There was a popular game back in the 1990s called six degrees of Kevin Bacon. The premise was that within six steps you could connect actor Kevin Bacon with any other given celebrity by following the connections between the two.

The Butler community is every bit as well connected as Kevin Bacon. As we travel across the country, it is amazing the frequency with which we encounter people with a connection to Butler County. Most recently, we had a family member receive medical care in Philadelphia at a clinic whose director is a native of Sharon, Pa. and has a son working in the Butler County Clerk’s office on the Diamond.

Another example: While standing on the tee box discussing a new home being built near Austin, Texas, someone in the listening group asked more specifically where the home was located and then produced an address on his cellphone showing that one of his best friends and someone he had served with in the military lived on the very same street. Fast-forward a couple of days, and at a six-month dental checkup we learned that the dentist has a brother who had moved not only to Texas, but into that very suburb of Georgetown, Texas, where the house was being built.

It has been said many times in our presence that you have to behave no matter how far you go, because somehow somebody is going to know someone else who knows Butler.

This week, we ran a story on former World Series star and Butler native John Stuper. In that article by head sports editor John Enrietto, we made the connection between Stuper and the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis. DeSantis played baseball for Stuper at Yale and is considered one of the leading candidates for the Republican nomination for president in 2024.

Our children grew up dreading hearing the line “I know your father” when they were living here, but it has a very comforting effect when it happens now. It makes the distance between Butler and other places seem much closer than it really is. We don’t know how many steps it takes to connect Bacon to Butler, but we know he better be careful, because someone here in Butler can probably show a link to him, and we want that to always be positive.

– RV