Ryan Chell
Staff Reporter
When Dan Waeger was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago, he faced that adversity in his life the same way he faced challenges on the golf course.
Waeger, a 2004 alumni and former member of the McDaniel golf team, passed away on March 16, at his home in Bethesda, Maryland, while the McDaniel golf team were on spring break. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2005, and fought the disease for four long years. He is survived by his fianc?, Meg Rodgers.
The news was broken to McDaniel golf coach Scott Boyer and the 2009 McDaniel Golf team, who were down in Myrtle Beach for spring break to play in a tournament. The news was devastating because Waeger had been a big part of McDaniel golf even after he graduated. Faced with the issue of traveling back to attend and funeral and forfeit their chance at playing for an NCAA Championship, the members of the team decided that they wanted to honor Dan in another way.
Despite graduating in 2004, Waeger was still a presence around the golf team even after his departure from McDaniel. He came down often to teach and educate the team, play in some of the charity tournaments the team sponsored, and the team even returned the offer by playing in one of his tournaments to benefit his cancer foundation he founded after his diagnosis, called the Waeger Cup.
“I only met him three or four times,” said McDaniel golfer Paul Kovalchek. “But you can tell just from meeting him that how nice and genuine a guy he was. Even when he was dying with cancer, his focus was helping others in need.”
Before they left for Myrtle Beach, they even had a get-together at Timeout Sports Grille in Westminster to honor Dan and raise money for his foundation, and many of the athletes on the golf teams went out of their way to raise and donate money to Dan’s cause.
They decided as a team that they were going to win their tournament down in Myrtle Beach on March 24th for Dan. While they did not win the tournament, they came in second place out of seven teams, and the team they lost to the second-ranked Junior-college team in the country by two shots.
However, when they returned to McDaniel, they ultimately got that win a week later at the Gettysburg Invitational, where they finished first out of 12 teams.
“We wanted to win that tournament down in Myrtle Beach and our recent win the other day to Waeger because of how much he did for everyone else,” Kovalcheck said.
The two tournaments also had another meaning for Kovalcheck, who hours before the news of Waeger’s passing came the news that his grandfather had passed as well. The rest of the team responded to honor them both.
Already having green bracelets that said “Waeger Will Win”, they put Dan’s and Paul’s grandfather’s initials on their golf balls and gloves. Certainly over those two weeks, they put them to good use.
Someone who also put the last three years to good use was Waeger. After being diagnosed with the disease, Dan did not want people feeling sorry for him. He did not want any help. In fact, he was the one who felt sorry for others in his situation, and he decided to take the helm in helping to fight the disease on a large scale.
Waeger established a foundation called the National Collegiate Cancer Foundation, whose mission is to help young adults diagnosed with cancer by offering services and support to their efforts to fight a terrible disease like cancer. It adapts the same message that was on the arm bands, to get cancer victims to adapt that “Will Win” attitude that Dan had. Dan actually was ecstatic not that long ago, while he still had cancer, just because his foundation was allowed to be tax-exempt. Dan’s overall sense of happiness was sometimes a bit of a mystery given his circumstances.
“Without the loss of his hair, you wouldn’t even know that he had cancer. He didn’t let it bother him. He was always very positive, and he knew that he was going to kick it.”
His coach remembered an experience that he had with Dan when he was a golfer that really represented his fight with cancer.
“A few years ago, he had a chance to win a tournament one time, and he had a few holes to go. Now, we call those last couple of holes a walk-you,” Boyer said. He described the process where the rest of the team goes with the player through those remaining holes as a kind of support group.
“One time he did it and he finished second, but a few weeks later at the Hershey Country Club, he had another chance,” Moyer said. ” He wanted to do it by himself, and he won the tournament. Sometimes, it just doesn’t work out the first time.”
Dan had a big love for golf. His favorite golfer was Phil Mickelson, but he still had a love for other sports as well. He wrote on his blog that he would rather have won the Super Bowl than the Masters.
“He always loved golf,” Moyer said. “He was a golf-aholic.”
Despite Dan’s passing, it is clearly obvious that he and the work he put into his foundation will continue to live on. Dan’s work will continue to help and provide relief for not only the men and women on the golf team, but those who also suffer from cancer. Dan wanted those who were affected by his disease to develop a winning attitude like he did on the golf course and in the hospital.
“It is tough dealing with Dan’s passing,” said KJ Mazurek, one of the captains of the golf team. “But we know that he will be with us every step of our journey. And even when he was battling cancer, he never hesitated to help another who was in pain. That is what made Dan so special in everyone’s heart.”