COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ryan Day can conjure up only a few specific memories of his father. He recalls that Ray Day owned a convenience store in the Manchester, New Hampshire, area and remembers him loving the Red Sox. Recently, Ryan Day was thrilled to see a home movie from the 1980s of the two of them playing baseball on Hampton Beach.
“He was a regular guy,” Ryan Day said. “And then one day in January, he didn’t come home. Life changed forever after that.”
Ray Day died by suicide in 1988. Ryan Day was 9 years old at the time and had two younger brothers, Chris (7) and Tim (5). That singular moment shaped his life more than any other.
Over the years, Ryan Day’s emotions over the suicide of his father evolved through phases of anger, resentment and confusion. He recalls occasional playground teasing and being upset watching his youth basketball teammates run to their fathers at the conclusion of their games. “I’d get pissed,” he said. “How come I can’t have a father? I used to get angry that way about it.”
As the years went on, and the portrait of his father’s struggles with depression became clearer, Ryan Day came to better understand mental health and the stigmas attached to discussing it openly in society. So soon after Day became the full-time head coach at Ohio State in December, he and his wife, Nina, decided they were going to use that powerful philanthropic platform to bring the discussion about mental health — especially in the childhood and adolescent space — to the forefront.
The more Ryan Day came to understand about his father’s life, death and depression, the more it shaped his view on mental health.
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