sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
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This is a sentimental post. Since so many posters and lurkers on the board never met Orangeyes, it is my attempt to give those who didn't know Dan a small insight into who he was. It is also my way of saying goodbye to a good friend. So if you want to know what is going on with recruiting, or off season training, stop reading now and go elsewhere.
I don't remember the first time I met Dan Johnson. I am sure it was either at an early Syracusefan.com tailgate (before the site was called Syracusefan.com) or at at early board golf outing. When I did, I know we connected immediately given our shared love of SU athletics and golf. In a short period of time, we were playing golf several times a week and communicating regularly on the events of the day.
For some reason, he always called me 'Tomcat' instead of Tom, even after he knew me for 12 or 13 years. I would tell him "Dan, we know each other pretty well. You can call me Tom." and he would tell me "no, you will always be Tomcat to me". That was just the way Dan rolled.
Dan (it pains me greatly to have to use the past tense here) was the most passionate, energetic person I have ever met. He was always wound up, ready to go. full of stories, ideas and information. When he would call me on the phone, there was no time for formalities, no "How are you tomcat, this is Dan", nothing like that. The conversation would just start like we had already been talking for 30 minutes, Dan going a mile a minute, occasionally asking a question, but then answering it before I could formulate a reply.
If you played golf with Dan, you never had to worry about awkward silences or what you were going to talk about. He would take care of that, no problem.
He was great at helping fellow golfers find and fix a flaw with the golf swing. He loved helping others. He taught me his punch shot with the 3 wood, etc.
Things I learned from Dan:
How to hit a punch shot with a 3 wood
How to evaluate a fast pitch softball pitcher
How to make home fries. I would estimate we talked about this at least 20 times and Dan sent me step by step instructions of ever improving techniques at least 8 times
The best way to maintain hedges (I considered this a trick answer as the secret to his approach was to start by ripping them out of your yard)
But the real lesson he taught me was to treasure each day, to enjoy each moment, to appreciate what you have and to never take it for granted.
I can't tell you how many times he would stop me as we walked down a fairway and force me to look around at the sky, the clouds, the grass and the water, and appreciate the beauty of the scene before us.
"Look at this Tomcat! What a day! What a perfect day! It doesn't get any better than this! All you can eat baby!"
He always wanted more. If we finished 18 holes with 20 minutes of light still out there, he would insist on playing 2 more holes. "C'mon tomcat, you can do a wash later. We have just enough time to play 1 and 18 again. Let's get two more parx!"
I would get a call from him in the middle of December. "Let's go on Saturday at 10 AM. It is going to be perfect." I had no idea what he was talking about. "You want to go Christmas shopping"?
"No, lamebrain, we are going golfing."
"Where? Pennsylvania?"
"Here. Hello? The temperature is going to be 42 and there is almost no snow on the ground."
I looked out the window and see 6 inches of snow everywhere. "Um, tbere are at least 6 inches of snow on the ground right now."
"Not by Saturday. It is going to be in the 40s the rest of the week. The snow will all be gone by Saturday."
"Let's just assume you are somehow correct and the snow all melts. Can you really play when it is 42 degrees out? Won't our clubs all break? Won't the balls crack and break?"
"Noooooooooooooo!" (said in the most extremely distainful tone possible). "We will be fine. A man can do this without a problem. My mistake asking you."
"Sigh. Okay, if the snow melts and if it really is 42 degrees out, I will give it a try. But the minute something breaks, I can out of there. Can we really play when it is that cold? Is it possible to play decently?"
"Of course, I shoot in the 80s in the winter all the time. C'mon, c'mon, c'mon Tomcat. Let's go play 36."
It turned out that you really can play in cold weather and it turned out Dan actually could play amazingly well in temperatures as low as 35. I struggled greatly the first few times I tried but eventually, shamed by Dan, I got the hang of it and started playing decently. That first time I went though, the temperature was actually in the high 30s and it snowed on us as we played. Snow can be quite distracting when putting. And there were snow and ice all over the course. It was especially problematic on the greens. If you happened to chip to a thawed area of the green, the ball would sit down nicely. If you happened to land in a frozen section, it would bounce off it like it hit a cartpath and end up 20 yards off the green.
Dan also got me to play in driving rainstorms, where, again to my amazement, he could consistently play well. Some pro at a local course saw him playing in bad weather and proclaimed him the best bad weather golfer in central NY, something he was quite proud of. Only because of him, I was forced to learn how to play in driving rain, as well as ridiculous wind (one time when we where playing in 40-50 MPH wins at Drumlins West, perhaps the most exposed course for wind in the area), we each got the hiccups laughing at the havoc the wind was playing with our shots.
For him, taking off a day to do nothing wasn't a fond wish, it was exquisite torture. He talked about valuing every day and every minute a lot but he lived it as well. Maybe part of this was driven because deep down, he knew his body was betraying him and his time was limited. But I suspect not. I only knew him the last 12 or 13 years of his life, but based on everything I know about him, he was always a Type A Squared Personality.
He was an absolute stickler for the rules of golf (and any other sport I suspect) and when someone did not follow the rules, he would point it out and demand that they did. Nothing made him madder than cheaters and I suspect he lost many a friendship over this. I went from playing like many golfers, with lax rules like having a 'breakfast ball' on the 1st tee, playing OB like it was a yellow hazard, fluffing lies whenever I wanted to keeping it real across the board because of him.
He was really competitive and I think he really enjoyed beating me because I was younger than he was and hit the ball a lot longer than he did. Sadly for me, Dan beat me on a regular basis. During the course of our friendship, I would guess we played head to head 350 to 400 times. I would estimate he won about 75% of those matches. He was at his best under pressure and if I won, it was normally because I built up a big lead early and clinched it before he could make a dramatic comeback.
We had great talks in our rounds together, about everything under the sun. The Oneida Lake Canal that connected the old Erie Canal to Oneida Lake that ran through the current Kanon Valley golf course (we were both big history buffs), the two deep for the Syracuse football team, when precisely JB would retire, who the backup point guard was going to be, whether Robinson Cano was HOF worthy, why Tristan was so crazy, what the best browser for posting the daily articles, would Tiger break all Jack's records, how Lance Armstrong ranked among the best athletes in the world, what the best courses were in central NY, etc, etc. With Dan around, the conversation always flowed.
Dan did an amazing amount of things during his time on earth. His accomplishments for 68 years are incredible. Maybe in the final analysis, that relentless drive was his undoing. Maybe he just burned out. I know this: he sure as hell didn't fade away.
Thank you Dan for everything you taught me. I will try and keep those lessons close and pass them on to others down the line.
Dan always loved the movie "Pay It Forward". Maybe if you knew Dan and cared about him and are looking for something to do to honor his memory, you could try to pay it forward to honor Dan's memory. I think that would make him happy.
Pay It Forward Link
I don't remember the first time I met Dan Johnson. I am sure it was either at an early Syracusefan.com tailgate (before the site was called Syracusefan.com) or at at early board golf outing. When I did, I know we connected immediately given our shared love of SU athletics and golf. In a short period of time, we were playing golf several times a week and communicating regularly on the events of the day.
For some reason, he always called me 'Tomcat' instead of Tom, even after he knew me for 12 or 13 years. I would tell him "Dan, we know each other pretty well. You can call me Tom." and he would tell me "no, you will always be Tomcat to me". That was just the way Dan rolled.
Dan (it pains me greatly to have to use the past tense here) was the most passionate, energetic person I have ever met. He was always wound up, ready to go. full of stories, ideas and information. When he would call me on the phone, there was no time for formalities, no "How are you tomcat, this is Dan", nothing like that. The conversation would just start like we had already been talking for 30 minutes, Dan going a mile a minute, occasionally asking a question, but then answering it before I could formulate a reply.
If you played golf with Dan, you never had to worry about awkward silences or what you were going to talk about. He would take care of that, no problem.
He was great at helping fellow golfers find and fix a flaw with the golf swing. He loved helping others. He taught me his punch shot with the 3 wood, etc.
Things I learned from Dan:
How to hit a punch shot with a 3 wood
How to evaluate a fast pitch softball pitcher
How to make home fries. I would estimate we talked about this at least 20 times and Dan sent me step by step instructions of ever improving techniques at least 8 times
The best way to maintain hedges (I considered this a trick answer as the secret to his approach was to start by ripping them out of your yard)
But the real lesson he taught me was to treasure each day, to enjoy each moment, to appreciate what you have and to never take it for granted.
I can't tell you how many times he would stop me as we walked down a fairway and force me to look around at the sky, the clouds, the grass and the water, and appreciate the beauty of the scene before us.
"Look at this Tomcat! What a day! What a perfect day! It doesn't get any better than this! All you can eat baby!"
He always wanted more. If we finished 18 holes with 20 minutes of light still out there, he would insist on playing 2 more holes. "C'mon tomcat, you can do a wash later. We have just enough time to play 1 and 18 again. Let's get two more parx!"
I would get a call from him in the middle of December. "Let's go on Saturday at 10 AM. It is going to be perfect." I had no idea what he was talking about. "You want to go Christmas shopping"?
"No, lamebrain, we are going golfing."
"Where? Pennsylvania?"
"Here. Hello? The temperature is going to be 42 and there is almost no snow on the ground."
I looked out the window and see 6 inches of snow everywhere. "Um, tbere are at least 6 inches of snow on the ground right now."
"Not by Saturday. It is going to be in the 40s the rest of the week. The snow will all be gone by Saturday."
"Let's just assume you are somehow correct and the snow all melts. Can you really play when it is 42 degrees out? Won't our clubs all break? Won't the balls crack and break?"
"Noooooooooooooo!" (said in the most extremely distainful tone possible). "We will be fine. A man can do this without a problem. My mistake asking you."
"Sigh. Okay, if the snow melts and if it really is 42 degrees out, I will give it a try. But the minute something breaks, I can out of there. Can we really play when it is that cold? Is it possible to play decently?"
"Of course, I shoot in the 80s in the winter all the time. C'mon, c'mon, c'mon Tomcat. Let's go play 36."
It turned out that you really can play in cold weather and it turned out Dan actually could play amazingly well in temperatures as low as 35. I struggled greatly the first few times I tried but eventually, shamed by Dan, I got the hang of it and started playing decently. That first time I went though, the temperature was actually in the high 30s and it snowed on us as we played. Snow can be quite distracting when putting. And there were snow and ice all over the course. It was especially problematic on the greens. If you happened to chip to a thawed area of the green, the ball would sit down nicely. If you happened to land in a frozen section, it would bounce off it like it hit a cartpath and end up 20 yards off the green.
Dan also got me to play in driving rainstorms, where, again to my amazement, he could consistently play well. Some pro at a local course saw him playing in bad weather and proclaimed him the best bad weather golfer in central NY, something he was quite proud of. Only because of him, I was forced to learn how to play in driving rain, as well as ridiculous wind (one time when we where playing in 40-50 MPH wins at Drumlins West, perhaps the most exposed course for wind in the area), we each got the hiccups laughing at the havoc the wind was playing with our shots.
For him, taking off a day to do nothing wasn't a fond wish, it was exquisite torture. He talked about valuing every day and every minute a lot but he lived it as well. Maybe part of this was driven because deep down, he knew his body was betraying him and his time was limited. But I suspect not. I only knew him the last 12 or 13 years of his life, but based on everything I know about him, he was always a Type A Squared Personality.
He was an absolute stickler for the rules of golf (and any other sport I suspect) and when someone did not follow the rules, he would point it out and demand that they did. Nothing made him madder than cheaters and I suspect he lost many a friendship over this. I went from playing like many golfers, with lax rules like having a 'breakfast ball' on the 1st tee, playing OB like it was a yellow hazard, fluffing lies whenever I wanted to keeping it real across the board because of him.
He was really competitive and I think he really enjoyed beating me because I was younger than he was and hit the ball a lot longer than he did. Sadly for me, Dan beat me on a regular basis. During the course of our friendship, I would guess we played head to head 350 to 400 times. I would estimate he won about 75% of those matches. He was at his best under pressure and if I won, it was normally because I built up a big lead early and clinched it before he could make a dramatic comeback.
We had great talks in our rounds together, about everything under the sun. The Oneida Lake Canal that connected the old Erie Canal to Oneida Lake that ran through the current Kanon Valley golf course (we were both big history buffs), the two deep for the Syracuse football team, when precisely JB would retire, who the backup point guard was going to be, whether Robinson Cano was HOF worthy, why Tristan was so crazy, what the best browser for posting the daily articles, would Tiger break all Jack's records, how Lance Armstrong ranked among the best athletes in the world, what the best courses were in central NY, etc, etc. With Dan around, the conversation always flowed.
Dan did an amazing amount of things during his time on earth. His accomplishments for 68 years are incredible. Maybe in the final analysis, that relentless drive was his undoing. Maybe he just burned out. I know this: he sure as hell didn't fade away.
Thank you Dan for everything you taught me. I will try and keep those lessons close and pass them on to others down the line.
Dan always loved the movie "Pay It Forward". Maybe if you knew Dan and cared about him and are looking for something to do to honor his memory, you could try to pay it forward to honor Dan's memory. I think that would make him happy.
Pay It Forward Link
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