Editor, Times-Union: I just learned of the death of Dave Fulkerson and it saddened me. Although I was only in Warsaw about three years, Dave was one of the memories I have of my time there. I think I met him about the third day I was there. He took me to eat at Breading’s. That was the first of many times we shared lunch there. Dave lived and breathed Warsaw athletics, but more importantly, he loved all kids. Countless times, I saw him buy a dinner for a kid, or offer to pay for something. It was usually something small but to some of these kids it was the world. He touched so many lives that way. Before leaving the newspaper world three years ago, I had been in the newspaper business for 28-1/2 years and most of that time I was in sports. That meant I have dealt with hundreds of ADs in my lifetime and Dave has to be one of the best, if not the best. He was so organized. He knew the importance of having great help (Mary Hurley and Ann Gephart) and he hired great coaches. The coaches he hired had to be great coaches and even greater people who shared his love for the kids. Yes, it has been a long time since I was the sports editor at the Times-Union, but those were some of my best days. A big part of that had to do with my friendship with Dave Fulkerson. We didn’t see each other much after I left town, but stayed in contact for a long time via occasional e-mails or at some state tournament and it was as though I had never left. Once you were a friend of his, you were a friend for life. That type of friendship is rare these days and I cherished that. Good-bye my friend. When I left town, Dave took me out to where we first met for one last dinner. At the end of that dinner he gave me a Warsaw baseball cap. I will wear that in his honor on Saturday. Barry Lewis Waynetown, via email Former Times-Union sports editor
