bigsaintg
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Post by bigsaintg on Oct 4, 2015 7:09:11 GMT -5
RIP Dave. I didn't know you but saw you at many men's and ladies gams with your crew.
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Post by billmurray on Oct 4, 2015 7:16:11 GMT -5
RIP Dave. Siena has one more Saint to look after them now. |
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mrsiena
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Post by mrsiena on Oct 4, 2015 8:32:04 GMT -5
He was my very good traveling Siena buddy. He'd give you the shirt off his back in an instant. He truly personified what it means to be a loving, giving Christian. He will be dearly missed.
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Post by Tony on Oct 4, 2015 9:35:53 GMT -5
great guy--Siena lost a good friend and great guy in Big Dave
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warden99
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Post by warden99 on Oct 4, 2015 10:04:37 GMT -5
Its good to know that we will have a great tailgate party in heaven. Thank you BIG DAVE a true son of Saint Francis.
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hankla
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Post by hankla on Oct 4, 2015 10:52:00 GMT -5
I don't know if Dave ever posted on this board but he could truly hold the title SIENA SAINTS # ONE FAN.
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IndianSaint
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Post by IndianSaint on Oct 4, 2015 22:21:30 GMT -5
To my great friend Dave, I'm going to miss you very much but I'll cherish the wonderful memories. From the first time I met you and Carol, you accepted me and my Mom into your life. If it weren't for the fact that I was able to upgrade our Knick/Pepsi/TUC seats from Section 104 to 121, placing us directly behind you and your wife Carol, we may not have met and started this wonderful friendship so soon.
Some of my fondest memories include ...
All the bus trips, starting with Henry's running of the Coach's Club "Brown Bus", to Yankee Trails taking over, to the eventual, and still current, bus trips by Frank. One of the first trips I attended, Dave brought two 24-cut pizzas to share with everyone on the bus. Seeing they were in actual pizza boxes, I thought he worked for a pizza place but found out he worked for the State and made those pizzas at home. You couldn't tell. You'd swear they were made in a pizza oven at a pizza shop. They were that good. Carol and his daughter, Brenda, would bring homemade cookies for dessert.
As Dave's obit states: "He had an unshakeable faith and selfless devotion to his church, his family and his community. He shared his message of love and openness with everyone." His message of love and openness was never more evident than when he took care of Carol during her battle with cancer and continued to grow more open and loving even after her passing. Dave explained to me that he was shy when he was younger and didn't even get his driver's license or a car until he was in his mid to late 20s. Which is almost hard to believe seeing all the Siena road trips he made, more on that later. When I last spoke with Dave in the hospital, he was more concerned about me then himself or his condition. He was still helping me deal with things like life, death, loving, being open and a good person, etc.
Through this love and openness, he was able to overcome his shyness. He went from not being able to stand up in front of a crowd, to giving speeches for large crowds, to openly talking to anyone willing to listen, being the initiator of new friendships, and even teaching hopeless people, like myself, to open their mind to love. Openness isn't simply having the ability to tell anyone anything but also to listen to everyone and their opinions, even if you don't agree with them. That is so hard but he was able to almost perfect it.
Dave was so proud of his son, Craig, and the relationship and love he has with his son, Slyer. Dave explained that he didn't have that type of relationship with his father and would tear up with joy telling me about Craig and his love/caring for Slyer. I believe it was Dave's love for Craig that planted the seed for Craig's relationship with his son.
The obit states: "He tirelessly devoted himself to helping those in need, most notably at the Sr. Maureen Joyce Center and the residents of Schoharie County for disaster relief." Dave is probably the most giving person I've ever met. Like Mr. Siena said, "He'd give you the shirt off his back". After Dave retired, he decided to work at the soup kitchen for the homeless in Albany at various Sr. Maureen Joyce Center locations. He started out as one of the cooks and eventually basically became the head cook, planning the meals twice a week for two different locations. When he didn't like the menu due to lack of donated food or wanted to provide the recipients with better quality, he would purchase the food himself, donate it, and then cook it. He'd even prep things at home, due to the limited time the site was open for cooking, in order to prepare homemade meals.
When the flood hit Schoharie, he made sandwiches and homemade chili then drove it down there to hand out. People were so grateful. He did this for a few weeks until he met up with Skeeter (can't remember his real name). Skeeter ran the food pantry in Breakabeen, just outside Schoharie. Dave would purchase hundreds of dollars of food and drive it down once a week or every other week, for years. I know of at least three occasions where Dave spent over $1,500 on food/groceries at one time as I helped him shop, load the truck, and drive it down. There's actually too many other examples of his generosity to list them all.
Dave was so proud of his daughter, not only was she loving and caring to his and Carol's needs during both of their battles but also she has Dave's gift of generosity almost to a fault. If there's anyone as giving, or more giving than Dave, Brenda is right up there. Just ask any of her friends.
The obit states: "He was an avid fan of Siena College men's basketball, traveling throughout the country to support the team, at one time accomplishing a 69 game attendance streak." For all the years I knew Dave, he rarely, if ever, missed a Siena Men's home game. In addition, he hardly ever missed a Siena Men's away game (even when they were not winning). Dave's 69 game attendance streak was from February 13, 2006, Loyola at home, all the way until February 18, 2008, at Manhattan. He didn't miss a home, away, or MAAC Tournament game during that stretch. Away games included all MAAC, Penn, Syracuse, Stanford, Maryland (New Year's Eve), Old Spice Classic, Pitt, Kansas, St Joe's, etc.. If I remember correctly, the game at Rider on February 12, 2006, was during a huge snow storm. The game was televised showing very few in the stands. Dave watched the February 23, 2008 Boise State game with us at the TUC on the big screen.
Dave drove to countless Siena away games. After I met him he offered me, and eventually my Mom, to join him and Mr. Siena. He racked up the miles. There was even a TU article back in 2004 or 2005 that referenced his countless road trips and surprising Coach Lanier at Youngstown State. That year, at the Siena Men's end of season Banquet, Lanier presented Dave with gas cards honoring him and Mr. Siena for making so many road trips.
I have so many memories of these road trips, like the Tampa, Florida trip where not only did we witness history in the making (all 4 upsets from one venue, the highest total combined seeds ever), to discovering Siena wine at the steak place next to the hotel. Then there is driving home from Dayton after upsetting Ohio State and almost upsetting Louisville, you'd think it couldn't get any better but we stop off at the casino in Niagara Falls and Dave ends up winning over $11K with a gut shot straight flush draw on the last hand he was going to play that night. What did he do with some of the money? You guessed it, purchased approximately a thousand dollars of kids hats, gloves, coats and donated them the following winter.
There are funny, to fall out of bed laughing, stories. Always something dealing with Mr. Siena wearing some of his breakfast, lunch or dinner on his shirt at least once a trip, to hide the chili, to MAAC Tournament tailgate, both home and on the road, to what happens when two large men sleep in a full size bed that caves towards the middle and neither can roll the opposite direction to move away from the other.
Other stories I have heard about, but wasn't present are:
> The "short cut" to a Western NY game (I believe St. Bonaventure back in the 90s or 80s) up and down the mountain to save time (ask Hankla).
> Driving home from the Buffalo series during a snow/freezing rain storm, looking through no more than a 6 inch by 6 inch part of the windshield before finally stopping off somewhere near Utica and continuing home the next day.
> Dave's brand new car catching on fire on his way to an away game.
> The NCAA trip to Greensboro, NC, where Siena upsets Stanford in the first round which resulted in Dave and Mr. Siena having to scramble as they weren't planning to stay overnight. They had no luggage hotel, car, or tickets to the next game. They even had to reschedule their flight home.
Dave used to write a lot. He shared some of those stories, writings, dreams, etc. with me. They usually had a central theme about love and openness. I'm not a writer, as is obvious from this lengthy, just get the info down on paper/computer fashion, but it's the least I can do for my good friend. Dave was not only a friend to me but also like a second father with the wisdom/knowledge he provided me. Thank you Dave for being my friend, I won't ever forget you or the great memories/times we had.
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Post by johndoh12 on Oct 4, 2015 23:47:48 GMT -5
I did not know Dave, but recognized him immediately from the photo in the obituary. I kind of thought he might have been the bus driver, having seen him at every Siena game at Canisius, Niagara, or Bona, as I live in WNY. I often saw him in the stands at games on TV, as well. It was my loss never to have met him, and as IndianSaint so eloquently wrote, it is everyone's loss as well. RIP Dave.
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glen
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Post by glen on Oct 5, 2015 8:16:35 GMT -5
He was definitely one of the greats.
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knicksaint
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Post by knicksaint on Oct 5, 2015 16:32:35 GMT -5
IS, too often we don't know as much as we should about our fellow fans. I have known Dave superficially for many years. I knew of his long consecutive game streak and heard stories about some of the trips, but I had no idea of his incredible generosity in terms of time, talent and treasure.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson put it, "The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to make some difference that you have lived and lived well. Big Dave clearly embodied all of these qualities and was obviously happy as a result.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with the rest of us.
KS
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warden99
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Post by warden99 on Oct 5, 2015 17:53:06 GMT -5
Nice touch,Knick..........Emerson described Big Dave very well. Funeral Mass at St Clairs Colonie 9AM tuesday hope to see many saints there
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saints22
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Post by saints22 on Oct 11, 2015 11:41:49 GMT -5
May be the best column Steve has ever written. Excellent piece. |
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bigfan
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Post by bigfan on Oct 11, 2015 13:02:54 GMT -5
Nice article. Sounds like he was a great guy.
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