OrangeTown
All Conference
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2011
- Messages
- 2,017
- Like
- 5,043
I've been on vacation for a week and had limited access to the board, but was crushed when I learned the news that a man I had never met had passed away.
After reading so many of the testimonials from both those who had met Dan in person and those who had not, I wanted to add my not-so-elaborate experience with Dan. Honestly, I'm hoping to get a lot of responses to this from people describing their relationship with Dan: how they first met him, things they learned from him, etc... Tom has given us a wonderful description of his relationship with him, and I thought adding to it with experiences from people less acquainted with him would also be nice to learn about.
So I invite you all to read my experience with Dan and to add yours (even if it was almost nonexistant-Dan didn't need a lot of direct interaction to have a massive impact on one's life). Maybe he sent you a message about some random topic or telling you he agreed with you about some random thread you made. Maybe you knew him well and in person. It would be awesome to have one thread to view how Dan impacted each and every one of us, and maybe even tacked for all to easily see. I will be providing some direct cutting and pasting from my PMs with Dan for you to view, but will not include anything I feel he would not want public (although there really isn't any of that anyway).
Here goes nothing. A warning: this could get long-winded.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Like so many of you, my relationship with Dan started as an extremely one-sided relationship. I'm not ashamed to say that Dan was the one man I would think about in the shower every morning, as I would greedily digest his daily articles over coffee after getting out. He had no idea who I was, and while I don't go back as far as many of you to the AOL board, I lurked for a long time before moving over to Syracusefan.com, so this one-sided relationship went on unbenowknst to Dan for quite some time.
Then one day a few years ago, the grammar police in me came out (funny considering how often I screw up), and I asked him about his name in one of his threads. Honestly, I was just curious, but I never got a direct response in that thread. Since then, the question has come publicly many times: Is it "Orange Yes" or "Orange Eyes"?
So along comes the holiday season, and I get a private message from Dan simply titled "Hi". Here is the direct content of that message:
---------------------------------------------------
Have a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year too!!!
BTW, it is Orange Eyes but condensed to Orangeyes
Dan
-------------------------------------------------------
I know he sends out lots of these PMs, but I was amazed that he remembered my simple question about his name so long ago and I told him I owned basically that exact same snowman. He wanted to know where I got it, and we chatted back and forth a bit about SU Christmas decorations.
A few months later, he sent me another PM thanking me for sticking up for him in a thread where one of our notorious posters somewhat attacked him. In this PM, he also gave me his first formal seal of approval for my JLH avatar. I have recently been thinking of changing my avatar, but I now believe I will always keep it as it is for Dan to view from up above. Again, here is the exact transcript from the first couple messages:
-----------------------------------------------------
Dan: "It is so easy to be caustic, that isn't the first time he's been that way with me. I have seen him do that to others too. I put that post up because I thought it would be kind of fun to see what folks thought and to reveille in our riches.
It's like saying do you like Gertrude Hawkes or Anna Shea's chocolates better? It's a fun indulgence.
I grew up in a family where we had a very negative uncle, he prepared me for the some of the charaters I've met throughout life.
Thanks again
Dan
PS You know JLH isn't half bad
Me: "No need to thank me! I don't know why some people feel the need to take little jabs at people, especially on a forum such as this where we are all on common ground. I guess some people just have bad days.
But anyway, I'm glad you're prepared for those types of things. You're too much of an asset to this community and I'd hate to see you become frustrated.
Your posts are always informative and discussion-inducing and I love them. I'll go to bat for you any day."
--------------------------------------------------------
I could only imagine the amount of time he put into this board, and I was honored to see him take the time aside to specifically respond to me thanking me for a little post I had made. It was obvious he was a thankful, thoughtful person. It was also good to see that he was the type of person who could handle the occasional hypocrite.
From there, I'm sad to say I didn't have a ton of interaction with Dan until he was in the hospital. In early April. after receiving his contact information from Tom, I anonymously sent him a dozen orange and blue roses in a SU vase. His response was amazing - you could tell by his posts how grateful he was to have such a wonderful community such as this behind him as he fought his battle. I think you should all know that he loved them and his only concern was that JarHeadJim or his wife was going to steal the flowers from his room. I told him I'd take care of Jim if it came to that. (Just kidding - I'd likely have been in the hospital with Dan if I tried that). But seriously, I think Jim and Tom are the only ones who were aware of this, and I felt you should all know that as far as Dan was concerned, he received them from his entire Syracusefan.com family and you all played a part in putting a smile on his face during his tough times.
This is what he got along with the included message:
Dan,
On behalf of your family at Syracusefan.com, I want to let you know that you are in all our thoughts and prayers and can't wait until you're back on your feet.
You're what being Orange is all about.
WAR DAMN ORANGEYES!
-----------------------------------------------------------
It was also during this time that I found out about something else Dan and I had in common: a secret longing to somehow acquire Derrick Jones in the Class of 2015. He provided me a little inside information from the visit when Mike Hopkins and BJ Johnson were there. Boy did I feel like a big timer with Dan taking time to talk specific recruiting stuff with me.
My last correspondence with him was on June 19. I was due to be in Syracuse that weekend and was hoping to be able to visit him. I was hoping to meet the man whose words and insight I had been blessed with for years of my life. Unfortunately that weekend also coincided with a major surgery he had, but he STILL found the time just before the surgery to let me know I could stop in if I wanted to, since he had visitors the day after his first surgery. I did not stop in to see him, as I felt it would be too much and that he should spend the time with his family and closer friends. I just thought it was amazing that he was willing to meet some person from an online forum for the first time the day after he was to have major surgery. In hindsight and somewhat selfishly, I wish I had taken him up on his offer, even if he wouldn't have been able to see me. Partly because I wanted to let him know how badly I wanted him to introduce me to Tom and have the two of them kick my butt in a round of golf when he got out. Perhaps I could have learned how to perfect my 3-wood punch shot.
Throughout all this, what truly amazed me was the dedication he showed. From years ago, and especially during his days in the hospital, I can only imagine how many other people he was blessing with his thoughts and conversations and thanks. Yet he still found the time to post his daily articles in addition to all the other great threads and whatever private conversations he was having.
In closing, there's my little summary of brief interactions with Dan in a nutshell. From the explanation of his Syracusefan.com handle name, to our Christmas ornament conversation, to learning he secretly loved JLH as much as all of us, and to learning we shared a love of Derrick Jones.
So how did you know Dan? What interactions did you have with him? I invite you to share with us, even if it was seemingly inconsequential.
Thanks for taking the time and letting me share my little corner of his life.
(Yep, I was right - that got long-winded.)
After reading so many of the testimonials from both those who had met Dan in person and those who had not, I wanted to add my not-so-elaborate experience with Dan. Honestly, I'm hoping to get a lot of responses to this from people describing their relationship with Dan: how they first met him, things they learned from him, etc... Tom has given us a wonderful description of his relationship with him, and I thought adding to it with experiences from people less acquainted with him would also be nice to learn about.
So I invite you all to read my experience with Dan and to add yours (even if it was almost nonexistant-Dan didn't need a lot of direct interaction to have a massive impact on one's life). Maybe he sent you a message about some random topic or telling you he agreed with you about some random thread you made. Maybe you knew him well and in person. It would be awesome to have one thread to view how Dan impacted each and every one of us, and maybe even tacked for all to easily see. I will be providing some direct cutting and pasting from my PMs with Dan for you to view, but will not include anything I feel he would not want public (although there really isn't any of that anyway).
Here goes nothing. A warning: this could get long-winded.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Like so many of you, my relationship with Dan started as an extremely one-sided relationship. I'm not ashamed to say that Dan was the one man I would think about in the shower every morning, as I would greedily digest his daily articles over coffee after getting out. He had no idea who I was, and while I don't go back as far as many of you to the AOL board, I lurked for a long time before moving over to Syracusefan.com, so this one-sided relationship went on unbenowknst to Dan for quite some time.
Then one day a few years ago, the grammar police in me came out (funny considering how often I screw up), and I asked him about his name in one of his threads. Honestly, I was just curious, but I never got a direct response in that thread. Since then, the question has come publicly many times: Is it "Orange Yes" or "Orange Eyes"?
So along comes the holiday season, and I get a private message from Dan simply titled "Hi". Here is the direct content of that message:
---------------------------------------------------
Have a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year too!!!
BTW, it is Orange Eyes but condensed to Orangeyes
Dan
-------------------------------------------------------
I know he sends out lots of these PMs, but I was amazed that he remembered my simple question about his name so long ago and I told him I owned basically that exact same snowman. He wanted to know where I got it, and we chatted back and forth a bit about SU Christmas decorations.
A few months later, he sent me another PM thanking me for sticking up for him in a thread where one of our notorious posters somewhat attacked him. In this PM, he also gave me his first formal seal of approval for my JLH avatar. I have recently been thinking of changing my avatar, but I now believe I will always keep it as it is for Dan to view from up above. Again, here is the exact transcript from the first couple messages:
-----------------------------------------------------
Dan: "It is so easy to be caustic, that isn't the first time he's been that way with me. I have seen him do that to others too. I put that post up because I thought it would be kind of fun to see what folks thought and to reveille in our riches.
It's like saying do you like Gertrude Hawkes or Anna Shea's chocolates better? It's a fun indulgence.
I grew up in a family where we had a very negative uncle, he prepared me for the some of the charaters I've met throughout life.
Thanks again
Dan
PS You know JLH isn't half bad
Me: "No need to thank me! I don't know why some people feel the need to take little jabs at people, especially on a forum such as this where we are all on common ground. I guess some people just have bad days.
But anyway, I'm glad you're prepared for those types of things. You're too much of an asset to this community and I'd hate to see you become frustrated.
Your posts are always informative and discussion-inducing and I love them. I'll go to bat for you any day."
--------------------------------------------------------
I could only imagine the amount of time he put into this board, and I was honored to see him take the time aside to specifically respond to me thanking me for a little post I had made. It was obvious he was a thankful, thoughtful person. It was also good to see that he was the type of person who could handle the occasional hypocrite.
From there, I'm sad to say I didn't have a ton of interaction with Dan until he was in the hospital. In early April. after receiving his contact information from Tom, I anonymously sent him a dozen orange and blue roses in a SU vase. His response was amazing - you could tell by his posts how grateful he was to have such a wonderful community such as this behind him as he fought his battle. I think you should all know that he loved them and his only concern was that JarHeadJim or his wife was going to steal the flowers from his room. I told him I'd take care of Jim if it came to that. (Just kidding - I'd likely have been in the hospital with Dan if I tried that). But seriously, I think Jim and Tom are the only ones who were aware of this, and I felt you should all know that as far as Dan was concerned, he received them from his entire Syracusefan.com family and you all played a part in putting a smile on his face during his tough times.
This is what he got along with the included message:
Dan,
On behalf of your family at Syracusefan.com, I want to let you know that you are in all our thoughts and prayers and can't wait until you're back on your feet.
You're what being Orange is all about.
WAR DAMN ORANGEYES!
-----------------------------------------------------------
It was also during this time that I found out about something else Dan and I had in common: a secret longing to somehow acquire Derrick Jones in the Class of 2015. He provided me a little inside information from the visit when Mike Hopkins and BJ Johnson were there. Boy did I feel like a big timer with Dan taking time to talk specific recruiting stuff with me.
My last correspondence with him was on June 19. I was due to be in Syracuse that weekend and was hoping to be able to visit him. I was hoping to meet the man whose words and insight I had been blessed with for years of my life. Unfortunately that weekend also coincided with a major surgery he had, but he STILL found the time just before the surgery to let me know I could stop in if I wanted to, since he had visitors the day after his first surgery. I did not stop in to see him, as I felt it would be too much and that he should spend the time with his family and closer friends. I just thought it was amazing that he was willing to meet some person from an online forum for the first time the day after he was to have major surgery. In hindsight and somewhat selfishly, I wish I had taken him up on his offer, even if he wouldn't have been able to see me. Partly because I wanted to let him know how badly I wanted him to introduce me to Tom and have the two of them kick my butt in a round of golf when he got out. Perhaps I could have learned how to perfect my 3-wood punch shot.
Throughout all this, what truly amazed me was the dedication he showed. From years ago, and especially during his days in the hospital, I can only imagine how many other people he was blessing with his thoughts and conversations and thanks. Yet he still found the time to post his daily articles in addition to all the other great threads and whatever private conversations he was having.
In closing, there's my little summary of brief interactions with Dan in a nutshell. From the explanation of his Syracusefan.com handle name, to our Christmas ornament conversation, to learning he secretly loved JLH as much as all of us, and to learning we shared a love of Derrick Jones.
So how did you know Dan? What interactions did you have with him? I invite you to share with us, even if it was seemingly inconsequential.
Thanks for taking the time and letting me share my little corner of his life.
(Yep, I was right - that got long-winded.)
