Dave Scannell – An Appreciation (by Tom Kelly)
Dave, who made a major contribution to the development of the junior side of Blackrock Athletic Club passed away on Friday, 3rd April 2015. He was one of nature’s gentlemen, quiet, caring, unassuming and with a sunny disposition. It was fitting that the good lord should show his appreciation of these fine qualities by providing matching weather for his journey to his final resting place on Tuesday last.
Dave first became involved with the club in 1983 when his son indicated that he wanted to join. Despite living in the locality Dave had never heard of Blackrock Athletic Club so he took a stroll down to the training grounds to see what was going on. Little did he then realise that Blackrock Athletic Club would dominate his life for the next 21 years. He was ultimately forced to bow out because of illness.
Dave served the club at both coaching and administrative level. He was a fund raiser extraordinaire. Indeed our clubhouse is a monument to him. He worked tirelessly to raise the necessary funds for it. In this regard he organised auctions and door to door collections amongst other things. He had even the temerity to approach a developer, who had started building on our previous training grounds at Obelisk Park, to see if he would build a clubhouse free gratis. Needless to say he was not successful but he did manage to extract a contribution of £3,000 towards the cost of the project. This was no mean achievement.
Our sympathy goes out to his wife, Mary, and his children Edward, Paul and Louise. The latter three were former club members.
“Now cracks a noble heart. Goodnight, sweet prince
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”
By Tom Kelly
