| Some Thoughts While Remembering Nathan Seiter On The 4th Anniversary of His Death |
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| One of the spinoff tragedies of Nathan Seiter's fatal accident four years ago today (November 30th) is that many of you reading these pages, especially our present Mustangs and Mustang parents, never knew him.
To those of us who did, he is so much more than a lasting memory - he still remains a part of the fabric of our lives. Never a day goes by that at some point he doesn't invade our sub-conscious. |
| He would have loved Mike Code's coaching style and wit, and he would have loved the tenacity with which our Mustangs play defense, while spurring them on to do better. He would have taken a personal interest in freshman Austin Hinkel, his cousin, and would have recognized that Trevor Bezold's talents were similar to that of his own, driving him to maximize their use. Jared Hahn would have entertained him. |
| He would have talked man-to-man with Jordan Armstrong, not only because of their physical resemblence, but because Jordan's no-nonsense, work hard, play-to-win, make no excuses attidude would have won his respect and admiration. When choosing up sides - Justin Morscher would have been on his team. He would have loved the '07s, because they would have reminded him of his own '98s. Nathan loved to win, and didn't have a lot of tolerance for those who took shortcuts or made excuses. He believed in getting the job done or in giving your best effort trying. I can visualize him in the gym playing horse or matching 3-pointers with Joey Webb, trying to get into his head while matching him shot for shot. He would have given Mitch Patterson a lot of good natured grief and Mitch would have felt comfortable enough with him to give it right back. Brian Wolfer would have had to endure a few friendly jabs about the evils of eating too many doughnuts. He would have labeled Drew Kremer a pretty-boy, but would have appreciated his athleticism and would have tried to pass on a bit of his own confidence. He would have enjoyed watching Rieger play because Jake would have reminded him quite a bit of his brother Justin. Travis Norton would be on his players-with-potential list.
Nate would be 28 now and might have lost a step on the court, but you better believe he'd still be playing, still be popping in the gym unannounced, and still voicing his opinion. He might still be a resident of my easy-chair, eating his fast-food and watching Sportscenter, or, more likely he would be married by now, settled down, and we might have little Nathans running around. Bob Rowe would have been the target of his rath for selling out to Cov-Cath, but Nate would have understood and eventually approved - maybe. There would still be late-night card games and Nate would be a part of the Kevin Ellis Bengals brigade. I'm sure that occasionally Nathan and Ryan Shelton would make their way to Canada and we would re-live those great times that we had catching smallmouth as he would continue to outfish everyone 2 to 1. Time has decreased the pain of his absence dramatically since that fatal day in 2004, but never a day goes by that I don't think of him or miss him. As someone posted on his tributes page - Heroes get remembered, but legends never die! I think that he would be pleased that I would be joining he and Justin in the 10th Region Hall of Fame - the 10th Region is very special to all three of us and I'm sure that his parting shot would still be - "Schabs, You're out of control" - the last words that I ever heard him speak. DJS/11-30-08 |
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