John "Jack" Day wrestled four varsity seasons in Mill Hall, Pennsylvania, one at Mill Hall High School and three at Bald Eagle Nittany High. He had two outstanding coaches in high school, Bob Janus and George Custer, a Lifetime Service to Wrestling award recipient from Pennsylvania. Both coaches emphasized chain and floating wrestling with great emphasis on exact execution.

After graduating high school in 1958, Day competed at nearby Lock Haven State College for Hubert Jack, also a Lifetime Service recipient from Pennsylvania. Wrestling varsity as a junior and senior, Day captured back-to-back Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championships in 1961 and 1962. He reached the finals at the NAIA Championships as a junior and returned as a senior to win the national title.

Day finished with a career record of 104-16 and was a co-captain as a senior with Gray Simons, a four-time NAIA champion and three-time NCAA champion who is a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. The two captains combined with Freddie Powell, an NAIA and NCAA champion, and Charles Biff Walzer, a two-time NAIA champion, to make Lock Haven the top-ranked team in the east and eventual runner-up finisher at the NAIA tournament in 1962.

Simons had a tremendous influence on Day's wrestling and coaching strategies. Simons took chain wrestling, float wrestling and technique to new levels, providing Day the skills to be a successful coach and clinician. Following Day's senior years, he and Simons traveled to Baltimore to conduct an instructional clinic for high school and college coaches.

For the next 35 years, Day taught physical education in Baltimore County. He worked witt fellow Lock Haven graduate Claude Darr at Catonsville High School and at Franklin High School, helping the two schools produce many outstanding wrestlers and citizens.

When Jack's two sons were ready for youth wrestling they joined Manchester Wrestling in the Maryland Junior League led by Kenny Kiler. Jack and Kiler worked together for the next 12 years, producing many county, regional, and state place-winners. Approximately 25 high school state champions learned chain and float wrestling at Manchester. The emphasis was, and still is, molding positive character development while also producing great wrestlers.

Jack continued his involvement with wrestling for many years at both Manchester and Carroll County high school tournaments as the head announcer, working with tournament directors Kiler and Dean Johnson.

Presently, Jack and his wife, Bonnie, call Finksburg home. They have two sons, Brad and Greg, and four grandchildren. One of their biggest thrills was watching their son, Greg, win the Maryland State Championship in OVERTIME in 1986.