Happy birthday, Old Tiger

NBC photo

I was born on the family farm near Schenectady, New York on July 13, 1913 at 1 p.m. Or at least that’s what I was told, although I was too damn busy at the moment to notice the time or the place.

It’s a big day for us – but July 13 always is here. For one, it’s Dave Garroway’s birthday. He was born 105 years ago today. And although his 69 years had some incredible triumphs and some pretty deep lows, it was a colorful and remarkable life, and a life well worth remembering.

Closer to home, it was one year ago today that our site went live. Since then we’ve uncovered a few things, traveled a few places, made some incredible discoveries and tried to have some fun along the route. We’ve tried to make a start at telling Dave’s story as it needs to be told: the story of a life in full, told with candor, perspective and compassion. We’ve tried to debunk some old myths and uncover some new stories. It’s only a year in, but I think we’ve made a decent start.

While the website’s been going along, so has the book’s manuscript. As of now it’s in excess of 25,000 words and growing daily. It’s pretty safe to say that when you read the finished book, you will get a new and very personal perspective of Dave Garroway. Working on it is always interesting, and I am constantly getting new insights as I sift through Dave’s writings and build the narrative of his life’s story. I constantly find myself amazed this story hasn’t been told before now. But now it will.

And while today we celebrate Dave’s life and mark this website’s first anniversary, it’s also appropriate to thank those of you out there who visit our site, read our posts, leave us comments or drop us notes, and pass the word along to others. Thank you for helping keep Dave Garroway’s memory alive, too.

Thanks to all of you for a great first year. Now let’s see what we can do in the second one.