Dove's tales live for many

Bob Dove hadn't been around Youngstown State University much in recent years because of his health, but he'll still be sadly missed by anyone who knew the man.
I first met "The Dover" in 1977 when I started covering the Penguins. He always greeted me with "Hey Mollica, get over here with your quill and tablet. I've got something to tell you."
Then I would sit and listen for the next half hour while he told story after story.
I think that anybody who knew Dove had at least one story to tell about him. One of his former players, Dave Majick, recently wrote me with what I thought was one of the best.
Majick, a Lordstown High standout athlete in basketball and baseball, went to Hiram College in the early '60s and played football there for Dove.
Majick wrote: "I was on the Hiram football team when Coach Dove first came to Hiram. I was, without a doubt, not a player of any significance to the team, but I loved the man.
"He never treated anyone different because of their role on the team or their position in life. He never took himself too serious. He and I laughed together many times. He, the great All-American, All-Pro, and I, the nobody football player. I loved the man.
"I'm sure I leave little doubt about the joy I consumed during the three years at Hiram with Coach Dove. If we, his players at Hiram, had one more chance to speak to him, we'd say, 'Coach Dove, you truly enriched all of our lives, thank God you passed our way.' "
Dove's honors didn'tcloud his perspective
Majick then told of a story about his coach.
"One morning at Hiram I was down by the parking lot where Coach Dove would park after driving in from Canfield.
"On this day, he saw me and said, 'Maj, how about helping me carry some stuff from my trunk to the coaches office?'
"I said, 'OK.' He picked up his load and headed toward the office. I bent over to pick up my load, but stopped short.
"Looking down under the box I was to carry was a strange blanket. It was all muddy and blacked with a few holes, but looking closer, I realized it was a blanket made up of Notre Dame colors.
"I noticed some writing in the top right corner of the blanket. I brushed the dirt aside and the writing read, 'Bob Dove -- All-American 1941-1942.'
"I was shocked! Coach Dove came back to the car and I said, 'Coach, are you nuts? Isn't that your All-American blanket given to you by Notre Dame?'
"He looked at me and said 'Oh, yeah, but the floor of the car is always dirty and I needed something to cover it with.'
"He then picked up the second box and headed for the office. I watched him go, with my mouth wide open.
"If there was a man more grounded, I know not. His love of people far exceeded awards and/or honors. In turn I loved the man."
Bob Dove reached a great many people, but none more than Dave Majick, who now resides in Florida.
Tressel: Football worldhas lost a legend
Jim Tressel, who was the last of four YSU coaches that Dove worked for, was also moved by Dove's passing.
Tressel, now the coach at Ohio State, had this to say about his former assistant: "I was so sad to hear of his passing. Bob Dove was a special guy, he impacted so many of us in this football world, from the kids he coached, the players he played with and the coaches he coached with.
"He was a one in a million guy. His death is a big loss to the Youngstown community and the football community as a whole. He was one of the truly great ones."
Dove and his wife, Jane, who passed away in 1991, were two truly great individuals.
I can remember in the early 1980s when I took my son on a road trip to Northern Iowa. He loved to play arcade games and one night I came out and there was Bob and Jane sitting with my son watching him play a game.
Everybody has a story about Bob Dove and nobody will ever forget what he meant to this entire community.
Pete Mollica covers YSU athletics for The Vindicator. Write to him at mollica@vindy.com.