RIP Dave Solomon

New Haven Register columnist ... killed this evening in a one car accident .... a fixture in Connecticut sports ... prayers to his family ...
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2011/08/06/news/doc4e3e046c1a72f479021165.txt

 

So sad to read this. Best to his wife and two daughters.

RIP

 

Don't know him personally, but know plenty of people who do and was a regular reader of his column. Have driven that particular stretch of highway hundreds of times. RIP.

 

Truly a good guy from the first day I met him 20-some years ago.

RIP.

 

This is extremely sad news. I worked with Dave for more than two years at the Register. He was an excellent writer and reporter and an even better person. I got to Connecticut not knowing much about the area, and he was one of the guys who took me under his wing and helped make my job a lot easier.

 

"What are you thinking?"

Those were Dave's first words to me when I called him into my tiny office at the New Haven Register abotu a dozen years ago.

"Exactly!" I said. We were talking about a new weekly column I wanted him to write for the sports pages of the NHR. He had covered UConn basketball for a long time. It was time for him to be a full-time columnist. It was a position he was perfectly suited.
Besides topical columns about UConn, Yale, Quinnipiac, high schools, etc., I wanted something more.

"So what are you thinking?" he said again.

"Exactly!" I said again.

It turned into more of an Abbott and Costello act than anything else. But he got it. He was just playing along.

Dave's "What I am thinking ..." column became a must-read staple in the NH Register each Sunday.

Dave was a terrific writer, a great colleague and even a better person and Dad.

I am hopeful the NHR does something special to remember him. I'd encourage a possible "Dave Solomon Summer Sports Internship" named in his honor. He was always there for everyone, especially those young writers. He always had time to help them.

Rest in peace, Dave. My prayers are with anyone whom Dave touched over the years, and especially his family at this time.

--Dave Ammenheuser, NH Register Sports Editor, 1997-2003

 

This is horrible. From a professional standpoint, I can't help but think he was one of the few hardcore journalists still covering UConn-- at a time when critical coverage of UConn is desperately needed. Just Google his last 10 stories, and you'll see what I mean. The Courant has been compromised and just generally decimated, so his stories were as important as ever.

There are so many figures on sports scene in that state whose feet got held to the fire by him. And I'm sure they have nothing but respect.