I never really post on here anymore, but Matt Price's Instagram caption is so spot on it hurts.
I met Dave through mutual friends during my first trip to AZ in 2005. He did in fact film me for hours on end at a manual pad after he worked an 8 hour shift.
After that initial trip, he came to stay with us in Philly for a week in 2007 (getting to skate a bunch of spots he loved from videos) and I made tons of trips back to AZ. On some of these subsequent trips he did in fact introduce me to pros I was too shy to speak to (Rob Welsh, Ronnie Creager, etc).
Dave had 8 or 9 years on me, and seeing him still push himself skating in 2023/2024 has been an incredible beacon of light. He really loved the shit out of skating for all the right reasons... he never rested on his laurels or "the glory days" and I thank him forever for being one of the key people to instill that in me.
Dude really is the absolute best, and the world is worse off without him.
bossballin4ever