Bob Burkman’s Prayer
Gracious Lord,
Thank You for our Noon Optimist Club. Thank You for our members who care deeply for the children of our community and are determined to make their lives brighter and richer. We are grateful for the teamwork and the mission that keeps our Optimism and this club alive.
Thank You for giving each of us hearts that care deeply about our fundraisers and the energy to actually complete them.
May our enthusiasm be contagious and our Optimism unshakable, no matter how many flags we deliver next week, how many days our tree sales last or how cold it may get on the tree lot.
And finally Lord, help us remember that while we may not change the world, we can at least brighten our corner of it with smiles, hard work and a good dose of Optimism.
In Your name we pray,
Amen.
Get to Know a Member – Gail Aiken
President Sarah Umbreit interviewed Gail Aiken for this week’s “Get to Know a Member.”
- Gail’s first concert was The Eagles, held in Athens, Ohio.
- Her favorite ice cream is vanilla with peanut butter.
- The best thing that happened to her this month was having successful hand surgery.
Announcements
Practical AI Presentation by Patrick Arehart for November CNO 2.0 Meeting
Sarah Umbreit announced that the next CNO 2.0 meeting will be held on November 20 at 5:30 PM at Heavier Than Air Brewing Company. Patrick Arehart will present Practical AI, an overview of how artificial intelligence can be used in everyday work and personal projects.
Youth Mental Health Initiative (YMHI)
Andy Higgins invited members to the next Youth Mental Health Initiative (YMHI) meeting on Wednesday, November 7, from 6 to 7 PM at Woodbourne Library. The group will continue its discussion of The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, focusing on how social media, smartphones, and modern pressures are shaping today’s youth. They will also explore ways parents, educators, and Optimists can help young people strengthen resilience and emotional well-being.
Centerville High School Fall Play
Andy Higgins also shared that Centerville High School’s fall play, The Play That Goes Wrong, will run November 13–15, 2025. He encouraged members to attend and support the talented students who make these productions possible.
Book Discussion and Author Webinar
Joan Cordonnier announced that, as part of the Centerville-wide reading group focused on The Anxious Generation, there will be a live webinar with author Jonathan Haidt on November 3, 2025. Joan encouraged members to attend.
Enclave Optimist Club Update
Kelly Stone shared that she and Julie Woodruff continue to lead the Enclave Optimist Club, based in a senior living community in Springboro where Kelly’s mother once lived. The residents love giving back to the community, particularly through projects benefiting children and youth. Recently, the group assembled 100 treat bags for For the Love of Children (FLOC). Kelly invited anyone interested to join them when they typically meet on the first Wednesday of each month.
Adopt-a-Family Program
Chris Gariety announced that the Adopt-a-Family program is underway for the holiday season. Members can choose to shop for a child, with a spending guideline of $80 to $95, or donate cash, check or food to support the program. Please sign up using the Member Calendar.
Christmas Tree Lot
Greg Griffin reminded everyone that the Christmas Tree Lot will open in thirty-one days. He expects it will take about fourteen days to sell around one thousand trees. The Centerville High School Octagon Club will be volunteering, particularly on weeknights when the club has only one team assigned each night.
Happy Birthday Byron Wade
Today was Byron Wade’s birthday and Bob Duffy led us in our famously awful but wonderfully enthusiastic version of “Happy Birthday.” I was sitting right next to Byron’s son, who was sitting next to Byron, and he could hardly stop laughing as we sang. Watching him enjoy the moment made the tradition even better.
Byron joined the Centerville Noon Optimist Club on April 13, 2024, sponsored by Ron Thompson.
Keith Byars OSU Star, College Hall of Famer and NFL Player
Cameron Langer introduced Keith Byars, OSU star, NFL player, and broadcaster. Keith Alan Byars, born October 14, 1963, is an American sports broadcaster and former professional football player. He played as a fullback and tight end in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots and New York Jets. He was selected in the first round of the 1986 NFL Draft by the Eagles after an outstanding college career at The Ohio State University, where he played for head coach Earle Bruce.
Byars attended Roth High School in Dayton and Trotwood-Madison High School in Trotwood, Ohio. He was a tailback at Ohio State from 1982 to 1985. In 1984, he finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting behind Doug Flutie after a season where he gained a school-record 2,441 all-purpose yards, including 1,764 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, the Ohio State Football Hall of Fame, and the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame.
Today, Byars hosts The Keith Byars Show, presented by Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken, which airs Mondays from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on 1410 radio.
Family, Faith, and Focus
Keith began by thanking his wife, Monica, as they recently celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary. Now 62 years old, he said he feels blessed for the journey life has taken him on.
He mentioned being a preacher’s kid, which, he joked, means he’s very aware of time. “When a preacher says he’s wrapping up, that means another twenty minutes,” he said, drawing laughter.
Byars grew up in a full house. In addition to his siblings, there were cousins and foster children living with them, all sharing one bathroom. “Nobody was ever late to work or school,” he said. “You figure it out.” That environment, he explained, taught teamwork long before he ever played organized sports.
When he was eight or nine years old, a man asked what he wanted to be when he grew up. Byars said, “I want to be a professional football or baseball player.” The man told him that wasn’t realistic. His father immediately stepped in, saying, “Don’t you ever tell my son what he can or cannot be.” From that day on, Byars said he knew his father believed in him and he decided to believe in himself.
The Importance of Setting Goals
Byars said to achieve any goal, you first have to set one. “The two most important things to reach my goals were school and sports,” he said. “Everything else, like girlfriends and parties, were a distraction.”
He said that if he didn’t take care of school, he wouldn’t be allowed to play sports, so he always stayed focused. “At the end of the day, if I gave my best effort, I could live with the results. I can lie to you, but I can’t lie to myself.”
Byars emphasized giving 100 percent, never more and never less. “People say they’re giving 150 percent,” he said. “You can’t give that. You only have 100, and most people’s 100 is really 70.”
Early Athletic Lessons
Byars’s first taste of big competition came in Little League baseball. His team became the first from his area to make it to the state championship. “We didn’t win,” he said, “but it taught me how much I loved competition.”
In that championship game, Byars played center field. The coach told him the batter always hit to the left, but the ball went to center. Byars sprinted across the field and made a sliding catch that saved the game. The pitcher on the opposing team was none other than Bernie Kosar, who would later quarterback the Cleveland Browns. “We still talk about that game,” Byars laughed.
At Roth High School, Byars’s teams became legends. During his junior and senior years, Roth went 10–0 in football with eight shutouts his junior year. The school won state championships in both basketball and track two years in a row.
Choosing Ohio State
Byars was heavily recruited by top football programs. He remembered phone calls from legendary coaches, including former Ohio State coach Woody Hayes. “Woody called and cussed me out,” he said with a smile. “He said, ‘Don’t you want to be great? Why haven’t you signed yet?’”
He also received a visit from Michigan’s Bo Schembechler, who sat in the family living room for two hours. Byars was impressed and agreed to visit Ann Arbor. During the visit, he was treated to a lavish dinner with steak, oysters, and dessert, but it didn’t end well. “I threw up half in the car and half in the parking lot,” he laughed. “That’s how I felt about Michigan.”
A few weeks later, he visited Ohio State with his parents and met both Earle Bruce and Woody Hayes for lunch. “I barely said a word,” he said. “Woody and Earle were dropping pearls of wisdom, and I just listened.” From that day, he knew Ohio State was home.
Byars said Woody Hayes often stopped by practices long after retiring. “Whenever Woody showed up, practice stopped,” he said. “He’d start with ‘I won’t take much of your time,’ and that could mean five minutes or fifty. He knew every player’s parents by name. He was a legend, and he cared.”
The Greatest Team Sport
Byars and Earle Bruce shared a philosophy: football is the greatest team sport. “You can’t win by yourself,” he said. “It takes everyone, just like it does here in the Optimist Club. One person doesn’t make it happen, it’s all of us working together.”
He said that in both football and life, success is about consistency and effort. “A reporter once asked if I tried harder against certain teams,” he said. “I told him no—I always give 100 percent. That’s all I have, and I give it every time.”
Life After Football
Byars said he’s grateful for his football career, but even more thankful for what came after. He ran football camps at Welcome Stadium to help young players in Dayton. “When I was growing up, I only saw professional athletes on TV,” he said. “I wanted to bring the TV to Dayton to show kids that these people are just like them.”
He also shared his thoughts on college athletics today. Asked about Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rules and the transfer portal, he said he supports both. “I think NIL is a good thing,” he said. “If I’d had that 50 years ago, I would have loved it.” He recalled that one of his friends’ parents could only afford to attend five games in four years. “There just wasn’t enough money. So, I’m glad players can now get something back.”
Staying Positive
Byars closed with a message about optimism and community. “There’s a lot of bad news out there,” he said. “But there’s also good, it’s just harder to see. If you want more good in the world, you have to make it happen.”
He said that’s what organizations like the Optimist Club represent: teamwork, service, and hope. “It’s not about one person,” he said. “It’s about all of us working together to make our community better.”
Thank You
Thank you, Keith Byars, for sharing your story of determination, faith, family, and optimism.
What do you know about CNO
President Sarah Umbreit talked about Tri-Star Sports. CNO hosts Tri-Star Basketball and Tri-Star Soccer, each drawing large groups of local youth and many volunteers to make the events happen.
Sarah explained that the “Tri” in Tri-Star refers to the three different skills participants compete in at each event, such as passing, shooting, and dribbling in basketball or kicking, passing, and goal shooting in soccer. She also mentioned that more than 1,000 Optimist Clubs across North America host their own Tri-Star events, which can include baseball, football, hockey, volleyball, golf, and even curling.
New Member Readings and Inductions
- Steve Kelzer, Induction, Sponsored by Mike Creech
Happy Bucks
- Jeff Bush proudly announced that he’s a first-time grandparent.
- Steve Mock showed off a baseball cap autographed by Keith Byars.
- Julie Walling Noeth, dressed as Cruella de Vil, said she did a double take when she saw Gail Aiken dressed in her cow costume that looked just like one of her Dalmatians from a distance.
- Don Stafford is happy for the new sergeant-at-arms next week and happy he has not been fined by the current ones.
- Charlie Goodwin’s oldest granddaughter just turned 9 years old.
- Guest, Chuck Doran, pointed out that the Optimist Creed banner hanging behind the podium was blue and gold, just like the colors of that team up north.
- Tom Novak thanked the large group of Optimists who helped with the flag assembly last Thursday which prepared us for our flag delivery to honor Veterans Day.
Sergeants-at-Arms Fines – Dave Kay and Denise Green
The term for Sergeant Dave Kay and Denise Green is up. Dave acknowledged that Denise is “the brains of the outfit” and reminded the new sergeants, Mike Creech and Bob Myers, that they were not fined as he and Denise exited and they expect professional courtesy from the new sergeants.
As a way of saying thanks for putting up with them, Sergeant Dave Kay and Denise Green donated $20 so that randomly selected members could participate in a special 50/50-style challenge, picking a number between 1 and 10 to determine their fate at a chance for the $20.
- Sergeant Dave Kay started by fining himself for not telling his parents it was picture day for the photo of him when he was about 10 years old wearing a Mickey Mouse T-shirt. Apparently, Greg Griffin thought the picture of him was a girl, so Greg was fined too.
- Gary Smiga was fined for posing for a photo with Elsa and Olaf at the annual Rotary Pancake breakfast fundraiser last Saturday. Also, to his left was a GIANT BLOW UP ROTARY SIGN!
- Chuck Doran is a guest of Cameron Langer and a Huber Heights Rotary Club member.
- Dave Kay fined himself $5 for all the times he messed up names while fining.
- Roland Rapp was fined for being gone for a couple of weeks and then coming back and winning the 50/50 last week.
- Patrick Arehart was fined for “dissing the sergeants” after previously referring to them as the Grammar Police and Fashion Police in an earlier CNOtes. Sergeant Dave Kay said those accusations might be true, but “we don’t want to hear it.”
- Keith Byars was fined $4 for OSU beating Michigan State for the four years Sergeant Dave Kay was studying at Michigan State. Dave still remembers those losses, and he looked them up to be sure he was accurate that OSU won all four years.
- Gail Aiken was dubbed the Dairy Queen for her cow costume.
- Mike Bevis received the Random Fine of the Week.
- Jane Fiehrer was the unlucky winner on the Wheel of Misfortune.
- The unlucky table was Table 5, while Table 10 was the lucky table and got to pick a treat from the candy prize basket.
- A musical fines game was played where each table passed a ball while music played, and whoever was holding the ball when the music stopped had to pay a dollar.
Welcome Guests
| Guest | Guest Of |
| Byron Wade | Byron Wade |
| Chuck Doran | Cameron Langer |
| Dan France | In Readings |
| Denise Daniels | Karen Charnesky |
| DiAnna Matheson | Ellie Parker |
| Keith Byars | Speaker |
| Monica Byars | Speaker’s Guest |
| Steve Daniels | Karen Charnesky |
| Steve Kelzer | In Readings |
| Tim Walker | Mike Bevis |
Club Membership Anniversaries
| Member | Joined | Years |
| Charlie Goodwin | October 28, 2008 | 17 |
| Jessica King | October 28, 2008 | 17 |
| Mike Brubaker | October 28, 2008 | 17 |
Birthdays
| Brent Richburg | October 28 |
| Byron Wade | October 28 |
| Suzanne Werts | October 30 |
| Deb Saunders | November 1 |
CNO Donations – Since 2013
Click here to see a summary of donations the club has made since 2013
Thank You Notes Received this Week
CLICK HERE to see the Thank You Notes received this week
Links to PowerPoint and Pictures
CLICK HERE to see the PowerPoint Slide Deck from this week’s meeting