I first met Bob Davila in 1974 or so, when I was 12 years old & a student @ CSD Berkely. I was coming out of the auditorium and bumped into him. He happened to be visiting the campus that day, and asked me very nicely what I was doing.  I told him I was in a play.  He stood there and talked to me for about 15 minutes about his experiences at CSDB. 

I left thinking, "what a great guy!"

Fast forward to my NSO year @ Gally.  The welcoming speaker was none other than Bob Davila. He told the following story:

When he was a senior @ Gally, all the male students were expected to dress nicely - ties, etc. Now, there was a tradition @ the time that underclassmen were not allowed to wear tie tacks - only seniors were permitted this piece of self-adornment.  Bob, being a senior, wore his proudly.

On the first day of NSO that year, he bumped into a small, skinny little guy, very young looking, wearing a tie tack.  Bob told him to take it off, and the guy complied.

Later in the day, he bumped into the guy again - wearing a tie tack!  Bob chewed him  out but good & made him take it off. "ONLY SENIORS!!!!"  Again, the fellow meekly complied.

The next day, classes started.  Bob walked into his chemistry class, and guess who the teacher was?

You got it -  the young-looking little fella Bob had been chewing out the day before.  whoops....

Upshot: Bob passed the class.

About 3 years after I left Gallaudet to work for a bank in DC, I moved into a house owned by Bob and his wife.  They'd been renting it to deafies while he was working in New York.  It was a very nice house in a good neighborhood - and those deafies DESTROYED the place.  I felt so bad when he moved back in and saw  how much needed to be done - but he never said a word about it.

 He is coming out of retirement to take care of us all one more time; I truly believe he could have had the permanent post if he wished.   Along with his charm (when he wishes it) he can be a VERY hard-nosed, tough-minded individual, and that's what Gally needs right now.

He's facing a mountain of problems, but that's nothing new for him -  he came to the USA from Mexico with his family, and spoke no english at all (or Spanish, really, since he was the only deafie in his famkily).  They were migrant workers, travelling from farm to farm picking fruits & vegtables as they came in season, and, as you can guess, were very, very poor.

But somehow they heard about the school for the deaf in Berkely, and sent him there - still speaking no english or sign language.  It didn't hold him down or keep him back for long - we all know what a success story he became after that.

What might not be as widely known is that the current US President, George W, offered him a position in the new administration (US gov't, not Gally) and Bob turned him down. He really is coming off the bench one more time for Kendall Green.

I wish him all the success in the world!