Separated by five years, Cal and Chris Daskam never thought they’d get the chance to play together.

The two brothers, alongside their older brother Clayton, all played football at Belchertown High School. They come from a long line of gridiron experience – their father, Jon, played at Springfield College and the Daskam brothers represent the fourth generation of football players in the family.

While Clayton and Cal overlapped for one year at Belchertown, Cal and Chris never got the chance to play together.

Until this season.

As Chris thought about where he’d play college football, Cal thought his four-year career at Western New England University was over.

“When last year ended, I was pretty set in stone on not coming back, I was ready to grow up,” Cal said. “And then as the spring came on, I was like ‘man, I kinda miss football.’

Cal knew he had an extra year of eligibility because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but wasn’t initially planning on using it. But as Chris grew more interested in the program at Western New England, Cal started to rethink his decision to leave school. Western New England is coached by Belchertown alum Jason LeBeau, whose father Keith was Chris’ defensive coordinator at Belchertown and now serves as the Orioles head coach.

“I wanted [Cal] to come back, I wanted to play that year with him,” Chris said. “So I tried to convince him to do it.” 

It didn’t take much.

“I was like ‘this is a no-brainer,’” Cal said.

Chris signed on to join his brother and play for Western New England, setting up this fall as their first time ever sharing the field in any sport. Jon Daskam was excited to see Chris play college football, but even more so when Chris decided to team up with Cal.

“For me,” Jon said, “it’s like a dream come true.”

Though Cal is a fifth-year slot receiver and Chris is a freshman running back, the duo shared the field for a few drives during preseason practice. Western New England opened up their schedule with a 38-32 loss to Springfield College on Friday. The Golden Bears play their home opener this Saturday against Salve Regina at 1 p.m.

While Cal has often had trouble finding teammates to work out with over the summer, he didn’t have any issues this year. The two new teammates lifted together four or five days a week.

“Being five years apart, maybe that’s a generational thing,” Jon said. “But football has brought them together, which again, for me as a dad, is a pretty cool thing.”

And when Chris finally joined the team this fall, most of the players were already familiar with him. Cal has been helping Chris transition from high school to college, Jon said.

“Cal can talk to Chris like nobody else can, or your buddies or even his dad, right?” Jon said. “So I was really excited about having them together for that reason.”

Jon, Cal and Chris have gone out to dinner each week. As Chris gets settled in college, Cal is trying to savor all that he has left in his final year.

“I’m definitely going to look back on this when it’s all said and done,” Cal said. “I’m going to really cherish it.”