SpecialStories

Original Source: National Post

David Cass is much more to the Argos than an equipment assistant — ‘You could be having a bad day … and he just perks you right back up’

By Sean Fitz-Gerald,
National Post

OAKVILLE - Just about everyone has a favourite snapshot of Dave the Wave, a memory that can be pulled out at a moment’s notice to make themselves feel better on a bad day, or to explain to an outsider why he is held so dear.

Chad Folk and Jude St. John have several, but offer the same one. The imposing Toronto Argonauts offensive linemen were sitting in their lockers when Dave the Wave made the rounds on his first day of work and stopped in front of them to ask, “Hello, ladies, you want some towels?”

Coach Michael Clemons has his own. It happened a couple of months ago, when Dave the Wave laid eyes on his wife while she stopped by the team’s football headquarters. “Hey, Pinball,” he said, “your wife is hot.”

And every once in a while, usually after Mrs. Clemons has paid another visit, Dave the Wave will find the coach and tell him: “I saw your wife today. I won’t say it … but she’s hot, though.’”

And then the coach will laugh. So will Dave the Wave. And everyone will feel a little bit better, even after a loss.

Dave the Wave is David Cass. He is a 33-year-old who lives independently in a nice neighbourhood in midtown Toronto. He has a golden retriever named Jack who sleeps on his bed and an almost unconditional adoration for everyone involved with the Argonauts, who gave him his nickname and a job working as an equipment assistant.

Cass was born with Down’s syndrome, but his destiny seems to be working and thriving and joking around inside the Argos’ dressing room.

He will make a rare road trip to be at Olympic Stadium when the Argos play the Montreal Alouettes in the East Division final tomorrow, which is only fitting — because everyone knows Dave the Wave is part of the team.

“For the 60 minutes of the game, sometimes it seems like there’s nothing more important going on than that football game,” St. John said. “But you need to remember that when it’s over, it was just a game. And I think that’s what a guy like Dave does for you, when he’s in the locker room and he’s there waiting for you and happy to see you.”

Cass has worked for two seasons under equipment manager Danny Webb and assistant Tom Bryce, and he is rarely very far from either. His main duties are to help keep the dressing room tidy, hang laundry bags inside the stalls and fold and distribute towels to the players.

He has a new job, too, and he takes it seriously.

Every time Noel Prefontaine kicks off, it is Cass’s job to run out onto the field to retrieve the tee.

“You can see them on the sideline, with Tom sort of holding his shirt,” said Brian Cass, David’s father. “They watch for the play to stop, the ref blows the whistle, and you can see him give him a jab and Dave just hightails it out to the centre and gets the tee and runs back.

“Every time I see that, I’m just so thankful to people like Tom and Danny. No matter how important the game is, they still have time to make sure Dave is included.”

Cass has always found a welcome home in sports. He started playing house-league hockey when he was seven, and when he was 12, his teammates made him an assistant captain.

He still plays soccer and is preparing to start a new job at the University of Toronto’s athletic department in January. But that will only tide him over until football resumes in the spring.

The Argos have embraced Cass as one of their own. They joke with him and he jokes back, sometimes with a biting comment that brings down the room.

“This is like a dream come true,” he said. “I just enjoy working with Danny, Tom and Pinball. Honestly, they’re the best team in my life. I love the players. I like everybody.”

Does he have a favourite player?

“The whole team,” he said. “I can’t say who’s the No. 1 player. I was really happy when Damon Allen broke his record, for all-time [passing yardage]. I hugged him. He’s a good guy.”

He is, and he’s also an old guy …

“I don’t want to say that,” Cass said smiling.

“He has a great sense of humour, which you need to have,” Folk said. “You sit down and talk to Dave for a couple of minutes, you can just tell that he loves life and he loves being part of the Argos.”

He also has a soft spot for Folk and St. John.

Early in his tenure with the team, it became apparent Cass loved wrestling. He knew all the wrestlers when they appeared on one of the televisions perched inside the dressing room, and he would talk about them to anyone who would listen.

Folk and St. John promised they would get him tickets if a show ever rolled through Toronto, and they delivered wh en it did, right around his birthday in September.

But they kept it a secret — until they pulled up in front of his house the night of the show, to take him down to Air Canada Centre.

“When he saw the car, he started jumping up and down,” St. John said. “And when he saw Chad through the window, Chad rolled it down and he just about jumped through the window trying to hug Chad.”

“Oh, I really enjoyed that,” Cass said. “Those two are my better friends. I was very surprised. I never knew. I got the tickets. And Jude and Chad, they’re too much for me.”

But they are no more for Cass than he is for the team.

“He keeps us grounded,” Webb said. “You could be having a bad day or whatever, and then you see Dave, and he just rolls with the punches. He just perks you right back up.”

Cass was given his nickname, Dave the Wave, for the way he danced in the middle of Toronto’s team huddle after practice. Clemons invented it, Cass liked it, and it stuck.

“The whole thing is about David’s self-esteem, to feel good about himself,” Brian Cass said. “For many people with disabilities, because they’re not in the mainstream and it’s difficult assimilating themselves into the mainstream, they sometimes can be isolated and not have a good feeling about themselves.

“And what this whole thing does is give Dave a tremendous feeling of self-esteem, self-confidence, and he feels good about himself, which makes him so fortunate as a person with a disability. Because not as many as we’d hope have that opportunity and can feel that way about themselves.”

He does feel good about himself, and he feels good about the Argos this weekend.

During a break in practice earlier this week, just before he was asked to gather footballs into an equipment bag, Dave the Wave was asked for a prediction.

“We’re going to win,” he said. “And when we win, the score will be 14-14 in the second quarter, until halftime. Then it will be 35-27, for Toronto.

“We’re going to win. Trust me.”