Spikers of old traverse the tests of time in Geezer Cup

I must admit, I didn't really want to go to this game. I had visions of a bunch of old guys whacking the ball around and narrowly averting cardiac arrest. I couldn't see how it could be any fun at all, but I decided to suffer through it.

When I arrived, the match was already underway. I obviously avoided the wild mob of fans who probably left before I came. I didn't have a problem finding a seat.

The first thing that came to my attention was their blue and white shirts with "Geezer Clash of 98" proudly printed across the back.

Age and wisdom seemed to lean toward the White side while the Blue appeared to have a bit more spring in its step.

It surprised me how athletic these men still were. When their love handles weren't getting in the way, they put together a pretty impressive game of volleyball. But there were occasions when luck was the only thing that got the ball over the net. Every play resulted in a good laugh.

After a while, Jim "Yak" Wittler was substituted in for the Blue team. He wore a red bandanna and I think part of him was still stuck in the seventies. He brought to the court an aura of a game that has long since died out.

"I was on one of the original club teams around 1971," Wittler said. "We were pretty much the basis of what the varsity team is today."

At the middle blocker position, he was probably the physical and emotional basis of his team. He didn't play like a 44-year-old man, in fact none of them really did.

As I sat there watching the founding fathers of Nittany Lion volleyball, my attitude changed. I realized I wasn't watching a group of geriatrics barely keeping the ball up. I was watching the players they were so many years ago.

Players with bifocals went airborne for the kill. Athletes with graying hair dove to the floor for digs. They were finding their youth again.

They weren't playing for the NCAA Championship -- it was more important than that. They played to show their vigor and vitality weren't gone. They played to show each other how much of a weapon they still were. And they played for the Geezer Cup.

"The Geezer Cup is much like the Stanley Cup, only smaller," Wittler joked.

The Blue team was victorious in the best-of-three match, but no one was really keeping score. Wittler was named MVP by his teammates and he deserved it. He was the ideal of what this game represented.

As he played, memories of his years as a Lion came flooding back. Memories he told me all about after the game. I learned first-hand why they called him "Yak."

He recounted his fondest memory of the USVBA Championship game his team lost to Long Beach State in 1975. The loss wasn't the important thing, it was the time he and his team spent together. He wanted to have the same time together this weekend.

"I think it's great that today's team gets to see where their team started and that the old guys get to see where the game is today," alumnus Dave Evans said. "We taught them everything they know."

Evans was the setter for the White team and he, like Wittler, came back this weekend to be with teammates from years past.

After going their separate ways in life, it was this experience that brought them back. Even though their eligibility was gone, their love of the game was not.