Rob Myslik
This is my first submission to DIY. Recently we lost someone very special so I have decided to write down some of what I said at a memorial in his honor.
As quoted in Rob Myslik's college yearbook…
Though nothing can bring back the hour
of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flowers;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind.
-William Wordsworth
December, 1995
I wanted to thank him in a public forum, and my high school's sports banquet was ideal. "Seize the moment", Dad said, as such opportunities don't come around often. Rob Myslik was my coach, teacher, role model and friend. The night before the banquet I was jotting thoughts down on a note card. It would be a simple speech, but was important because I was so grateful. While brainstorming, my thoughts wandered to the first time I met Rob. It was the first day of pre-season my freshman year in high school. (August 1992)Dad dropped me off at a new place where I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t immediately recognize the coach because everybody gathering around looked high schoolish- including Rob. It was a new phase of life and sure enough within a few days I was ecstatic about my new school, teammates, and coach.
February 2003
A few weeks ago, the night before Rob’s memorial at the Hun school I spoke with Rob’s mother Barbara at a gathering of his friends. She used to come to our games. She told me that over ten years ago, during that preseason, Rob declared he had met a younger version of himself. I had met the person I wanted to be, I said.
Memories
I close my eyes and think of high school practice and being part of a special team. He taught us to love the game and never be satisfied. I remember working summer camps together at Valley Road School. My mind is ingrained with the image of Robbie, in a Montgomery tee shirt and 1985 Umbro shorts, leaning against the fence reading The New York Times in between sessions. We would all meet at Conte’s Pizza afterwards and chat for a while…Rob loved his English classes. Anyone from our school recalls the essays, of course, and the constant rewriting and animated classes full of debate. When was there not a line of students in and around his classroom after school? We all WANTED to do well for Mr. Myslik because we respected him so much. I later become conscious of his ability to learn his own classroom everyday. Appropriately, I guess, Rob’s memorial was held at the Hun gym where some 1,200 people congregated. A good slice of the crowd had come to know Rob through the many youth teams he was involved with. In that gym we would all gather religiously at night and play until exhaustion. Winner stays on. It would be January. I had already been through a high school ice hockey practice. The phone would ring and Robbie would say, “Hun gym nine o'clock. Call Sloan and Craig.”
Many hours were spent in the car going to obscure fields and gyms throughout New Joisey. There was often a windy draft due to a lack of working windows in any car Rob ever owned. He passionately recounted stories of the Union Lancers: “Walk, we had yellow tee shirts with holes in them- we always beat the teams with the fancy uniforms.” The Mecca of Farcher’s Grove, a field in Union, New Jersey, with absolutely no grass and a sketchy bar next door. Robbie and his buddy Karl Schellsheidt, another high school hero of ours and a family friend, had played together at Farcher’s Grove and won a national championship with the Lancers. (Karl was also an incredible teacher and coach and once gave me driving directions to the field in Union, after helping me with pre-calculus.) I remember sitting through a Myslik English class one year anxiously awaiting the chance to declare that, I too, had experienced the field with my club team. A beer truck had crossed the field during our game leaving mud tracks and hysterical laughter. He would reminisce about his youth in Italy; AC Milan at the San Siro on Sunday; scuffling with Italian kids while playing calcio at the park. Soon I was getting up on Sundays to watch the Serie A. My group of friends were doing Robbie Myslik impersonations. Before long, I would meet many of the characters in his stories and even go on to play soccer in college where he had played with Karl. I will always be indebted to such amazing people. God, how lucky we all were. In the car we also talked travel; his trip to Italy after graduation in 1990; crisscrossing the country in his white van; a summer in Turkey. Robbie knew I was not into poetry so he would save that for others.
Chris Mayor was recently quoted in a local newspaper saying that Rob had a special gift for connecting with others. I saw this at Hun but began to appreciate his talent more while in college, where Robbie became an assistant coach my junior year. A new perspective allowed me to see just how much he positively influenced others. It is hard to explain- Robbie was really good at figuring people out. The twitch of his eyebrow installed confidence or plain laughter. He would pace around the locker room and bus looking for the chance to stir up a stupid debate or spread his optimistic humorous attitude. His constant good mood was inspiring and infectious. We ended up winning the Ivy League and at our final team meeting Robbie was asked if he had anything to say to the team. His emotion was so deep that nothing came out. At the Princeton soccer banquet that spring, where each senior takes the microphone, I articulated my appreciation for four wonderful years full of vast experiences. Both Robbie and Karl were there. It was easy to say thank you once again. I was sad to be leaving school but looking forward as I had just accepted a position at a school overseas, where I would spend two incredible years. At Athens College I tried my hardest to emulate those who had influenced me both in the classroom and on the field. Trying to connect with the kids was always the theme. Before I left Karl passed on some of his advice in regards to teaching: You always know more than they do. That would be a useful theme as well. At every Hun graduation Rob would hand out personal hand written cards to a handful of seniors. I handed out similar cards to kids I had tried to connect with in the Robbie Myslik way and felt the same rewarding feeling. I know he would be proud.
Editorial Comment
I met Rob Myslik a few times throughout my senior year at Princeton. He was the kind of guy we all wish we could be, or at least wish could be our best friend. Walker puts it best though.Walker is currently working in Washington D.C. at a law firm. He can be reached @ [walkerwright25@hotmail.com]