Like father like son - the old saying certainly holds true for Francis “Cheech” Pettigrass of Auburn and his son Nick of Fairport.

On June 6, the two made their way down to SUNY Cortland to compete in the Empire State Games in the senior division.

And while the old saying is certainly true, in this case Nick said it was easy to turn it around, like son, like father.

Nick said that he competed in the Empire Games in the Master's class for several years with a focus on track and field and in that time he amassed six medals in all, three gold, two silver and a bronze.

Nick's interest in the games in turn inspired Francis, who has been competing in the senior division for the past four years, and has earned seven medals in all, two gold and five bronze in a variety of track events.

This year, Francis brought two of those bronze medals home to add to his collection, taking the honors in the 400 meter and the 1500 meter. But at 78-years-old, running is nothing new to Francis.

“I've done a lot of running,” Francis said. “A lot of running and jogging, I've been running since about 1980.”

Over the years, Francis has competed in pretty much every local race he could find, from the Downtown Mile to the Run For Life.

“I keep the numbers and the shirts they give you,” Francis said. “I have some of them on the wall in my kitchen, if I had all those numbers up on the walls, our kitchen would be completely covered by now.”

Nick, a graduate of Auburn High School, has also had a very active lifestyle, playing baseball and football at Auburn before going on to play baseball in college.

For him the games have been a perfect fit for his active approach to life.

It is a good motivation,“ Nick said. ”I think it helps inspire you to stay fit and to stay active and to keep yourself in good shape.“

Nick, 52, now competes in the senior division in the 50 to 54 bracket and it was Francis, who at least in part motivated him to enter the senior games.

“I was already competing in the games and inspired him to start competing,” Nick said.

“And now he has inspired me to compete in the senior games. It is fun and we can go together down to Cortland and we are there to support each other. It is pretty neat for both of us to inspire each other.”

And over the years, Francis said he has learned from his son. Francis said that when he first started competing, Nick told him he should stretch before running, but Francis said he didn't really listen and pulled a muscle.

And the following year the events were rained out and then in 2007, Francis had a knee injury that had him in physical therapy.

“He was right about stretching,” Francis said. “I had to get my knee back in shape for this year and this year I pulled a thigh muscle, so I'm kind of back at square one doing rehab.”

Before the games, Francis said he stayed busy, getting into shape running at the track at Auburn High School, with his wife Norma there encouraging him the whole way.

“You have to be in shape to do this,” Francis said. “People think just because it is the senior division that it isn't competitive, but there are people there that take it very seriously and they come to compete, so you have to be in shape for this.”

Along with good competition, something else has been born of the Pettigrass' experience with the games.

“You meet a lot of interesting people,” Nick said. “It is good competition, but you also get to see a lot of the same people year after year and we have become friends.”

This year, Nick said that he was inspired to add to his usual routine of the long jump and the 100 meter and try his hand at swimming, competing in the 50 freestyle and the 100 individual medley, earning a fourth place finish in the 50 and sixth place in the 100.

“I have always been a swimmer,” Nick said. “I know all the strokes and had my lifeguard certification, I just decided to try something different, it was pretty competitive. I was surprised I did as well as I did.”

And Nick also went on to inspire his father in the 1500.

Nick said it was a very hot day and Francis wasn't sure if he was going to run or not.

“I kind of coached him,” Nick said. “That is the nice thing we are there to support each other and he ended up running and winning a medal.”

And while both have earned an impressive array of accomplishments and medals, there are still many goals that lay ahead.

Francis said that he has set a goal to still be competing by the time he is 80, which would give his other son Mark time to become eligible.

“I think we could get my mom involved too,” Nick said. “Then we could have the whole family competing.”