"His Religion Was Decency"

You don't need TigerBlog to tell you that the world is not in a good place these days. 

Hatred rules. Divisions — sometimes within individual families, let alone political adversaries — are rampant. 

It was in this context that TB read the quote yesterday:

"His religion was decency," Nutley athletic director Joe Piro said Wednesday. "In a world that, especially lately, is more ugly than good, he was the one good thing. He was the one pure thing."

Now that quote is two years old. Exactly two years old, as a matter of fact. 

Piro was speaking about Steve DiGregorio, the former Princeton assistant football coach and longtime New Jersey high school coach and teacher who passed away two years ago today. The quote was taken from a story on nj.com about his passing, at the age of 60, after a ferocious battle against pancreatic cancer.

To TigerBlog, and so many countless others, Steve DiGregorio was always just "Digger." Truer words about anyone have never been spoken than the ones that Piro said about Digger.

His religion was in fact decency. Everything about him was decent. Everything about him was good and pure, as Piro said. 

How many people do you know who fit that description? How much does the world today need more people like that? 

If you knew Digger, you loved him. He had that impact on people, even those on the other sideline. 

For TigerBlog, Digger was one of the best friends he'll ever have. They bonded immediately when they first met at Princeton in the 1980s, and they were close from then until Digger's death.

It's been two years? TigerBlog can't figure if that's a long time or a blink, or maybe both.

It doesn't really matter. He can't do anything about it — except what he does do, which is to remember his friend exactly as he was. 

TB can't even count how many times in the last two years he's found himself in a situation that he wanted to tell Digger about, only to realize in the next microsecond that he can't. Still, he thinks about him and what he would say, in his deep, low voice and his laugh that came straight from his diaphragm. He can still hear both.

Digger left behind an army of such friends. He also left behind his wife Nadia and his three sons, Zack, Derek and Aaron. 

TigerBlog hasn't met too many families who were closer than those five were. Nadia and the three sons feel what TigerBlog does, multiplied out by a factor of who knows how much. 

TB and Digger shared a great deal. Their kids grew up around Jadwin Gym. Zack and TigerBlog Jr. were Princeton basketball ballboys together for years. They sat next to each other at a ton of Princeton games. They rode together to a bunch. They sat in each other's offices at Jadwin for years, talking about everything and nothing and anything in between.

As TB has mentioned many times, they also routinely quoted the TV show "The Odd Couple" on a daily basis. Last year, on the first anniversary of Digger's death, TB offered you the YouTube clip of his favorite scene from the show:

He also wrote this: 

TB thought he and Digger would be friends long into their 80s and beyond. A year ago he was taken, from TB and everyone else.

He's gone, but he's not forgotten. He never will be. He'll always be cherished, and his memory will always be a blessing.

The clip from "The Odd Couple" ends just before the show's closing credits. TigerBlog went back to YouTube and watched them. 

In the end, it faded to black. TB watched it again. And then again. And then a fourth time.

There is no refresh button from death, though, no matter how unfair that may be. Digger is gone. There is no way to bring him back, to a world that so desperately needs him now. 

All those who knew him can do is remember the good times, remember all the things he stood for, remember what a good man he was. His religion truly was decency. 

TB will be sad today. There's no way around that. So will many others. 

He leaves you today with the last three words Digger ever said to him: 

"Love you buddy."