Columbus North senior Tyler Blythe poses for a photos next to a piece of the original flooring from Memorial Gymnasium he refurbished and turned into a table in the athletic conference room at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
In an era of specialization, not many three-sport athletes remain, especially at big schools and especially in the major sports of football, basketball and baseball.
Columbus North senior Tyler Blythe is a throwback in that he has played those three sports throughout his high school career. He was a varsity football player for three years, played varsity baseball last year and currently is in his second year as a varsity basketball player.
This fall, Blythe found a little time outside of his sports to work on his senior project, which has a tie-in to sports. He turned a piece of the original floor in Memorial Gym into a table that now sits in the athletic conference room.
The original floor was replaced in 2015. Part of the floor was being storied in the basement of North High School, and principal David Clark came up with the idea a couple years ago to make it a table.
“I said I would love to have a table in the conference room to use, but it’s going to take the right person to do it right,” said athletic secretary Bev Addis, who served as Blythe’s mentor for the senior project. “I said something to Scott Seavers and Brian Campbell, who (oversee) senior projects, and Tyler was referred to us. He did a magnificent job. I want to show it to the world.”
Blythe and his father Tim started working on turning the floor into a table in early November, which was around the time the Bull Dogs’ football season was wrapping up. He made his senior project presentation on Dec. 15.
“(Addis) came to me and said that there were a couple pieces down in the dungeon, and we thought that we could do something with it,” Tyler Blythe said. “Me and my dad built it in our garage. Just the hard work that we put into it because it’s such a nostalgic piece, I’m really surprised with how it turned out. It turned out better than what we thought it would be. Everyone seemed to love it. I’m just proud of me and my dad’s work.
“The hard part for me was time management and trying to be able to come home after practices and schoolwork,” he added. “Finding that time to work on it was hard. It was kind of a relief once we finally did it. Bev was super proud of it. She was really impressed, and I glad that I was finally able to get it done.”
Blythe is a starting guard on the basketball team for the Bull Dogs, who have won five of their past six games following an 0-2 start.
“So far, I think we’re doing really good,” Blythe said. “The way we’ve been playing, I’m pretty confident in us, and I think we can beat anyone.”
After helping North win Conference Indiana football titles as a wide receiver as a sophomore and junior, Blythe moved to running back this season. He ran for 1,010 yards and 10 touchdowns to help lead the Bull Dogs to a 5-6 record and a sectional final appearance before falling to eventual state champion Center Grove.
“Obviously, we didn’t have a whole lot of depth, and we haven’t for the last couple of years,” Blythe said. “So we had to battle through that, but I thought overall we had a pretty good season. With a new coach, coach (Logan) Haston, he did a pretty good job for his first year.”
Blythe is planning to play football in college and is looking at DePauw, Centre (Kentucky), Trine and Indiana Wesleyan to play football. He hopes he and others can do their college signings on the new table he has made.
“That’s what me and Bev were talking about it,” Blythe said. “We don’t know how we’re going to move it. I want to do that, though.”
