Fond retirement wishes to Dave Nulle

[RichH]

Several friends passed this newsworthy item along this afternoon.  It's the end of yet another era for Cornell Hockey:

http://blogs.cornell.edu/theessentials/2009/05/15/farewell-to-dave-the-zamboni-guy/

Dave the Zamboni Guy (despite the nickname, I've never seen him drive a Zamboni...just Olympias and Roby Steamers) has taken Cornell's retirement package.  Certainly a big part of the colorful charms of Lynah, Dave leaves me with a lot of memories.  I was lucky enough to be asked to participate in a couple of his costumed skits during the years.  And hey, how many of you can say that thousands sat and watched you do your job every week?

Here's a nice Sun feature on him from 2006:
https://cornellsun.com/node/19402

I'm sure we'll still see him around Lynah.  But what will he do with all those costumes?

Happy retirement, Dave!

[Rosey]

Best wishes, but...

:-/

[dietlbomb]

Good luck Dave!!!

[upperdeck]

just a thought but what does retiring have to do with continuing to drive the zamboni? i would do it for free if it got me into the games.

[Scersk '97]

As another one-time participant in Dave's hijinks, happy retirement to Dave!

[Tom Lento]

What Kyle said.

Dave taught me how to ice skate. Great instructor - broke everything down and made it fun and easy to learn. One of the nicest guys around the rink.

I'm not surprised he took the retirement package, but it's always sad to see the end of an era (edit - a good era, anyway).

Best wishes, Dave!

[andyw2100]

[quote upperdeck]just a thought but what does retiring have to do with continuing to drive the zamboni? i would do it for free if it got me into the games.[/quote]

I don't know Dave personally, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if he were willing to keep resurfacing the ice during games without getting paid for it. Whether the university would let him (I'm sure there are insurance and other issues) is another story.

Best of luck, Dave!

[BCrespi]

[quote upperdeck]just a thought but what does retiring have to do with continuing to drive the zamboni? i would do it for free if it got me into the games.[/quote]

Unfortunately the ice needs to be resurfaced MANY more times than just the 3 times in an average men's game.  I anticipate that aspect of the job had a bit more to do with easing towards retirement (aside: I assume he also drove the resurfacer much of the other times as well).

[French Rage]

As other have said, the end of the era.  His replacement can only hope to be half as good as him.  I fondly remember him blessing my group of friends one night at Dunbar's, for at Cornell the zamboni driver is as close as one can get to a religious figure.

[Tom Lento]

[quote BCrespi][quote upperdeck]just a thought but what does retiring have to do with continuing to drive the zamboni? i would do it for free if it got me into the games.[/quote]

Unfortunately the ice needs to be resurfaced MANY more times than just the 3 times in an average men's game.  I anticipate that aspect of the job had a bit more to do with easing towards retirement (aside: I assume he also drove the resurfacer much of the other times as well).[/quote]

He used to, at least in the evenings, but I seem to remember him telling me that he stopped doing the resurfacing outside of men's hockey games. We only stopped to chat every once in a long while, so it's possible that he hasn't been doing much of the regular day-to-day resurfacing for several years.

I'm pretty sure he was the night manager, so there was probably more to the job than driving the Olympia.

[Josh '99]

Add me to the list of people who were taught to skate by Dave.  (Don't blame him for the fact that I'm not very good, that's my fault.)  Lynah won't be the same without him.

[TimV]

[quote RichH] has taken Cornell's retirement package. [/quote]

The wording of this sounds like more of the Athletic's Dept. cost cutting on the heels of eliminating the administrative assistant (Sue Detzer.)

Will Casey Jones and Scott Garrow (or Ian Burt) be answering the phones, typing recruit letters, and now, resurfacing the ice between periods???::uhoh::

[Beeeej]

[quote TimV][quote RichH] has taken Cornell's retirement package. [/quote]

The wording of this sounds like more of the Athletic's Dept. cost cutting on the heels of eliminating the administrative assistant (Sue Detzer.) [/quote]

This was a university-wide program; anybody over a certain minimum age with a certain minimum number of years of service to Cornell was eligible to apply for a voluntary retirement package as part of university-wide cost cutting.  Although more people applied than they anticipated, they approved every application.

[Jim Hyla]

[quote TimV][quote RichH] has taken Cornell's retirement package. [/quote]

The wording of this sounds like more of the Athletic's Dept. cost cutting on the heels of eliminating the administrative assistant (Sue Detzer.)

Will Casey Jones and Scott Garrow (or Ian Burt) be answering the phones, typing recruit letters, and now, resurfacing the ice between periods???::uhoh::[/quote]I don't think Ian is still around, at least his wife left CU and I think went back to Canada.

[Jim Hyla]

Does this mean we have to start cheering "You're not Dave" at home games?::whistle::