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January 27, 1999
We lost a very dear friend yesterday: Dan
Cardillo.
For me, working with Dan was
everything a coach could ask for. Only time will help each of us
individually deal with this loss. But together, upon the strength of
what was genuinely a very close network of friends he touched, in time,
we will all be stronger for the life he did live.
To ask why this could happen to
someone so young, with so much promise, defies reason. Maybe it's not
appropriate to ask why, or perhaps God's first team was looking a little
thin and he was calling up a "heavy" (That's what I think anyway).
At any rate, you can see that much of
my website is made up of my children. Just another example of the depth
of love I never knew I could feel until I was a parent. But if there is
anyone in the world who is right up there with the way I feel about my
family, it is my racers on the hill. Through them I am truly living a
dream that I thought I only got to try once already in this lifetime.
Such an incredible gift! So the loss I feel is quite profound indeed. I
feel a part of myself has been taken away forever. There is a glimmer of
hope, however. As our coaches on the hill have so well put it for the
last few days, the best of him lives on in all of us. What is the best
way to honor his memory? Take what he did so well: His work ethic,
his genuine enthusiasm, his love of life (and have a tuna fish sandwich
once in a while), his sincere sportsmanship, and .... It goes on and on.
Embody it. Live it. Anyone would do well to live as Dan did.
Dan, who was already a phenomenal
athlete and skier, had made yet another quantum leap in ability in the
days leading up to the accident. My heart goes out to Dan's parents for
the grief they are surely experiencing right now. Our hearts are with
you.
He will be greatly missed.
--Coach Troy
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