Don Ball: It’s Never Felt Like ‘Work’

Estimated reading time: 1 minute

For the November issue of PCB007 Magazine, I was sent a list of questions that would highlight my personality and career. If you’ve read my previous columns, you know I am not reluctant to talk about myself, so here it goes.

The Early Years

I was born in November 1947 in Syracuse, New York (a genuine baby boomer) and grew up in the Syracuse suburb of Baldwinsville, NY. My childhood was pretty good, and in high school, I made one of the best decisions of my life.

In my freshman year, inspired by the 1960 Olympics in Rome, I decided to try out for the track team. Of course, I wanted to attain glory as a sprinter, but this turned out to be a less-than-optimal pursuit, and I gradually moved up in distance to become a miler. To everyone’s surprise, I was good at distance running and became one of the first in my class to earn a varsity letter, much to the disgust of some of my more athletic classmates in the higher-profile sports.

This was important to me since it did wonders for my self-esteem and kept me from being a complete 1960s high school nerd (i.e., the main male characters in “The Big Bang Theory”). Of course, I still resent that even the third-string quarterback on a football team that couldn’t win a game in the entire four years I was in high school had more social standing than me—a member of the only teams bringing in championship trophies—but generally, high school was a pretty good time.

To continue reading this article, which originally appeared in the November 2025 edition of PCB007 Magazine, click here.