Who was Dan Gabor?
“And I would have liked to have known you
But I was just a kid
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did.”
– Elton John, “Candle In The Wind” (1973)
Dear Readers…the following post was published originally on March 13, 2012. I was asked recently about this post, and to respect their request I have decided to reprint it. I hope you enjoy it…cheers, Lee.
For the Geigers of Moraga, the track season officially begins every spring with the Dan Gabor Memorial Invitational at Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton, CA. Keith Geiger, a senior, ran the 3200m in 9:39, a 21-second improvement over his previous personal best. He did well, so we decided to let him live another day.
Because this was most likely my last appearance at the Dan Gabor Memorial, I thought it only fitting to finally learn the answer to one simple question: Who was Dan Gabor?
Dan Gabor was hellraiser. A popular 1987 graduate of Amador Valley, the charismatic Gabor sported a long Mohawk that was accessorized by a glued-to-his-feet skateboard. Legend has it that Dan’s wayward spirit and independent thinking earned him many a trip to the principal’s office. His brash personality may have clashed with those in authority, but not with his fellow classmates. By all accounts, Dan Gabor was a fun guy, and he didn’t do things because they were cool. They were cool because he did them.
Dan Gabor was fast. He excelled at every distance from 400m to 5000m. As a senior, the rebellious Gabor won the state 800m title with a time of 1:50:7. His prowess on the track earned him a scholarship to the University of Arkansas, where he became a two-time All-American and a member of numerous NCAA championship teams. He achieved legendary status there as well, as his name is now on the locker room door. He must have been cool, too. There is an annual Fayetteville, AR ultimate Frisbee tournament named after him, with all proceeds going to the Dan Gabor Memorial Scholarship fund.
Dan Gabor was passionate. In 1996, the 27-year old graduate student in geology at the U. of Arkansas had precious little money, but needed to get to London to join his girlfriend for the wedding of one of her best friends. Gabor spent days frantically working the telephones from his Fayetteville apartment, calling various courier services to see if any of them might have a package they needed carried anywhere near England. On Tuesday morning, July 16th, a company called Dan and said it would pay half the cost of a TWA flight from New York to Paris. There was one caveat, though. The flight was leaving the next day.
Dan Gabor was creative. He moved heaven and earth to make that flight. A friend drove him two hours to Tulsa, OK, where Dan caught a Southwest Airlines flight to Baltimore via St. Louis. Then he caught a TWA flight to New York. On Wednesday morning, July 17th, Dan called his mother in Pleasanton to crow that he had managed to make the flight, to make sure that she knew he was well, and to revel in the prospect of hugging his girlfriend when he reached Paris, where they would spend a few days together before heading to England.
Hours later, TWA Flight 800 exploded over the Atlantic Ocean twenty minutes after takeoff.
I wish I had known that before my first Dan Gabor Memorial.