I met Dan at U of A in 1984 at the beginning of our sophomore year. With his remarkable humor and energy Dan became the nucleus of a very close and large group of friends who proceeded to do everything together including partying, spelunking, cheering for the Razorbacks, playing intramural sports, and even occasionally studying.
Just a few stories about Danny.
Intramurals. His sports prowess was NOT legend but with his attitude and spirit he played nearly every intramural sport and always convinced the rest of us to go along…and made playing that much more fun for all of us. Picture Dan enthusiastically playing just about everything, football, softball, frisbee golf, water polo etc… while wearing his “C2 Party Reptiles” highlighter yellow T shirt that literally glowed under stadium lighting.
Dorm Warfare. Dan was well practiced in the art of Dorm Warfare and when the mood struck could be found “pennying” a friend’s door shut or expertly releasing a can of shaving cream into a buddy’s rooms right after piercing the shaving cream with a can opener (kids don’t try this at home).
During snowball season he was a key member of a 6-person team operating a surgical-tubing snowball slingshot, launching snow way uphill at the frat boys. (Yes, we won!)
Mustard. You may not know that Danny hated mustard with a completely unreasonable passion; knowing that, one evening as a riff on the old Charleston Heston 10 Commandments movie several of us painted a LOT of mustard on his door jamb and then gently knocked. Dan was so mad he refused to go through the door, exited his room through a window, and proceeded via a balcony to another room to reenter the dorm. I think he would have punched me but couldn’t stop laughing to do it.
The Shower/Hot Tub. One evening, applying burgeoning engineering skills, Dan and the gang decided to apply tape and garbage bags to seal off the common shower area in the dorm to make a hot tub. It worked! (Until it did not work!)
The Ant Men. Being a bit on the short side, Dan, Craig and I decided to combine our not-super powers to collectively wrestle our exceptionally tall buddies (defined as men over 5’6”). The Ant men conducted many epic raids and defeated many opponents, one at a time. Ant men unite!
Dan brought out pieces of ourselves we did not know we had and made us better. His capacity for Joy has shaped many of us and when I remember Dan I will always smile.