In August 1996, as Don R. Day Jr. and his son crossed the bridge that spans the Hocking River and entered campus, Day asked the new freshman how it felt to be a Bobcat.

"Dad, I've always been a Bobcat," replied 18-year-old Don T. Day.
 
 

Don and Daphne Day at their campus apartment.

In fact, everyone in the family fits that description, because for more than 50 years, the Day family has made the drive from Cleveland to Athens to enroll its newest high school graduate.

"Each family member has been able to experience the school for themselves," says Don R. Day Sr., who earned a bachelorís degree in chemistry in 1947 and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. "Each of us has gotten swept up in what it means to be an Ohio University graduate. My wife and I still get season tickets for the football games."

Don Sr. grew up in Cleveland and started the family tradition in 1940 when Ohio University offered him a full-tuition scholarship, valued at about $90 a semester.

"In those days the school had an enrollment of just 3,600 students," recalls Don Sr., who joined the Delta Tau Delta fraternity and served as its president his junior year. "I really liked the close-knit community and feeling like I knew everyone on campus."

After the United States entered World War II, Don Sr. enlisted in the Navy. He left campus in 1943, after completing his junior year, to serve three years in the South Atlantic and Caribbean. With the return of peace, he moved back to Athens to complete his degree - this time accompanied by his wife, Daphne, and 18-month-old son, Don R. Day Jr.

"They wouldn't let me back into the fraternity house with my wife and son," Don Sr. laughs.

After graduation, the family moved to Cleveland, where Don Sr. worked as a chemical engineer. But the couple often looked back on their days in Athens, and when it came time for their eldest son to choose a college, the seeds had been planted.
 
 

Lyntha Eiler Pictured on campus are (from right) Jennifer, Marcia, Don T. and Don Day Sr.

"I just never thought of going anywhere else," says Don Jr., who started his freshman year in 1963. One of his fondest memories of campus is playing guitar in the popular student rock group The Tornadoes.

Ironically, Don Jr.'s studies were interrupted by war just as his fatherís had been. In 1967, as the fighting in Vietnam intensified, he was drafted and spent the next two years in California playing in the Army Band. Don Jr. returned to campus for his final quarter in March 1969 and soon started dating his future wife, Marcia Tardiff.

Don Jr.'s two younger brothers, Doug and David, also followed their father's lead and enrolled at Ohio University. Doug was one of the original trombone players in the Marching 110, formed in 1967, and earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts in 1971. Dave majored in telecommunications and graduated in 1976. He also played trombone in the Marching 110 and met his future wife, Suzanne Harris, on campus. They were married in Galbreath Chapel in 1976.

Taking the family tradition into the 21st century is Don Jr.'s son, Don T. Day.

"I started coming to campus when I was 10," says Don T., who painted his bedroom green and white in high school. "I would have missed out had I gone anywhere else."

Today, Don T. plays trumpet in the Marching 110. He also performs in the student rock band The Uptown Funk All Stars, which plays some of The Tornadoes' old hits.

"One thing I really like about our family's links with the campus is the sense of continuity from one generation to the next," says Don Jr., who drove his daughter, Jennifer, to campus this fall for the start of her freshman year. "Music has definitely been a common theme for us. We all had a great education."

And sometimes the links between family members touch an emotional chord. When Don Sr. returned to campus in June 1997 to hear his grandson perform in Memorial Auditorium, he recalled how 50 years earlier Daphne and Don Jr. had sat in these very same seats to watch him collect his undergraduate diploma.

"I'm not one for tears," says Don Sr., "but seeing my grandson down there playing, I had tears in my eyes."