Baseball team rallies to honor one of its own<\/span><\/h3>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”150px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”grid” text_align=”left” css_animation=”” box_shadow_on_row=”no”][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”40px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”][vc_column_text]
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/advancement\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/In-memory-of-Dave-Capucilli.jpg\")
Dave Capucilli \u201999<\/p><\/div>\n
Dave Capucilli \u201999 loved baseball. He played as a young boy, throughout high school, and then as second baseman for the Yellowjackets. He was the heartbeat of the University\u2019s baseball team from 1995 to 1999, say his teammates who played alongside him for four years.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur team wasn\u2019t the strongest to start,\u201d says Ryan Donahue \u201999. \u201cOn the plus side, that meant a lot of us got playing time. If we\u2019d been a bit better that wouldn\u2019t have been the case.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a team, they got better. By their second year together, the team was winning half its games. By their junior and senior year, the men won their conference, which would not happen again until 2019. \u201cIt was an amazing time in our lives,\u201d adds Donahue.<\/p>\n
After graduation, teammates Donahue and Capucilli lived together in Queens. Donahue had a job in finance and Capucilli went to law school. \u201cWe started our lives together.\u201d In the summer of 2013, Capucilli was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that develops in the bone marrow. He passed away in 2013, just one month after diagnosis and four months after getting married to the love of his life, Kristin Kolich.<\/p>\n
To honor Capucilli, his former teammates purchased a locker in his memory, in the baseball locker room in the Boehning Varsity House (see below).<\/p>\n
\u201cDave touched all of our lives\u2014none of us will ever forget him and how nice, humble, and extremely funny he was,\u201d says Donahue. Dave\u2019s obituary echoes this, with words felt by all who knew him: \u201cDave did not just live his life . . . he embraced it with contagious enthusiasm as evidenced by his large circle of true friends. When you were with Dave, he made you feel like you were the most important person in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Donahue asked his teammates and their coach, Bob Hartz \u201990, \u201998S (MBA), to help fund the locker, everyone jumped in. \u201cWithin minutes of reaching out via text and email, people were donating,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat we\u2019ve done is really a small drop in the ocean, but it\u2019s something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Capucilli\u2019s parents and his younger brother, Matt, are grateful that Dave\u2019s memory is honored in this way, in a place on the River Campus where Dave formed many friendships. \u201cWe were overwhelmed and overjoyed when Ryan and our other \u201csons\u201d\u2014that\u2019s how we think of them\u2014presented us with a photo of the locker and the plaque inside it,\u201d says his mother, Jo Anne, who the team calls Mrs. Caps. \u201cIt is an amazing tribute.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kolich is touched, too, as baseball meant so much to her husband. \u201cWhen I want to understand Dave\u2019s lifelong love of baseball, I think about his favorite film, The Natural,\u201d she says. \u201cIt beautifully weaves together a story of an imperfect yet finally heroic character and America\u2019s love of baseball. In many ways the film exemplifies the way that Dave lived his life\u2014with courage, tenacity, and love.\u201d<\/p>\n
Capucilli\u2019s friends and family also remember him at a memorial golf tournament held each September in his hometown of Baldwinsville, New York, just outside of Syracuse. Proceeds support the Capucilli Baldwinsville Community Scholarship Fund, which has provided scholarships to two qualified local high school students each year since 2013.<\/p>\n
\u201cDave was a kind and intelligent child who grew to be an example to everyone he ever met,\u201d adds Dave\u2019s father, Dennis, known to the team as Mr. Caps. \u201cI think about how he graduated 20 years ago and that we lost him in 2013, six years ago. His lasting impact on so many people is amazing to me, even after this much time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that his teammates did this for him is an example of their connection to each other and Dave\u2019s effect on them,\u201d says Mr. Caps. \u201cMy family is grateful that they, along with so many others, still revere his memory and hold him deep in their hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/advancement\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2019-09-03_Capucilli_Locker_0005-700x466.jpg\")
A close-up view of the plaque inside the locker that honors Dave Capucilli<\/p><\/div>\n
Go Gooch!<\/h3>\n
It took just one game for the team to adopt a family nickname for their pal, Dave. That\u2019s when they heard Dave\u2019s mom shout out, \u201cGo Gooch!\u201d It was a childhood nickname adopted by the team and then forever used in college. \u201cWe started calling him \u201cGooch\u201d and \u201cDavey Gooch\u201d when he was a baby,\u201d says Mrs. Caps. \u201cI was a loud and proud mom, so it\u2019s no wonder the boys ran with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Foursome<\/h3>\n
Gooch wasn\u2019t the only one with a nickname\u2014everyone on the team had one. Donahue was known as Maestro, a self-anointed moniker that gives a nod to a favorite Seinfeld episode. Two buddies had aptly selected names, too. Bryan Hollihan \u201999 was called Sticks, because he wore number 11, and Lindsay Parker \u201999 was coined Tedward, because he looked like a combination of television news anchor Ted Koppel and Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy.<\/p>\n
Field Clean Up<\/h3>\n
After every home game, the team would be tasked with field clean up. \u201cGooch always angled for a really good job, like driving the tractor to rake the infield. The whole team would actually pick him up and throw him onto the tractor . . . gently, of course,\u201d says Donahue. Mrs. Caps recounts how the boys would dance out on the field together, like Michael Jackson, to cover the mound during a rain delay. \u201cThey were so much fun to watch,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Traveling Men<\/h3>\n
\u201cWe had a lot of pre-game rituals when we traveled,\u201d reflects Donahue. \u201cWe\u2019d play euchre, share stories, and laugh together a lot.\u201d Donahue and Capucilli would always bunk up, too. \u201cGooch would get the sheet and I\u2019d take the comforter,\u201d he adds. \u201cIt\u2019s just what we always did. Those were good times that I\u2019ll never forget.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner row_type=”row” type=”full_width” use_row_as_full_screen_section_slide=”no” text_align=”left” css_animation=”” box_shadow_on_row=”no”][vc_column_inner][vc_empty_space height=”20px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1570451508513{border-top-width: 1px !important;border-top-color: #c4c4c4 !important;border-top-style: solid !important;}”]If you are interested in learning more about how to honor a loved one in a similar way, please contact Jared Longmore<\/a>, Director of Advancement for Athletics and Student Life.<\/strong><\/p>\n
Dave Capucilli \u201999<\/p><\/div>\n
Dave Capucilli \u201999 loved baseball. He played as a young boy, throughout high school, and then as second baseman for the Yellowjackets. He was the heartbeat of the University\u2019s baseball team from 1995 to 1999, say his teammates who played alongside him for four years.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur team wasn\u2019t the strongest to start,\u201d says Ryan Donahue \u201999. \u201cOn the plus side, that meant a lot of us got playing time. If we\u2019d been a bit better that wouldn\u2019t have been the case.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a team, they got better. By their second year together, the team was winning half its games. By their junior and senior year, the men won their conference, which would not happen again until 2019. \u201cIt was an amazing time in our lives,\u201d adds Donahue.<\/p>\n
After graduation, teammates Donahue and Capucilli lived together in Queens. Donahue had a job in finance and Capucilli went to law school. \u201cWe started our lives together.\u201d In the summer of 2013, Capucilli was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that develops in the bone marrow. He passed away in 2013, just one month after diagnosis and four months after getting married to the love of his life, Kristin Kolich.<\/p>\n
To honor Capucilli, his former teammates purchased a locker in his memory, in the baseball locker room in the Boehning Varsity House (see below).<\/p>\n
\u201cDave touched all of our lives\u2014none of us will ever forget him and how nice, humble, and extremely funny he was,\u201d says Donahue. Dave\u2019s obituary echoes this, with words felt by all who knew him: \u201cDave did not just live his life . . . he embraced it with contagious enthusiasm as evidenced by his large circle of true friends. When you were with Dave, he made you feel like you were the most important person in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Donahue asked his teammates and their coach, Bob Hartz \u201990, \u201998S (MBA), to help fund the locker, everyone jumped in. \u201cWithin minutes of reaching out via text and email, people were donating,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat we\u2019ve done is really a small drop in the ocean, but it\u2019s something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Capucilli\u2019s parents and his younger brother, Matt, are grateful that Dave\u2019s memory is honored in this way, in a place on the River Campus where Dave formed many friendships. \u201cWe were overwhelmed and overjoyed when Ryan and our other \u201csons\u201d\u2014that\u2019s how we think of them\u2014presented us with a photo of the locker and the plaque inside it,\u201d says his mother, Jo Anne, who the team calls Mrs. Caps. \u201cIt is an amazing tribute.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kolich is touched, too, as baseball meant so much to her husband. \u201cWhen I want to understand Dave\u2019s lifelong love of baseball, I think about his favorite film, The Natural,\u201d she says. \u201cIt beautifully weaves together a story of an imperfect yet finally heroic character and America\u2019s love of baseball. In many ways the film exemplifies the way that Dave lived his life\u2014with courage, tenacity, and love.\u201d<\/p>\n
Capucilli\u2019s friends and family also remember him at a memorial golf tournament held each September in his hometown of Baldwinsville, New York, just outside of Syracuse. Proceeds support the Capucilli Baldwinsville Community Scholarship Fund, which has provided scholarships to two qualified local high school students each year since 2013.<\/p>\n
\u201cDave was a kind and intelligent child who grew to be an example to everyone he ever met,\u201d adds Dave\u2019s father, Dennis, known to the team as Mr. Caps. \u201cI think about how he graduated 20 years ago and that we lost him in 2013, six years ago. His lasting impact on so many people is amazing to me, even after this much time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that his teammates did this for him is an example of their connection to each other and Dave\u2019s effect on them,\u201d says Mr. Caps. \u201cMy family is grateful that they, along with so many others, still revere his memory and hold him deep in their hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n
A close-up view of the plaque inside the locker that honors Dave Capucilli<\/p><\/div>\n
Go Gooch!<\/h3>\n
It took just one game for the team to adopt a family nickname for their pal, Dave. That\u2019s when they heard Dave\u2019s mom shout out, \u201cGo Gooch!\u201d It was a childhood nickname adopted by the team and then forever used in college. \u201cWe started calling him \u201cGooch\u201d and \u201cDavey Gooch\u201d when he was a baby,\u201d says Mrs. Caps. \u201cI was a loud and proud mom, so it\u2019s no wonder the boys ran with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Foursome<\/h3>\n
Gooch wasn\u2019t the only one with a nickname\u2014everyone on the team had one. Donahue was known as Maestro, a self-anointed moniker that gives a nod to a favorite Seinfeld episode. Two buddies had aptly selected names, too. Bryan Hollihan \u201999 was called Sticks, because he wore number 11, and Lindsay Parker \u201999 was coined Tedward, because he looked like a combination of television news anchor Ted Koppel and Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy.<\/p>\n
Field Clean Up<\/h3>\n
After every home game, the team would be tasked with field clean up. \u201cGooch always angled for a really good job, like driving the tractor to rake the infield. The whole team would actually pick him up and throw him onto the tractor . . . gently, of course,\u201d says Donahue. Mrs. Caps recounts how the boys would dance out on the field together, like Michael Jackson, to cover the mound during a rain delay. \u201cThey were so much fun to watch,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Traveling Men<\/h3>\n
\u201cWe had a lot of pre-game rituals when we traveled,\u201d reflects Donahue. \u201cWe\u2019d play euchre, share stories, and laugh together a lot.\u201d Donahue and Capucilli would always bunk up, too. \u201cGooch would get the sheet and I\u2019d take the comforter,\u201d he adds. \u201cIt\u2019s just what we always did. Those were good times that I\u2019ll never forget.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner row_type=”row” type=”full_width” use_row_as_full_screen_section_slide=”no” text_align=”left” css_animation=”” box_shadow_on_row=”no”][vc_column_inner][vc_empty_space height=”20px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1570451508513{border-top-width: 1px !important;border-top-color: #c4c4c4 !important;border-top-style: solid !important;}”]If you are interested in learning more about how to honor a loved one in a similar way, please contact Jared Longmore<\/a>, Director of Advancement for Athletics and Student Life.<\/strong><\/p>\n