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Junior Olympics, others honor Daniel Cardillo
By Harriet B. Schultz
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FALMOUTH - His room is filled with various ribbons, trophies and newspaper
photos of his hero, Olympian Hermann Maier of Austria. The yellow K2 skis
he was using at a racing camp in Vermont lean against the wall in a corner
of the room, with ski boots nearby. But Daniel Cardillo, a 14-year-old
Falmouth eighth grader, full of promise, will not be skiing again, at least
not in this world.
The Olympic hopeful died Jan. 26 at about 8:45 a.m. of massive internal
injuries when he fell forcefully onto his chest. He had been tearing down a
mountain at Sugarbush in Vermont during a practice run while attending a
three-day invitational Super G slalom camp for elite young skiers.
Just two days earlier, he won a slalom - his specialty - beating the next
closest racer by almost two seconds, an eternity in a sport where
hundredths of a second can mean the difference between a gold medal and no
medal at all.
Although Daniel's room, facing Casco Bay, remains much as it was when he
died, his parents, Ken and Paulette Cardillo, have no intention of turning
it into a shrine to the youngest of their three sons.
Ken Cardillo glowed with pride as he discussed Daniel and the events that
have honored his memory in the past two months.
Although Daniel was just 14, he had already garnered a national reputation
as a skier to watch. The Boston Globe gave two pages to a feature on the
youngster following his death.
Word of the tragedy spread to the headquarters of the United States Ski
Association team in Park City, Utah, where a decision was made to dedicate
New England's regional USSA Junior Olympics to the young skier's memory.
His family created what will become the annual Daniel Cardillo Memorial
Award to be given to a young skier at the Olympics, selected by the
coaches, who represents the characteristics - humor, kindness, enthusiasm,
warmth and dedication - Dan was known for.
"It went not to the best skier, but to an exceptional boy who is also a
painter and violinist," said Cardillo.
Following the award presentation, the recipient, a young man from
Burlington, Vt., wrote a note to the family: "He must have been a wonderful
boy with reverence for life and I wish I could have known him. Thank you
for letting me be part of Dan's memory."
Two other awards, including a Reach scholarship, were created by the
Cardillos for students at New Hampshire's Waterville Academy, which Daniel
attended each winter funded by a foundation established to identify and aid
promising young people in all fields.
"He should be a true inspiration to all of you who have the same dreams as
he did, of one day competing in the Olympics," wrote program director Wendy
Neal in the March 10-14 Junior Olympics program as part of its dedication
to Dan.
Indeed, says his dad, Daniel was expected to qualify at the Okemo, Vermont
event for the international junior Olympics, which will be held later this
month at Whistler Mountain in British Columbia.
His coach, Tom Barbeau, also believed in the young skier's promise.
"Tom said, 'I lost a friend, an Olympian and a coach,' related Ken
Cardillo. "Tom thought Dan would go on to win a gold and then come back to
Waterville to coach."
During a memorial service at Waterville Valley in late March, as the sun
was setting, Barbeau scattered Dan's ashes as he led his classmates in "one
last run for Dan" down the mountain's World Cup hill, making the young
skier at one with the sport that was his passion since he began to ski at
age 2.
Earlier, about 300 of Dan's family members (including his 90-year-old
grandmother) and friends rode the chairlift to the top of the mountain and
shared memories of him. They then rode the lift back down, and as the music
of Gloria Estefan's Olympic theme "Reach" soared, they watched Daniel's
friends ski in single file down the mountain.
The sudden death had hit his classmates at Waterville Academy and at
Falmouth Middle School particularly hard. Their written messages fill three
black racing helmets that now sit on a shelf in his room along with two
metal locker doors covered with remembrances from his friends and teachers
at the middle school.
A racing jersey, No. 75, worn by Dan at Gunstock Mountain, was retired and
is now framed and hanging on a wall in his room.
His teammates have begun to wear a patch on their racing suits with
"DANIMAL," Dan's nickname, in light blue block letters and the years 1984
and 1999 embroidered in black.
"He loved the world and the world couldn't help loving him back," says his
father simply of his son.
He shared a few of the hundreds of letters the family received after
Daniel's death.
One, written by someone the Cardillos had never met, typifies the kindness
that Dan was known for.
The mother of a sixth grader at Falmouth Middle School wrote that when her
daughter was a new student in third grade and became sick on the school bus
one day, Daniel - who was older and didn't know her - was the only student
to comfort her. A few years later, as a lost sixth grader in a big new
school, the girl wandered the halls searching for her classroom. Again, she
encountered then-eighth grader Dan by chance. He remembered her and helped
her find where she needed to go.
"He was an angel in a boy's body," says his father.
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