The UW-Madison sporting world lost one of its brightest and most energetic members this past week'and it is likely that few even noticed.
Had Dylan Cappel, who passed away this past Wednesday, been a member of the football or basketball programs, his struggle with colon cancer would have undoubtedly been a well-documented one. His story of making it to the boathouse each and every morning, despite his progressing condition, would have been one of inspiration for athletes at all levels.
The fact that this great athlete, who in 1999 competed as a member of the Under-23 U.S. National Rowing Team, was, on many of these mornings, aided by the use of a cane, could have proved to cancer patients everywhere that life can go on.
Cappel was instead the assistant coach for the men's rowing team and probably did not live long enough to see himself mentioned in a cover story. Unfortunately, most people probably never even heard his name until his death last week.
In all fairness, publicity is not what Cappel sought. When asked to address the team this past December concerning his present status, Dylan opted to make the statement as short and simple as possible.
\I have been sick,"" he told them. ""The chemo is not working. I am trying other options."" According to Wisconsin Sports Information, this was all he ever publicly said on the issue.
Nor was pity what Cappel desired.
Though at times it was tough, he made it to work each day with a smile on his face. When surrounding family members broke down and cried upon first learning of his terminal diagnosis, Dylan instead laughed and tried to keep the mood light.
It was qualities like these that caused team members to vote Cappel the winner of the Norm Sonju Award in 2000, his senior year at UW. Given to the top male rower who most accurately portrays the qualities of leadership, dedication and sportsmanlike attitude in addition to making significant contributions to the success of the program, it is Wisconsin rowing's highest honor.
It is an achievement Cappel truly and fully earned himself, as his cancer was not discovered until June of last year.
I admit, never knew Dylan Cappel or even heard of him. In two years of working at The Daily Cardinal, this is in fact my first article ever on men's rowing. For this I am sorry.
While crew does not quite receive the fanfare or support of big time sports, it is not a program without its success. Under the leadership of Head Coach Chris Clark, Wisconsin has claimed the Ten Eyck trophy, given to the school which scores the most points in the Intercollegiate Rowing Association national competition, four times in the past five years. They won four national titles in 1999 and 2000 and in the Eastern Sprints have won five gold medals in the last two years. (Between the years of 1946 and 1999 the Badgers only won two).
The university's oldest sport, UW rowing has always been a program of national prominence but has in recent years been once again on the rise'a rise which Dylan Cappel was very much a part of.
Coach Clark describes Dylan's story, which is finally being heard, as a ""small gift."" ""A small gift from a young man hardly known until now, whose grace, courage and humility burned so brightly for such a brief moment.""
It is just a shame we did not all get to know him sooner.
