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Washington Twp. residents helped Votto on his road back

Gregg and Linda Trebnick and their 20-year-old daughter, April, are close friends with Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto. The Trebnicks were Votto’s host family when he played for the Dragons, and the major-leaguer sometimes lives with them in the offseason, vacations with them and talks with them daily.

Staff photo by Jim Witmer Gregg and Linda Trebnick and their 20-year-old daughter, April, are close friends with Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto. The Trebnicks were Votto’s host family when he played for the Dragons, and the major-leaguer sometimes lives with them in the offseason, vacations with them and talks with them daily.

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Cincinnati Reds' Joey Votto, right, is congratulated by Brandon Phillips after Votto hit a solo home run off St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Brad Thompson in the fifth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, July 4, 2009, in Cincinnati. The Reds won 5-2.

Associated Press photo by David Kohl Cincinnati Reds' Joey Votto, right, is congratulated by Brandon Phillips after Votto hit a solo home run off St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Brad Thompson in the fifth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, July 4, 2009, in Cincinnati. The Reds won 5-2.

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April (left) and Amy Trebnick of Washington Twp. celebrate with Joey Votto at his 24th birthday dinner the September he was called up to the major leagues.

Contributed photo April (left) and Amy Trebnick of Washington Twp. celebrate with Joey Votto at his 24th birthday dinner the September he was called up to the major leagues.

Trebnicks knew Reds first baseman needed them.

By Tom Archdeacon, Staff Writer Updated 1:32 AM Sunday, July 5, 2009

The phone rang in their Nutt Road home at 4 a.m.

First to awaken, Linda Trebnick reached for the receiver, listened to the familiar voice that on this night sounded so unfamiliar — so hesitant and wounded — and immediately woke her husband, Gregg, who remembers her saying:

“Joey’s in the hospital. He needs us.”

And with that began another chapter in a five-year saga of friendship, trust and unwavering support between a local family and the Cincinnati Reds first baseman, Joey Votto.

It has encompassed Reds off days and Trebnick family vacations together. It’s included nighttime respites sitting in the family’s swimming pool kibitzing and smoking Cuban cigars and, of course, that regular, Votto-instigated midnight ritual — heaping bowls of vanilla ice cream, brownies and watching “The Dating Game” on television.

There have been hours of light-hearted text messages and e-mails back and forth when the Reds are on the road. There’s always an open invitation and a room in the Trebnick’s Washington Twp. home for Votto — and then there was that pre-dawn plea for help.

Before making that call, Votto had been in his Cincinnati-area apartment trying to deal with his demons on his own.

As he described it, “It was the scariest moment I’ve ever dealt with in my life. It got to a point where I couldn’t take it. ... I thought I was going to die.”

In the process of coping with respiratory and inner-ear infections, he suddenly had been overwhelmed by mental pressures that slowly had been consuming him for nearly 10 months.

When his 52-year-old father died last August, Votto tried to override the grieving process — the whole sense of loss — by immersing himself in an all-consuming cocoon of baseball.

It didn’t work, and the illnesses that prevented him from playing ball — and may have been prolonged because “he just doesn’t like taking medication,” Gregg said — gave him a lot of time alone, and his thoughts triggered his depression.

Back in Cincinnati and on the disabled list with what the team simply called a “stress-related” problem, Votto was holed up at home, not sleeping at night and finally found himself in the middle of a full-scale panic attack. He dialed 9-1-1 and was taken by ambulance to a Northern Kentucky hospital, where he was put on medication.

“I couldn’t have handled being by myself then and while (the Trebnicks) were my only option at the time, they really were — no matter what the circumstance — my best option, as well,” Votto said the other day as he sat at his corner dressing stall in the Reds clubhouse before a game at Great American Ball Park.

“Not taking anything away from my mom and brothers, but going across the border (to his home in Toronto) was pretty unrealistic, and besides, they were grieving, too.”

When the Trebnicks arrived at the hospital, Linda found the unfailingly polite Votto quietly talking to gathered staffers, giving in to autograph requests and then shaking hands and thanking everyone before he left.

“But I couldn’t believe how he looked,” Linda said with eyes beginning to glisten.

“In the car I teased him,” Gregg said. “I told him, ‘You are a mess.’ ”

It was the kind of good-natured jab the two often exchange and it helped deflate the moment.

“I’m the mom,” Linda said, “and I told him, ‘You know what Joey? I’m going to feed you, get some weight back on you and you’re going to get emotionally, spiritually and physically healthy.’ ”

The promise hit home.

“He hadn’t told anybody anything that had been going on, but in the car he started talking and didn’t shut up,” Gregg said. “He got everything off his chest and he felt better.”

The Trebnicks drove him to his place, stayed with him and for the first time in a long time he was able to sleep. After a day, Gregg returned to Trebnick Systems, the family business in Springboro, but Linda stayed for a few more days. She was joined by one of her two daughters — both of whom Votto treats like sisters — and eventually the family brought him back to their Nutt Road home to recuperate.

“The first thing I did was open the blinds and doors,” Linda said. “I said, ‘You can’t live like this. You’re going to have people in your life. We’re going to let some sunlight back in.’ ”

Helping the girls out

Back in the early years of the Dayton Dragons, the Trebnicks were attending Apex Community Church in Centerville. That’s where they read a notice that the local minor-league team was looking for host families who would take in ballplayers.

They figured they’d try it. They had a big home and, back then, three teenage children of their own — son Aaron (now 27) and two beautiful daughters, Amy (24) and April (20) — and while Linda is not sports-minded, Gregg had played small-college football and briefly in the NFL as a 6-foot-6 wide receiver with the Atlanta Falcons and New York Giants.

“Why did we become a host family?” Gregg grinned. “Let me tell you the joke version.”

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