I honestly don’t know where my life would have gone if it weren’t for Dave Dyer. and I mean that it the most literal sense.
That’s because it was “Duffy” — as we all called him — that brought me to The Eagle-Tribune sports department more than 20 years ago.
It was the summer of 2003, and I had just finished my freshman year as a journalism student at Northern Essex Community College.
I had an interview for an internship with the Haverhill Gazette, one of our weekly sister papers, as many of my classmates had done.
Duffy, who used to work some days from the Gazette office because it was close to his house, heard that I was coming in, and remembered me from when I played football for Pentucket Regional, since he often covered the team.
That was impressive knowledge on its own, since I was a very small part of a very good team. I was certainly not making headlines.
So Duffy talked to my journalism professor at Northern Essex, Amy Callahan, and found out I wanted to be a sportswriter. When I visited the Gazette office, Duffy pulled me aside and asked if I was interested in doing my internship with the Eagle-Tribune sports department instead.
I was interested and, guess what, I never left.
For the next 18 years, I worked alongside Duffy, nearly all of them spent sitting at the desk next to him.
For many years, I sat with Duffy to my left, and the late Michael Muldoon to my right. Two legends.
It’s truly unthinkable both of them are now gone.
I couldn’t begin to describe all I learned about being a sportswriter from Duffy, who helped me out of many difficult situations when I was younger.
What stands out most is that Duffy was fiercely dedicated to his work. He had a true, unwavering passion for what he did. He loved to tell the stories of high school athletes, often ones that had been overlooked or had battled through adversity. He loved wrestling and cross country, perhaps, because they’re sports rooted in deep perseverance without the spotlight, and that’s who he was.
In the fall of 2020, deep into the COVID pandemic, my wife had to be rushed to the hospital during her pregnancy with our daughter.
Duffy, without hesitation, jumped in on deadline to take over my shift. He never complained when he had to fill in for nearly a week while everything was getting straightened out.
That’s just the kind of guy he was.
Sports writing, for whatever reason, has a way of making people jaded and negative. Just listen to any sports talk radio show, or read many pro sports columns.
But never Duffy.
There wasn’t a jaded bone in his body. He loved writing about athletes — high school, he had no interest in the pros — he loved covering games and he loved when the sports section was complete. He just loved it all.
A former colleague commented that he can’t imagine the Eagle-Tribune sports department without Dave Duffy Dyer. Quite frankly, I truly still can’t either.
You can email David Willis at dwillis@eagletribune.com.