REMEMBERING DAN SNYDER: ONE YEAR LATER
Thrashers officials continue coping with loss
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/24/04
Thrashers director of amateur scouting and player development Dan Marr was the one who took a chance on Dan Snyder.
Undersized and not especially naturally gifted, Snyder went undrafted twice. Marr originally identified Snyder as a prospect while working for Toronto, but he couldn't convince the Maple Leafs to sign him. He did convince his bosses with the Thrashers.
Marr recalled a conversation when he told Snyder he was leaving Toronto for the Thrashers.
" 'The only reason I was with the Leafs was I was with you and I'm going to stick with you,'" Marr said. "He was a dependable and a loyal guy."
Now it seems it's Marr's turn to be loyal and dependable. He stays in touch with the Snyder family, calling on Mother's Day and Snyder's birthday, Feb. 23, to make sure parents Graham and LuAnn are OK.
"Anyone who's gone through losing someone in their family, there's just certain times of the year where it hits you a little harder," Marr said. "I just try and be supportive of them."
Marr, who is based in Toronto, also has met up with Graham Snyder to attend the games of a baseball team that Graham helps coach.
Little things about Snyder stick with Marr. Among his favorites was that Snyder's summer job was in a dog food factory. Being from a small Ontario town himself, Marr got a kick out of the idea that Snyder's mother is a volunteer firefighter.
Unlike scouts, coaches and general managers don't always have much contact with players' families. Thrashers coach Bob Hartley had never met the Snyders until the accident. He reflected on the last year.
"It gave me an opportunity to meet a great family," said Hartley, who attended the banquet for Snyder's charity golf tournament in July. "Our business is not enough about family. If there's a positive we can all get out of it, it's how the Snyder family reacted. They delivered a great message of passion and love."
General manager Don Waddell said in December several members of the organization helped to conceive the team award that would bear Snyder's name. This past season, the organization made a sizable donation to Emory's Neurosurgery Department in the name of the Snyders.
In his office, Waddell has a computer screen saver with Dan Snyder on it and said he thinks about him every day.
"It's a year ago, but if you asked me I'd say it feels more like three or four months," he said. "It's a credit to the Snyder family. I know it was a tough time, but they were the ones I leaned on."