San Diego Flyer's Undercover Gals

DAYTON (OH) -- The story unfolds like this:

"It had been a couple of years since I had a Flyer fix and I told my wife one way or another I'm getting on a plane to Albuquerque for New Years and nobody can talk me out of it," he said.

Problem was, the wife had plans for New Years and that included keeping him in town. Something was going to have to give. Turns out there was no way his wife was letting him abandon the family and scramble to the altitude of Albuquerque to celebrate the New Year alone. But she, like him, knew that without a Flyer fix -- and soon -- things would get a lot worse before they got better. The family needed a Plan B to keep the peace, so they went to work and asked for my help to make it happen. As it turns out, sometimes second options are even better than the first.

"I saw my grand kids dressed in Flyer gear and knew something was up," he said. "The women in my family love to work undercover."

Albuquerque was out, Dayton was in. Airfare, hotel, and a rental car were awaiting him for a two-game weekend hoop-a-thon against Presbyterian College and Appalachian State. I was in charge of acquiring tickets and game-day transportation. I was also told to zip it until the grand kids' big debut.

Once the news was sprung, he forgot about Albuquerque entirely. Coming home for San Diego Flyer meant coming home for the first time all over again. Bob Blesi left the UD campus a week after graduation in 1965 and would not return until Saturday night.

For Bob, growing up in Dayton meant establishing all kinds of roots. Moving from the city to rural Centerville at age 12, Bob excelled in sports. Basketball and golf were his two passions but shooting hoops bordered on obsession. Still, he was good enough to set an Elks' 18-hole record on the links in his first season on the team. Parlaying both sports in high school, he drew the attention of Tom Blackburn. Blackburn was the UD basketball coach at the time and an accomplished golfer too.

"Tom came to see one our games and we played an incredible first half, but got killed in the second half," he recalls. "He saw me play and knew I was good at golf and suggested a partial athletic scholarship between hoops and golf."

To say Dayton basketball was significant in 1961 was an understatement. A year later they would win their first NIT Championship. Blackburn doesn't ask just anyone to join his basketball program and Bob absorbed that quicker than anyone.

"It was daunting, really. I grew up following Flyer basketball and these guys were my heroes. I looked at the guys on the current team and wondered what Blackburn saw in my basketball ability because I sure didn't see it. Just the thought of it was frightening."

San Diego Flyer never suited up for Tom Blackburn, but he did swing the crooked stick for the Flyer golf team to help pay tuition. He also reminisced about the crowded bleachers and sweatbox heat inside the UD Fieldhouse in those days, and the love affair with Flyer basketball never faded even after splitting town days after graduation for a job in Iowa. Married his junior year and a child to care for, party time was over.

While in Iowa, he earned his masters at the University of Iowa after several years of continuing education. The family moved their lives between California and Texas over the next two decades before settling in Escondido (just outside San Diego) to retire, work on the tan, and play a lot of golf and tennis.

"The wife came to me and said she was tired of flying back to Texas all the time to see her grand kids," he said. "I knew what was coming next."

So they bought some land in Dallas and built a home to enjoy their second retirement closer to the little ones. Over the years, Bob has returned to Dayton on a couple of occasions. He played golf at NCR Country Club and had a couple relatives still living nearby, but most of them either moved away or passed away and the reasons to visit vanished as well. For a guy born at Miami Valley Hospital and recruited by Tom Blackburn, Saturday night would be his first steps inside UD Arena. Ever.

The story of San Diego Flyer's baptism at UD Arena wouldn't be so profound were it not for his endless devotion and emotional investment in the basketball program since 1965. No one follows the team closer or enjoys this Web site more to keep track of the Dayton Flyers. But that's not to say he hasn't seen a UD basketball game in person. While still living in San Diego, he caught the game in Malibu against Pepperdine.

"We left San Diego about 3pm for a 7:30pm tip-off in Malibu," he said. "Ordinarily it's a 2-3 hour drive, but it was a Friday game and with weekend traffic we played it safe. An hour into the drive the Lincoln breaks down and I leave it at some Mexican repair shop for the weekend. I call a buddy to drive me home. I got in the Vette and pushed the needle over 100mph to LA and pulled into the parking lot at 7:28pm. I parked illegally and jumped out of the car before it rolled to a stop to make the tip."

He also traveled to Tucson to watch the NCAA First Round loss against Purdue a few years prior.

Arriving at UD Arena Saturday evening, he had dinner in the Flight Deck, toured the Donoher Basketball Center, and shook hands with Dr. Curran. Not a bad start to the night and the game was yet to play. We eventually take our seats and watch the player introductions. Bob casually leans over to me.

"I'm juiced. I want to suit up."

Ten minutes into the game, we were down six points and a pair of Johnsons. I casually lean over to Bob.

"You are a Tiki doll. We lose this game or anyone else hits the floor and I'm not bringing you back Monday night."

Fortunately, the Flyers figured it out -- eventually. Much like Bob's family figured out how to save New Year's. From Chris Wright's thunderous dunks to Rob Lowery's loose ball dive on the sideline, Dayton did what it always does: provide despair, concern, frustration, disbelief, and excitement in 40 minutes.

Was this better than going to Albuquerque?

"No comparison," he emphatically stated.

Sunday plans call for looking up the remaining relatives in town, while Monday morning brings a tour of the campus he last walked in 1965. I'm picking up San Diego Flyer on Monday evening for the double-header against Butler and Appalachian State to cap off the long weekend.

But it's hard to say who's most thankful. Of all those fans belonging to UD Pride, San Diego Flyer has done more for me and done more for others than all but a select few. Staying connected from Escondido and Dallas requires concessions, but all of those barriers were lifted -- finally -- even if the fleeting moments can only last a weekend.

Every junkie eventually needs his fix however and they'll do whatever it takes to get it. After being on the wagon for 44 years, Bob Blesi has his family to thank for ending the basketball sobriety. Malibu and Tucson are fine places, but it isn't the same. His wife and kids knew enough to know enough, as they say. They knew, Bob knew, and they knew Bob knew a homecoming was long overdue. Sometimes working the problem is all it takes. The women of Dallas were just the mavericks to make it happen.