UFH: Dan Green

[CD47-Bot]

Thread created automatically to discuss UFH Honoree: Dan Green (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/ufh.php?action=honoreedetail&id=56/).

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/ufh/image/1141187706dg_pic_jpg (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/ufh.php?action=honoreedetail&id=56)

[Amanda Morrison]

Congrats to Dan Green on being our next recipient of the Unsung FIRST Heroes Award.

[Freddy Schurr]

Congrats Dan for inspiring today's youth! Rock ON!

[Stu Bloom]

Congratulations Dan!

You're one of the great ones ...
What else can I say ?? ...

[Tim Delles]

Congrats Dan.

Thanks for being someone that we all can look up to.

[Andy Baker]

Way to go, buddy. I want to share some stories.

One of my favorites about Dan goes like this:

It was the day of shipping, 2003.

Me, on a phone, with a hick-ish accent: "err... hello is a Dan Green there?"
Dan: "yeah, this is Dan"
me: "this is Ted from FedEx, are you the guy who is responsible for a Motorola FIRST team?"
Dan: "yeah, that is me"
me: "well... we have some trouble. Our driver picked up your robot and then got in a wreck. Your robot crate has been damaged pretty good."
Dan: "what!!! what the... HEY... who is this?"
me: "Ted... I mean Andy"

Also...

IRI 2002. Dan pleaded with Scott Ritchie and I to let him be the announcer. For some reason, we agreed. I think it was Scott's fault. Man, was he dry. He made Ben Stein look like Dick Vitale. Well, he got better. By the end of the event, he got OK. Then, he gets a gig (somehow... who nominated him for this?) as the announcer for the St. Louis Regional in 2003, where Blair was the m/c. Dan was the man. While Raul and the Wildstangs build their winged wonder, Dan must've went to Al Michaels' school of announcing. Of course, Blair was unstoppable. Dan raised up to Blair's level. Dan's naming of the tetherball robot as "Wilson" was a classic announcer moment. Who would've thought he he would be so good at this?

And... Dan is a great father. This past summer, we got to hang out at Bill Beatty's beachhouse (a memorable day), and it was neat to see his daughter and my kids hangin' out together. These fathering skills come in handy while Dan is leading some of the younger Wildstang engineers through the season (psst... for a good time, ask Dan about team seating at the Midwest regional while he is in front of the other engineers on Wildstang. That discussion provided me with over an hour of entertainment at a Chicago eatery last year).

FIRST is about many things. One of the main "side affects" FIRST brings is strong friendships. Dan is a great friend to many of us, and he is well-appreciated in FIRST. Way to go, buddy.

Ted the FedEx guy.

[Karthik]

Congratulations, Dan. Wildstang has always been a team that I've looked up to, partly because of people like you. Now you just need to bring your team to Canada. ;)

[Rich Kressly]

Congrats Dan. I think what Baker wrote is a tribute, but I'm not sure ;). I do love the FedEx story. The few times we've interacted directly have been highlights for me, Dan and I'm absolutely thrilled to see you honored this way (even if it was the brainchild of two of the WORST dancers I've ever seen). If all mentors in FIRST had your passion and vision, we'd already be in every school in the country.

[Mike Schroeder]

Congrats Dan :)

[Collin Fultz]

I had the pleasure of learning to announce from "Mr. FIRST" on three occasions last season at Boilermaker, Chicago, and IRI. (Hopefully he didn't think the same things about me that Andy thought about him...). He was a great teacher, and gave a kid with no experience the chance to get on a mic.

I have a few good memories of Dan.

3.) The "belly-checks" at IRI 2003.

2.) Dan and Blair at BMR '05, then Dan and Paul at MWR and IRI '05. Some of the greatest announcers in FIRST IMO.

1.) Dan handing me the mic in Chicago because his daughter was there with her girlscout troop, and he was showing them around the competition. This is what solidified him as a true "good guy" in FIRST for me.

Thank you Dan Green, for being another amazing role model.

[Kevin Kolodziej]

What can I say? Dan is amazing. A true role model for us young, up-and-coming team leaders. I still haven't really gotten to know Dan very well, yet, however I am hoping to change that in Milwaukee this year.

Congrats, Dan. An honor WELL deserved!

Kevin

[Billfred]

Having met Dan one time (Archimedes 2004), I might not have the best stories to tell. But I think anyone around that year will agree: Dan is the man.

"They are gonna cap that blue movable goal, with the doubler. They are saying 'I am up for that challenge, I AM John V-Neun!'"

[KathieK]

Congratulations, Dan!

[Jay Trzaskos]

Congratulations, Dan!

Although I have not had the honor of meeting you, Wildstangs Robots and Wildstang in general has always been an inspiration to me. I look forward to meeting you at IRI this year.

[Paul Copioli]

Dan,

It's about time! You deserve this recognition, buddy. I look forward to working with you at Milwaukee this year.

-Paul

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Dan,
It has been a great time working with you over the years. In a small way this award recognizes the huge commitment you have to FIRST, to students and to our team. I have learned a lot working with you, thanks for pushing me to help when I can. You are one of those people who will change the face of history by molding young lives and showing by example the way to live one's life. Thanks for everything you do. Congratulations!
Al

[Raul]

Congrats Dan - you deserve this honor so much. You really have evolved into a great announcer.

And, that Fed-Ex (is it Ted or Tom?) doesn't know the half of it.

[Dan Swando]

It's about time!

Well, that about sums it up for me.

Dan Green is all over this UFH like Bill Beatty with cheap perfume! (or something like that)

[KelliV]

Congrats Dan!!! You're awesome!!!

[Sara Milton]

Congrats Dan!! :D

[CourtneyB]

Nice job Dan! you are a great engineer and mentor and leader on our team!

-Court-

['lil Gach]

Congrats Dan!!!!!

[Dave Flowerday]

Dan, first of all congratulations! It's very well deserved.

One of the things I really enjoy about Wildstang is how close all of the mentors are. We spend a lot of time together, of course, and we get along really well. A side effect of this is that we joke around a lot, and we're constantly giving each other a hard time. Dan probably ends up on the receiving end of this more than he should. We pretty much constantly make fun of him for his "management" and being the "old guy" (he's not really old but it's fun to tease him about it). The truth is that even though we did change all the locks on our shop to keep him out, Dan handles an enormous amount of behind-the-scenes work and I'm sure the rest of us don't even know the magnitude of it. Keeping a team like ours running inside a large corporation that is constantly trying to cut costs is unbelievably time consuming as many of you from other teams surely know. Dan silently handles all of this red tape and many, many other facets of team management and allows the rest of us to focus on the engineering side of things.
These fathering skills come in handy while Dan is leading some of the younger Wildstang engineers through the season (psst... for a good time, ask Dan about team seating at the Midwest regional while he is in front of the other engineers on Wildstang. That discussion provided me with over an hour of entertainment at a Chicago eatery last year). Andy, we prefer to think of this as giving Dan practice for when Lauren gets a little older. We constantly drill him on how to handle heated discussions, sibling/friend in-fighting, and childish stubbornness :).

Anyway, this is a great opportunity for us on the team to say "Thanks, Dan". We definitely don't say it as often as we should. And since we know you're dying to get back to your software roots, I'll check to see how far along the electrical team is with that punch-card interface for the robot controller. :p

[Ricky Q.]

Congratulations Dan!

Definetley a well-deserved honor. I look forward to seeing you in March.

[AmyPrib]

Dan - Congratulations and well deserved!
It's unfortunate BMR won't have the pleasure of having you and the rest of Wildstang this year, at least not in person.....
Keep being you...

[Kyle Love]

Dan, your one of the first FIRST faces I came to recognize. Thanks for always keeping the matches announced with great enthusiasm. Also, thanks for all you do with FIRST in general, not just 111.

[Brian Lesser]

Congratulations Dan!

As one of my high school friends would always say, "Keep on Truckin' "

[tiffany34990]

Congrats to Mr. Green! Another great mentor in the spotlight. It is just so great!

[Chris Fultz]

Dan-O

Congratulations - a well deserved honor.

It has been great working with you at events, especially the IRI.
Good luck in the season, and we hope to see you in Atlanta!

[SyoenT]

Congratulations Mr. FIRST. It's been a great honor to work with such a distinguished person. :) :)