- Name
- Roger Day
- Position
- Forward
- Class
- Junior
- Hometown (Last School)
- Frostburg, MD (Beall)
- Ht
- 6'2"
- Wt
- 170
- Seasons
- 1947-48, 1948-49, 1949-50
- Birthday
- April 4, 1925
Roger Day was born Roger Xavier Day, Jr., on April 4, 1925, in Brunswick, Maryland, to Roger Xavier Day, Sr. and Asenath Ebbert Day.
Day attended Beall High School in Frostburg, Maryland, where he graduated in 1943 after starring in baseball and basketball. He captured the Western Maryland Interscholastic League scoring echampionship for the 1943 season with 129 points in ten games. He was also a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon social fraternity.
In September of 1943, Day was inducted into the Navy at the Naval Training Center in Bainbridge, Maryland. In the Navy, he was an aviation machinist’s mate, third class. He was discharged from duty in May of 1946 and enrolled at Kentucky for the 1946 fall semester.
Day was a member of both the 1948 and 1949 NCAA Championship basketball teams at Kentucky. Day never played more than a reserve role. In one way, he landed at Kentucky at the wrong time. He wasn’t a starter simply because he happened along at the same time as Alex Groza, Ralph Beard, and Company. But, on the other hand, he absorbed a lot of knowledge by observing the actions of the “Fabulous Five” as a unit. And the experience he gained while in the lineup with these colorful cagers is something he never forgot. Following the national title game in 1948, Day was quoted by several newspapers, “This is the greatest ball club you could ever sit on the bench for.” Day graduated from Kentucky on August 11, 1950, with a bachelor of arts in journalism.
Day married Dorma J. Bersch, of Madison, Indiana, on February 8, 1958. Alex Groza was his best man. The couple resided in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
He was employed as a district sales manager with General Motors Chevrolet Division for 35 years before retiring in 1990.
Day passed away on August 13, 2001, at the age of 76.
