Each week's winner receives money, as does the regular season champion and playoff champion.

“We've had well over 100 guys in this league from the time it started,” Ballon said. “Someone drops out, someone else joins.”

Straney said “we've never had a problem getting a full league put together. There was practically a waiting list.”

Roger Tweed, 65, was in the league from the late 1970's through last year before finally dropping out. He said the league had as many as 25 teams at times.

“Not many have stayed with it for that long,” Tweed said. “People change jobs, move away, things happen. The league just kept getting bigger.

“I remember the big scoring players through the years. Joe Montana, Dan Marino,. Franco Harris, Dan Fouts, Jerry Rice, Marcus Allen — those guys were golden.”

Ultimately, being a Pittsburgh Steeler fan drove Tweed out of fantasy football.

“It was changing the way I was watching football,” he said. “I didn't care about the teams, who won or lost anymore. All I cared about was the individual players I was rooting for.

“I love the Steelers. When I had players on my team playing against the Steelers and found myself rooting for them ... That was it.”

The league began with a $2 fee for any trade or transaction made. That fee eventually went up to $5. Then a team received eight “free” trades with each franchise fee.

During the draft, each team had three minutes to make its selection in the first three rounds, one minute to make picks in the final three rounds.

“It was always a competitive league,” Straney said. “If you didn't make your pick within the allotted time, you got skipped and they moved on. After the next pick, you got another chance.

“That happened quite a bit.”

Parisi lives in Florida now. While he hasn't been a part of the league for years, he's not surprised it's still thriving.

“Football was different back when we started this,” Parisi said. “Monday Night Football was really big. You couldn't get into that restaurant on a Monday night.

“The league was great for business. And it never got nasty, really. People have always had fun with it.”

Ballon agreed.

“This league's not going away,” he said. “It's just too much fun.”