30-day catch collage

Kokomo Tribune reporter Spencer Durham played catch with a different person for 30 days in March.

“Oscar Robertson has played basketball in my house.”

That’s one of my favorite anecdotes from my 30-day catch challenge.

It came on March 12 as Tom Davis and I played catch on the basketball courts at Foster Park while Mother Nature spit some spring snow at us.

Davis, a freelance journalist in Sikeston, Missouri, was full of stories. Like how he was on the same youth swim team as Purdue Boilermakers coach Matt Painter.

But my favorite story involved the aforementioned quote.

Davis splits his time between southeast Missouri and Miami County. His wife teaches at Maconaquah. They live in the old Chili High School gymnasium, which they renovated into a home. The gym is still there.

When Oscar Robertson was a student at Crispus Attucks High School in the 1950s, the all-Black Indianapolis school faced plenty of prejudice. Not every school was willing to play them.

Bob Macy, coach at Chili High School, invited Crispus Attucks up to northern Miami County for a game.

Hence, Oscar Robertson, the hall of famer player, has played basketball in Davis’s house.

Playing catch is a great way to hear one’s story, and I heard a lot of them last month.

Every day, for 30 consecutive days, I picked up my glove and a ball and played catch with someone. Neither rain nor snow, or even single-digit temperatures, stopped me in my effort to check off all 30 days.

I’m proud to say I did.

My friend Ethan Bryan is the one who encouraged me to take on this challenge. A writer himself, Bryan authored a book, “A Year of Playing Catch,” about his experience playing catch every single day. He came up with the 30-day challenge to encourage people to play a little more and take chances.

When Bryan first told me about his idea, I told myself a bunch of excuses why it wasn’t a good idea.

Sure, it sounded fun and I was pretty sure I could find 30 people, but work was really busy, I had a couple additional projects on my plate, and the Kokomo Wildkats were gunning for state. No way I was going to miss their run at a title.

“To me, it sounds like you need to do it,” Bryan told me. “For the sake of your brain and mental health.”

He’s a good salesman, I will tell you that. He convinced me.

I wasn’t wrong, though. March ended up being the busiest month I’ve had working at the Tribune. The education beat was crazy, but given how many times people reached out with story ideas, I think that’s a good thing.

I can’t tell you the number of times I ate dinner after 10:30 p.m.

After the first day, I was happy I took on the challenge. Maybe it was the beautiful weather or the conversation, or maybe a bit of both.

Alec Downing, a commercial lender at First Farmers Bank & Trust in downtown Kokomo, had the honor of being no. 1.

We walked down to Foster Park — a frequent catch spot — and chatted it up about baseball, the new pitch clock and how we are both Star Wars nerds.

I got to know more of Alec’s family on March 21 when I played catch with his dad, Anthony, and grandpa, Stan, at their farm in eastern Howard County. I played catch with three generations of Downings.

I learned Anthony plays in a band, the Checkered Vans, a rock & roll cover band. I’ve met plenty of farmers in my life, but I’ve never met a farmer who moonlights as a musician.

I met a lot of new people in my 30 days.

People like Ron Owings, the former Northwestern Elementary School principal. Owings was probably the person most excited to play catch with me. He texted each week in the lead up to our catch date. We threw during recess one day while he substitute taught at Northwestern.

The El Patron Little League team let me feel like a kid again. I warmed up with Braysen, the 9-year-old son of Gabriel Guardado, who coaches the team. Gabriel is also president of the Greentown Youth Baseball League.

I stuck around after warmups and helped out as the kids practiced their relays. I shagged some balls during batting practice and even took a few swings. I hit the last one into some trees.

It was a highlight of the challenge.

The kids want me to be on their team this year. I think I am too old. Instead, I’m throwing out a first pitch on opening day later this month.

I played catch with Kokomo’s own Joe Thatcher. It’s the first time I’ve played catch with a legit (former) major leaguer. He’s still got a little something on his fastball, too.

Thatcher said my changeup has a little run on it. I will be putting that on my resume.

I met Kris Dill, Ryan Ward and Ryan Berryman, high school baseball coaches at Taylor, Northwestern and Western. Playing catch with coaches was a chance to see what ability I still have and talk about the game.

There was only one day I was left without a partner. I knocked on my neighbor’s door, who is also my coworker, James Bennett, to see if he’d help me out.

The guy from Florida played catch with me on the coldest day of the challenge. Well, it was the coldest day until I played catch with my childhood best friend Parker Houk, when the feels-like temperature was 8 degrees.

I played catch in a liquor store parking lot with Rich Lacy. His parents own Holly’s Package Store in Greentown. He grew up next door.

I have to mention Brayden Auth, a student at Western Middle School. You might recognize Brayden’s name if you read the Tribune. I wrote a story about him in 2021 when he collected 7,000 cans of food for the Kokomo Rescue Mission’s annual canned food drive.

Brayden and I tossed for more than hour, talking about our favorite baseball teams, players and stadiums. We also talked about collecting baseball cards. I related so much to Brayden when I was his age.

But why I mention him is he called Fairleigh Dickinson’s upset over Purdue during March Madness.

“I just had a feeling they would choke,” Brayden told me.

Hit up Brayden when you fill out your brackets next year.

The 30-day catch challenge had 15 catch goals. I had to play catch with a teacher, police officer or firefighter, musician, someone younger than 10 and someone 20 years older than me, to name a few.

The last one I checked off was “play catch with someone who made a difference in your life.” I waited until the last day, March 30. I chose my mom. We met at a park in Fort Wayne.

We played catch, caught up and went out to eat. She used my dad’s glove and wore green, my dad’s and my favorite color.

My mom and dad were my two biggest supporters as I followed my baseball dream through college. They drove me to all my practices and games, paid for all the gear and lessons and believed in me when I didn’t.

I am the person I am because of them.

I’m sure I thanked each catch partner when we finished, but again, a thank you to everyone who agreed to play catch or helped me find someone. It honestly pains me to not be able to mention everyone in this column.

The month of March was an incredibly rewarding experience, and it’s all because of you.

If reading this makes you want to dig out your ball glove and throw, hit me up. I’d be happy to join you.

If you’d like to read more about my 30-day catch challenge, check out 42 Field on Facebook and Instagram.

Have You Ever Wondered is a monthly column by Tribune education reporter Spencer Durham. He can be reached at 765-454-8598, by email at spencer.durham@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @Durham_KT.

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