Basketball Dan, a 5-Star Life (Part 2)

July 14

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. ~ T. S. Eliot

[Photo of Basketball Dan with my Uncle Dick, historically rated as the No. 1 and No. 2 sports fans in the world. Their common retort to each other was: “And you call yourself a fan?” (Photo courtesy of Steve Hansen)

Hey Tom, I was thinking about Dan’s early years in Minnesota. My first memory is Gordy Peterson telling me he met “that really smart guy “ in our Q.A. Class. Dan lived I think in House 3 or 6. He helped us get through three quarters of that God Awful subject. Then he played on our softball team – we were the second stringers behind the Anderson boys team (incidentally I saw a while back that Bruce Anderson died). Dan had apparently moved to Minnesota in the summer of ‘67 and lived with a Minnesota bowler, Dick Sternberg,  he had met at the ABC tourney. That first summer he went to all the Twins games. I was wondering when Dan lost interest in the Twins. A bunch of us went to the last game at the old Met in I believe in ‘82, organized by Dan for old times sake. Do you know when he soured on MLB? [No, but like bowling, once he lost interest in something he never went back.] Of course Dan was a classic Obsessive Compulsive all his life from baseball to bowling to Iowa State Travelers Insurance to basketball (tourneys and all) to food to many more – sadly ending with Betty. Chris hired a company to remove the mess from Dan’s townhouse. We will go to watch his internment on Tuesday. Do you have your voice back? [No, are setting an appt. with a speech therapist.] ~ Hans, July 14, 2024

Adventures with Dan often involved more than basketball games and fine dining. They often led to hiking in national parks. I would never have, of my volition, decided that a 6-hour hike through Mineral King was a good idea. Oy! ~ Me

[Our namesake . . . ]

1983

Knowing that we are primates, I think, is a fascinating discovery, and a very interesting and rather cheering one. ~ Christopher Hitchens

[Dan did all the trip planning, the where’s, when’s, and what for’s. Hey, that’s fine with me . . . ]

In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration. ~ Ansel Adams

[But my idea of roughing it has always been a Holiday Inn Express. It’s hard for me to believe that I actually owned a tent and that we used them here in Zion National Park . . .

The most remarkable discovery in all of astronomy is that the stars are made of atoms of the same kind as those on the earth. ~ Richard P. Feynman

[The best photo ops always seem to be from bridges with cars roaring past . . . ]

He who never made a mistake, never made a discovery. ~ Samuel Smiles

[Onward . . . ]

Discovery is for forward lookers. So, no one is born with great knowledge. ~ T. B. Joshua

[We were on the trail to Angels Landing. If I had known ahead of time what was involved, I likely would have said “nyet” . . . ]

That is the exploration that awaits you! Not mapping stars and studying nebula, but charting the unknown possibilities of existence. ~ Leonard Nimoy

Exploration by real people inspires us. ~ Stephen Hawking

And your soul needs exploration and growth. And the only way you’ll get it is by forcing yourself to be uncomfortable. Forcing yourself to get outside, out of your head. ~ Mel Robbins

So, you know, I think the age of exploration is just beginning, not ending, on our planet. ~ Robert Ballard

And as I reinvent myself and I’m constantly curious about everything, I can’t wait to see what’s around the corner in newfound art and entertainment and exploration. ~ Pam Grier

As its interest in science wanes, the country loses ground to the rest of the industrialized world in every measure of technological proficiency. ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson

[Many years later, I stood at the base of the trail up to Angels Landing again. I didn’t do the climb that time. Now there is a sign at the base of the trail noting the number of people who have died over the years falling from this trail . . . ]

We need people pushing the boundaries. Exploration is what we, as humans, do. ~ Heidi Hammel

All space exploration is risky. As an astronaut, I had to decide each and every time I went to space whether or not to risk my life for the mission. ~ John M. Grunsfeld

[There it is – that’s where Angels Land . . . ]

I know that I derive the same kind of spiritual fulfillment from what I do, being a planetary scientist, seeing our exploration of the solar system come to fruition. I get such a spiritual high from it that I don’t even see the need for religion. ~ Carolyn Porco

[Although the hike to Angels Landing in Zion National Park is only five miles up and back, most hikers take four hours to make the round-trip. After all, you are climbing 1,488 feet in elevation, up steep switchbacks (myutahparks.com).]

Today, we are on a path of decay. We are seeing the book close on five decades of accomplishment as the leader in human space exploration. ~ Gene Cernan

[Here we have moved over to neighboring Bryce Canyon National Park. The lowest elevation in Bryce is 6,600 feet – thus, there was still plenty of snow in April . . . ]

Specifically choose not to take a GPS. Just create a challenge. You can climb Everest or walk across Antarctica with minimal gear and still have that sense of adventure. But in terms of exploration, Google Earth has this world mapped down to the square foot. ~ Conrad Anker

[Incredibly unique place as Dan walks out on the observation point, discovered absent the internet and GPS . . . ]

We humans were built for exploration, and we were built to do it together. ~ Anne McClain

[Oh, for the love of cold and snow . . . ]

The good is, like nature, an immense landscape in which man advances through centuries of exploration. ~ Jorge Ortega y Gasset

The days of exploration of Shackleton and Scott are long gone. Everything has been climbed, crossed, done. Now what we’re exploring are the full boundaries of human endeavour. It’s not physical – it’s all in the head. ~ Lewis Gordon Pugh

Let’s face it. Adventure and exploration are in my blood. ~ Philippe Cousteau, Jr.

Exploration is what you do when you don’t know what you’re doing. That’s what scientists do every day. ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson

[Snowshoeing? Why not . . . ]

The fundamental nature of exploration is that we don’t know what’s there. We can guess and hope and aim to find out certain things, but we have to expect surprises. ~ Charles H. Townes

[Danger, danger!]

My motivation is to get a deeper understanding and exploration of something that I want to know about the human condition. ~ Rose McIver

The Bright Angel Trail in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona is a popular, challenging day hike that can be 10.7 to 16.2 miles round trip and can take 9 to 12 hours to complete.  ~ AI Overview

[I abandoned my mentor here. This is Dan heading down Bright Angel Trail in the Grand Canyon. I started with him but as so often happens on a long downhill trudges, my knees started barking at me. I headed back to the top; Dan soldiered on with the MTXE wind breaker tied over his head for protection the from the sun. The farther down you go, the hotter it gets. He made it down and back, looking like death warmed over but managed to signal me with a middle digit that he was No. 1 . . . ]

We live in an age of universal investigation, and of exploration of the sources of all movements. ~ Alfred de Vigny

[Uff da! And I will admit that one’s first glimpse of the Grand Canyon is a sight like no other . . . ]

Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed. ~ Cavett Robert

[Albuquerque, New Mexico, a city at the bottom of a sand pit. In April of 1983, it was the location for one of the most famous Final Fours of all time . . . ]

Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning. ~ Gloria Steinem

[The opening tip of the championship game between North Carolina State and the overwhelming favorite Houston Cougars (in white) of phi slama jama fame . . . ]

The human mind is capable of excitement without the application of gross and violent stimulants; and he must have a very faint perception of its beauty and dignity who does not know this.

[One of the last Final Fours to be held in a basketball arena . . . ]

Whether in a moment of peace and quiet or exhilarating excitement, savor every minute of every place. ~ Lorrie Morgan

[When NC State completed the big upset victory, the enduring image from the game was of Wolfpack coach, Jim Valvano, running around the floor looking for someone to hug . . . ]

1984

I’m attracted to images that come from a personal exploration of a subject matter. When they have a personal stamp to them, then I think it becomes identifiable. ~ Leonard Nimoy

[Next stop, Vancouver. Brother Cam looks out an adjoining hotel window . . . ]

I think the reason we should be in space is for the exploration; it’s the human endeavour. ~ Helen Sherman

[Basketball Dan on the left, Cam and his friend Rog on the right exploring the Vancouver waterfront . . . ]

One simply runs out of energy as you get old. One doesn’t take on new tasks of exploration because it takes an extended period of intense thinking and working on it, and that becomes impractical. ~ Eugene Parker

So, I decided that whatever I was, wanted to do with my life, it would have to do, it would have to have something to do with the exploration and doing new things. ~ Duane G. Carey

[On a ferry through the San Juan Islands, Dan visits with Steve, a fellow Final Four fan from Michigan and Marquette alum . . . ]

The history of exploration has never been driven by exploration. But Columbus himself was a discoverer. So was Magellan. But the people who wrote checks were not. They had other motivations. ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson

[The end of the road up Mt. Rainier. Brother Cam, at 6’3″, provides perspective . . . ]

1985

And, one thing I definitely enjoyed personally, from a selfish point of view, was exploration and going to places that I had never been to before and learning, you know, meeting the people and getting to know, new sights and sounds, etc. ~ Duane G. Carey

[Dan staring down downtown Portland. As I recall, this was just a two-week trip to explore Oregon . . . ]

If I wasn’t doing this kind of exploration, I’d like to be doing some other kind of exploration. It might be more risky, or less risky, but, in the business of exploration, risk is part of the territory. ~ John L. Phillips

[Washington Park – International Rose Test Garden. Roses bloom from late May to October depending on the weather. The primary purpose of the Garden is to serve as a testing ground for new rose varieties (www.portland.gov).]

In the 19th Century people were looking for the Northwest Passage. Ships were lost and brave people were killed, but that doesn’t mean we never went back to that part of the world again, and I consider it the same in space exploration. ~ John L. Phillips

[Plummeting 620 feet, in two different sections, Multnomah Falls is the most-visited natural recreation site in the Pacific Northwest with more than 2 million visitors each year (traveloregon.com).] 

What drives me is exploration with a purpose, more the classic Royal Geographical Society genre. ~ Robert Ballard

[Under the Falls . . . ]

All of this got me thinking about the history of the westward expansion, and got me to wondering how the exploration of the Solar System would be changed if there were an indigenous presence out there. ~ Sarah Zettel

[The view of the Columbia River from the top . . . ]

I feel like every five to seven years I really need to put myself in this position of discomfort and exploration, just to survive. Otherwise I feel like I’m falling asleep, like I’ll go crazy if I don’t do it. ~ Karen O

[Timberline Lodge is a mountain lodge on the south side of Mount Hood about 60 miles east of Portland. Constructed from 1936 to 1938 by the WPA, dedicated September 28, 1937, by President Franklin S. Roosevelt. The National Historic Landmark sits at an elevation of 6,000 feet (1,829 m) within the Mount Hood National Forest.  Publicly owned and privately operated, Timberline Lodge is a popular tourist attraction that draws two million visitors annually. The lodge and its grounds host a ski resort, also known as Timberline Lodge. It has the longest skiing season in the U.S., and is open all 12 months of the year (Wikipedia).]

There are plenty of people on Earth. It’s not like the human race is going to disappear if a few people don’t come back. Exploration is dangerous. ~ William Stone

[Dan hiking the Lost Lake trail . . . ]

 For me, adventure and exploration is something in the blood. ~ Bertrand Piccard

[Dan standing by and looking at a body of water or, perchance, a beaver . . . ]

I want to know why I’m alive. I want to understand. It’s like exploration; it’s like someone being interested in a place and its history, digging into the earth and looking for it, searching – it’s a passion. ~ Juliette Binoche

[Almost 40 years ago – are they still here, wherever here is?]

1986

I believe in a tongue-first exploration of the world. Food is our most immediate daily relationship to our ecosystem, and there is something delectable and intriguing about it. ~ Natalie Jeremijenko

[Through all the years of travel together, Arthur Bryant’s, in Kansas City, MO, fame ranged far and wide. Here Dan is with Richard (on the left), an NC State friend, and Andy and son, longtime friends from Wichita . . . ]

Arthur Bryant’s is a restaurant located in Kansas City, Missouri. It is sometimes called the most famous barbecue restaurant in the United States. ~ Wikipedia

So few humans seem to fully exist themselves that I wonder if all this endless speculation and haggling about God is really an exploration of a more interesting and embarrassing question about ourselves. ~ Michael Leunig

[It’s all about BBQ . . . ]

1988

Scientific discovery and scientific knowledge have been achieved only by those who have gone in pursuit of it without any practical purpose whatsoever in view. ~ Max Planck

[When I first moved to the D.C. area, I lived in Lee Gardens, a multi-building garden style apartment of 1940’s vintage on Arlington Boulevard where the front gate to Fort Myer was right across the street. Dan loved to stay with me there on his many trips to this dynamic basketball hotbed. He called it “beautiful Lee Gardens” – parquet floors and crank windows with so many layers of paint they couldn’t be closed tight. In 1987 I upgraded to the Astoria, a condominium on Lee Highway (photo 2) where I met Ruth. Dan also approved of this place . . . ]

[The Astoria, mid-frame . . . ]

I’ve always been interested in exploration and the history of exploring the world, but it seems like we’ve found everything now. ~ Ransom Riggs

[But this is about trips, so here we are in San Francisco . . . ]

The more original a discovery, the more obvious it seems afterwards. ~ Arthur Koestler

[Dazzling in his MTXE windbreaker . . . ]

[A short hip and a hop later we were the great adventurers in Yosemite . . . ]

We made more than just scientific discoveries… we rediscovered how much people love exploration. ~ Alan Stern

[Dan with Half Dome and Yosemite Valley in the background . . . ]

Summer is meant to be for travel, for exploration, for leisure, but sometimes budgets and schedules dictate otherwise. ~ Rumaan Alam

[I believe we were on the Upper Yosemite Falls Trail. Discover this 6.6-mile out-and-back trail near Yosemite Valley, California. Generally considered a challenging route, it takes an average of 5 h 21 min to complete. This is a very popular area for backpacking, camping, and hiking, so you’ll likely encounter other people while exploring (alltrails.com).]

You define a good flight by negatives: you didn’t get hijacked, you didn’t crash, you didn’t throw up, you weren’t late, you weren’t nauseated by the food. So you are grateful. ~ Paul Theroux

[Looks like we’re still climbing here . . . ]

I crossed a time zone and I feel younger already. If I keep traveling west, I can become immortal. ~ Jarod Kintz

[Overlooking Yosemite falls . . . ]

The devil himself had probably redesigned hell in the light of information he had gained from observing airport layouts. ~ Anthony Price

[The other people you’re expected to run across . . . ]

Road trips require a couple of things: a well-balanced diet of caffeine, salt and sugar and an excellent selection of tunes – oh, and directions. ~ Jenn McKinlay

[I have reason to believe we are now in Tuolumne Meadows . . . ]

Backpacking is the art of knowing what not to take. ~ Sheridan Anderson

[Within Tuolumne Meadows (8,600 feet elevation), visitors see the Tuolumne River meandering quietly through its meadow channel and cascading over the granite river bottom against a backdrop of rugged mountain peaks and glacially carved domes. The river, declared by Congress a Wild and Scenic River in 1984, originates in the high country near the east side of the park (nsp.gov/yose).]

I think the 19th century is an extraordinary period with a welling up of creativity and all kinds of experimentation and exploration going on at least until 1940. ~ Edmund Phelps

[Ruthie and I had just become acquainted this year. Her name then was Ruth Hill and this sign was somewhere near Fresno . . . ]

What’s the use of a great city having temptations if fellows don’t yield to them? ~ P.G. Wodehosue

[Dan standing by a big tree . . . ]

I get pretty much all the exercise I need walking down airport concourses carrying bags. ~ Guy Clark

[Me next to the Michigan Tree . . . ]

Adventure without risk is Disneyland. ~ Douglas Coupland

[Yosemite home sweet home – in this day and age, you’d probably need to make reservations two years in advance to get this place . . . ]

It is forbidden to steal hotel towels please. If you are not a person to do such a thing please do not read this notice. ~ A hotel in Tokyo

[Dan walks by The Senate . . . ]

It’s important for the explorer to be willing to be led astray. ~ Roger von Oech

[Dan again acknowledges the photographer with a behind-the-back one finger salute . . . ]

Britain has bred many great explorers, but they seem to get so little coverage compared to soccer and rugby players. ~ Lewis Gordon Pugh

[Though a native Minnesotan, still excited by the discovery of snow . . . ]

If you look back as far as the first explorers, they all took with them the latest gadget. ~ Charley Boorman

[From spring through mid-summer, the marmots of Mineral King have been known to dine on radiator hoses and car wiring. They can disable a vehicle. On several occasions, marmots have not escaped the engine compartment quickly enough and unsuspecting drivers have given them rides to other parts of the parks; several have ridden as far as southern California! (nsp.gov/seki)]

I always wanted to be an explorer, but – it seemed I was doomed to be nothing more than a very silly person. ~ Michael Palin

[And now back along the Pacific Coast Highway . . . ]

In 2010, there was a TED event called Mission Blue held aboard the Lindblad Explorer in the Galapagos as part of the fulfillment of Sylvia Earle’s TED wish. I spoke about a new way of exploring the ocean, one that focuses on attracting animals instead of scaring them away. ~ Edith Widder

[With an occasional beach . . . ]

Human exploration is something that’s been going on for thousands of years, and the models that worked 500 years ago are likely to work again today. ~ Peter Diamandis

[Ending the trip at Stanford . . . ]

1989-90

There is no such thing as the pursuit of happiness, but there is the discovery of joy. ~ Joyce Grenfell

[Dan lived in New Jersey for a couple years while teaching at Kean College. That made it convenient for he and Pat to drop by on occasion for biking the National Mall and the bike trail to Mount Vernon . . . ]

When exploring London, you will come across lots of excitement by chance, so try to take everything in rather than just rushing around to all of the major tourist haunts. ~ Richard Branson

Love is the word used to label the sexual excitement of the young, the habituation of the middle-aged, and the mutual dependence of the old. ~ John Ciardi

1992

I like to be wild, and I like to do wild, crazy things. I need excitement. At all times. Normal is not my type. ~ Neon Hitch

[It seems appropriate to wrap up this session with more basketball tournament fine dining. Here Dan and Ruthie lead the highlife in Kansas City . . .

Freaks was a thing I photographed a lot. It was one of the first things I photographed, and it had a terrific kind of excitement for me. I just used to adore them. I still do adore some of them. ~ Diane Arbus

[Back once again to Arthur Bryant’s with Richard, Dan, and Ruthie . . . ]

You walk into a retail store, whatever it is, and if there’s a sense of entertainment and excitement and electricity, you wanna be there. ~ Howard Schultz

[Ruthie must have been the photographer as I snuck in on the left side . . . ]

I’m trying to stay as calm as possible and focus one day at a time, but when reality sets in, I feel everything: anxiety, excitement, nerves, pressure and joy. ~ Shawn Johnson

[Believed to have been an ad model for Arthur Bryant’s . . . ]

1993

There are not a few among the disciples of charity who require, in their vocation, scarcely less excitement than the votaries of pleasure in theirs. ~ Charles Dickens

[Whoa! Another BBQ joint? This was Calhoun’s in Knoxville. While in Knoxville (we were there for a Vol football game with Dan) I learned to hate Rocky Top to the point of physical pain . . . ]

You need to keep yourself busy all the time. There should be excitement, there should be work, there should be positive thinking. ~ Dharmendra

[The Final Four that year was in New Orleans at the Superdome. Fans included Dan, his cousin Mary, and his cousin-in-law Gus . . . ]

I was out of my bed in one second, trembling with excitement, and I dashed to the door and into the adjoining room, where I could watch the streets below from the windows. ~ Hermann Hesse

[Ruthie joins the above 3 for a little New Orleans nightlife . . . ]

1997

One feels the excitement of hearing an untold story. ~ John Hope

[Ruthie and I hadn’t planned on going to the Final Four in Indianapolis – we were going to Europe the following week. Then the Gophers made their first ever Final Four so we had to go. We drove to Indy from DC with no tickets and no hotel reservations. Once there, we ran into a family from Kentucky who sold us game tickets at face value. Then we some how found a room in the downtown Hyatt with a window view of the state capitol across the street. It was all quite unbelievable . . . ]

I really wanted to buy a Range Rover. It was a big dream, and the day I bought it, I was very happy, but by evening, I was immune to it. That’s when I realized that excitement, if it’s happiness, is not in reaching the goal but in the process. Thus process trumps over realization. ~ Sushant Singh Rajput

To look back all the time is boring. Excitement lies in tomorrow. ~ Natalia Makarova

Every man can transform the world from one of monotony and drabness to one of excitement and adventure. ~ Irving Wallace

Up Next: Part 3, the final . . .