Back in the mid-1970s, California prep gymnast Doug Day had offers for full athletic scholarships from the likes of UCLA, Southern California and Washington.
Instead, he accepted a partial scholarship to attend the University of New Mexico.
“I remember my mom (saying), ‘Are you crazy?'” Day recalled in a phone interview from his home in Colorado Springs, where he retired two years ago after a 15-year stint as the women’s gymnastics coach at the Air Force Academy.
Day, though, had never forgotten having attended a gymnastics event in Phoenix over the Christmas holidays during his junior year in high school.