Marshall University Foundation
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Friday, Sept. 9, 2005
Contact: Dave Wellman, Director of Communications, (304) 696-7153
From tragedy to triumph: Dardingers join MU’s Pathway of Prominence
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – In a ceremony this morning on Marshall University’s main campus, Robert L. “Bob” Dardinger and his wife, Dianna L. Dardinger, of Columbus, Ohio, joined MU’s Pathway of Prominence, bringing to 16 the number of Pathway members.
A plaque honoring the couple was unveiled at the Pathway, which is located at the center of the Huntington campus between Old Main and the Memorial Student Center. Donors who present gifts of $1 million or more to Marshall are honored with a plaque on the Pathway.
Robert Dardinger has three endowed scholarships in Marshall’s Big Green Scholarship Foundation. They are a football scholarship, named for his twin brother, Richard “Dick” Dardinger, who died in the Marshall plane crash in 1970; an endowed scholarship for women’s athletics in the name of Esther Simmons Dardinger, his first wife, who died of cancer, and another football scholarship in the name of his late mother and father, Louise and Carl Dardinger.
In 2004, Dardinger made the Big Green Scholarship Foundation the irrevocable beneficiary on his Charitable Remaining Trust.
“The Big Green would just like to thank Mr. Dardinger for his past, present and future patronage and support of the Big Green,” David Cantor, Executive Director of the Big Green Scholarship Foundation, said. “It’s people like Mr. Dardinger that will help Marshall University athletics grow into the future and provide quality education for quality students.”
Other Pathway of Prominence honorees are: Clayton W. Dunlap and Bernice Virginia Dunlap; James F. Edwards and Joan C. Edwards; Daniel E. Wagoner and Virginia U. Wagoner; Wilbur E. Myers; Elizabeth McDowell Lewis; John Deaver Drinko and Elizabeth Gibson Drinko; James H. “Buck” Harless; John Oliver Butler and Ruth Elizabeth Butler; Lyle A. Smith; Charles B. Hedrick and Mary Jo Hedrick; James E. Gibson and Verna K. Gibson; Timothy L. Haymaker and Sandra K. Haymaker; F. Selby Wellman and Donna Wellman; William E. Willis and Joyce L. Willis; and Bliss L. Charles.
In Robert Dardinger’s case, tragedy clearly doesn’t know its limits. Even so, catastrophe can be a catalyst for incredible generosity, transforming loss into victory. The route to Dardinger’s generous gift was, however, circuitous and laden with intense struggles. The loss of both a wife and a brother, both at comparatively young ages, is more than many can bear.
Dardinger first became painfully acquainted with tragedy’s arsenal after the catastrophic loss of his twin brother in the plane crash. Fighting to carry on after such devastation, Dardinger forged ahead with his life. Years passed, and just when he thought his life was settling into a normal, middle-aged, middle-class existence, the unthinkable struck: his 49-year-old wife succumbed to brain cancer. The saga would seem to have an unhappy ending, but the story does not end here.
Dardinger, a 1966 Marshall University freshman linebacker, spent the first two decades of his life playing football side by side with his twin brother, Richard Lee. The dual announcements of the brothers’ collegiate intentions were no surprise to Centerburg, Ohio, when both boys signed to play together. The twins chose Marshall over the University of Kentucky through the urging of their high school coach, himself a former graduate student at Marshall.
The brothers eventually took separate paths. While Robert left the football team after the 1968 season, got married and started a family, Richard remained on the team. After that fateful November night in 1970, when Robert Dardinger uncannily sensed something was terribly wrong, he committed to make a difference. Somehow, some way, he would leave a legacy in memory of his twin.
After completing a master’s degree in education, Dardinger went back to his native Ohio to teach and coach at Johnstown High School, spending 28 years there. On a teacher’s salary, however, he never had the resources to make a real difference for his alma mater, although the desire was never far from his mind. He had no idea what lurked around the corner, as his beloved Esther was diagnosed with cancer.
Through a series of misfortunes and disastrous errors, Esther lost her battle. Dardinger took up the crusade to right the wrongs she suffered. As a result, he ended up as the recipient of a significant jury award. He immediately knew he would be able to keep the commitment he made to himself long before. He endowed the three scholarships and, ultimately, established a charitable trust as a major donation to the university.
Dardinger has three adult children and his first biological grandchild, Caylan James LeMaster, was born on Aug. 31. The Dardinger legacy continues, despite the tragedies. And thanks to Robert Dardinger’s resolute determination to make a difference, tragedy has been eased by triumph.