UFH: Dan Green

[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.