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HAMILTON — Do you need a hobby with some bounce in it?

Dale Gabbard of Hamilton has found one. In 1974, he began creating what is now a 300- pound rubber band ball.

"I was a part-time custodian and I began sweeping rubber bands up and saving them," the 49-year-old Gabbard said. "I saw I had a lot of them and I decided to start a small ball."

The rubber bands are looped together, not stretched over one another, to make the ball. The ball is about 7 feet in circumference and comes up to Gabbard's knees. When he sits on it, his feet no longer touch the ground. When the ball is about 4 inches bigger, Gabbard said he won't be able to get the it in and out of his house, so he plans on keeping it on his porch.

Gabbard, now a master building service worker at Miami University, uses the ball to discuss anti-drug campaigns at schools and other venues.

"I used to have a drug problem," Gabbard said. "I had so much free time and I started working on the ball again to occupy my time."

Gabbard uses the ball to encourage others to find a hobby instead of doing drugs.

When his stepdaughter, Theresa Joseph, now 24, was in the third grade, Gabbard took the ball to talk to her class as part of an anti-drug campaign.

"There were five boys and five girls in my class," Joseph said. "The five boys couldn't pick the ball up, but the five girls could."

Gabbard said he hopes to one day see his rubber band ball in the Guinness World Records. The current record of 4,594 pounds is held by Steve Milton of Eugene, Ore.

Adding to the ball on the weekends and during free time after work, Gabbard is looking to reach an ultimate goal of 10,000 pounds.

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