Perhaps it’s because of the electronic age, where kids theses days seem to occupy their time either on their cellphones, Xbox or PlayStation, but I believe we are living in a time when recreational activities such as Little League Baseball and Catholic Youth Organization basketball just don’t seem to have the appeal they once had.

We talked here in the past about how baseball diamonds seem to sit empty in spring and summer months, where once there was a demand for the fields. But this week I was reminded how it’s not just baseball, but basketball, too, where the numbers seemingly are down, as are the opportunities to play.

This past weekend when we traveled to Wayne to watch our grandson, Jack, and his teammates occupy the floor at St. Katharine of Siena School, a parochial school that reminds me of my old school, St. Joe’s in Summit Hill.

The teams play all morning and afternoon, one game after another, and it made me think about the old CYO leagues of the Carbon-Schuylkill area.

True, the Diocese of Philadelphia has many times more the number of schools than what we had, but the closure of schools and parishes, I think, took with them the opportunities for children of Carbon-Schuylkill towns to participate in recreational activities, probably making it easier for kids to become couch potatoes with electronics in their hands.

That really saddens me, because I was one of hundreds of beneficiaries of the baseball and basketball programs available to us in our time, which, by the way, was mainly through the 1960s.

Looking back some 60-65 years, there was something special about the CYO league, which, if my memory serves me correctly, had as many as 12 teams, with doubleheaders scheduled at The Pit, Ginter and Marian high schools mainly on weekends, but on weeknights, too. There was nothing like it, as families watched their boys (and later girls, when a girls league came to fruition some years later) dribble and shoot as if they were NBA destined.

While they certainly weren’t ready for the big time, the league laid the foundation for future heroics for high school teams that great coaches like Bob Fulton, John Harkins and Pip Rader put on the floors of our area high schools. For the record, I was not one of them, as much more talented boys were the ones who suited up to garner headlines for prep school success.

But remembering the fun times back then prompted me to take a look back at the days gone by. I retrieved some of those games from our archives to jar my memory and those of others.

After all, to me, remembering names from the past is kind of neat. So I took advantage of this column to take us back to the old CYO days, hoping as you read the names of the former players you too will recollect the fun times of the past.

To narrow down my search, I selected games that were closest to today’s date (Jan. 17) in each of the seasons from the 1960s. Here’s what some of the sports coverage of those days looked like:

1960 — Coach Walt Smokey Moser’s St. Joseph Hammers, Jim Thorpe, dropped a 52-35 game to St. Stan’s, Summit Hill. Jachowicz led St. Stan’s with 24 points while Kosalko had 10. Hydro paced the Hammers with 18.

1961 — St. Mary’s of Coaldale, coached by “Super” O’Brien, dumped host St. Jerome’s of Tamaqua by a 57-41 margin. McDonald led the way in scoring with 29 points for the winners while Keer added 17. For St. Jerome’s, Welkee and Dunn were in double figures with 13 and 10, respectively.

1962 — Coach Charlie O’Donnell’s Hornets of St. Joseph’s, Summit Hill, defeated crosstown rival, St. Stanislaus, by a score of 41-29. The winners got 21 points from Halenar while Pribilla paced St. Stan’s with 11.

1963 — Unbeaten St. Michael’s of Lansford kept their record unblemished with a 34-25 win over St. Joe’s of Summit Hill. Gary Fredericks and Dave Padora led the forced of Coach Paul Yanchura with 15 and 13 points, respectively, while John Crampsie paced St. Joe’s with 11 points.

1964 — SS. Cyril and Methodius of Coaldale bombed St. Joe’s of Jim Thorpe behind 20 points by Joe Pribilla and 17 from Bernie Krasnitsky. Lazorchick had 14 for St. Joe’s.

1965 — SS. Cyril and Methodius upended St. Joe’s of Summit Hill in a battle of the league leaders. Tony Kruzik tossed in 26 points to lead the winners while Ken Krasnitsky added 10. Novak tallied 17 for St. Joe’s.

1966 — St. Jerome’s of Tamaqua tripled up on St. Joe’s of Summit Hill, winning by a 68-22 difference. Tom Yelito led the winners with 15, followed by Bob Breslin, Frank Yusella and Baddick with 14, 12 and 10, respectively, while the Summit Hill contingent got 11 points from Bruce Perbetsky.

1967 — In an Abbott Street neighborhood battle in Lansford, St. Mike’s defeated SS. Peter and Paul’s by a 53-36 margin. The winners’ Bobby Fredericks scored as many points as the St. Pete’s team, hitting 15 field goals and six free throws. Poshefko backed him with 11 points. St. Pete’s was paced by Dave Midas with 15 points.

1968 — Thad Kosciolek and Mike Horowski tallied 25 and 10 points, respectively, as SS. Peter and Paul’s defeated St. Joe’s of Jim Thorpe, 39-23. Albeck paced the Jim Thorpe contingent with 15 points.

1969 — Dave Labosky’s 16 points paced St. Michael’s of Lansford in a 58-31 win over Immaculate Conception of Jim Thorpe. Teammates Yanchura and Horvath added 11 and 10, respectively. McGuire scored 22 of Immaculate Conception’s points.