In the spring, Nantucket High School used to give out a tongue in cheek $500 scholarship from the U.P.O.N. society to a lucky senior who embodied all that the society stood for. The society stood for all of the Unimportant People Of Nantucket. As a faculty, it was one of our more favorite scholarships to hand out because it always went to the good sport with the B+. It was our Coachπs Award.

Unfortunately, one of the key U.P.O.N. died this week of cancer. Dan Hoague will be memorialized on the high school football field at 3 PM this Wednesday.

If you havenπt spent much time around the high school athletic contests, you may have only known Dan as the silent and somewhat odd man who bicycled everywhere on his old fashioned upright bicycle. You may have seen him eating breakfast and reading the Cape Cod Times at the Downyflake. Or, you may have seen him working out at the health club. (He had an otherworldly body fat percentage).

But, at the high school, he was the ultimate Whaler sports fanatic. Noone knew more about each and every game played at the high school than Dan did. He watched 0-16 football games, J.V. girlπs basketball, swimming, gymnastics, as well as football. He knew the kids who never got off the bench as well as the starters. And, in my experience, he never had a bad word to say about any of them.

A few years ago, I was a volunteer swim coach with Dave Webb. We came back from a grueling but victorious meet in Barnstable. He came up to the two of us the next morning and congratulated us on the win, and, when she passed, a young later who had fought her way to a third place in a key race. He knew the race, the result and her opponent. And he knew how important it had been for us.

To his undying credit, he never saw anything but success or opportunities for the kids. The worst he would say was ≥Field Hockey isnπt your sport.≤ Her praised early and often to parents, friends, and the players. Before the games, he dry mopped the floors. After the games, he swept up the trash. He felt lucky for each game.

Now, everything wasnπt quite right with Dan. He loved his patterns. Dan cleaned the cafeteria at 2:30 every day. If the school needed the Caf, then we needed to give him 48 hours to get used to the idea, otherwise he would stalk off in anger.

But we looked out for him. Someone helped him with his paycheck. Someone else helped him pay his medical bills. A Doctor and a Dentist saw him off the books. The checks at the Downyflake disappeared. When he got sick, the coaches and players accompanied him and propped him up. Vito took him to Yankees-Red Sox in July. The school named the Field House after him. The kids dedicated a year book to him a few years back.

In other words, Nantucket, at its best, doesnπt let a quiet janitor fade into the woodwork. Someone looks out for him. Someone thanks him. Someone lets his memory live after his death.

Those someones will not have buildings named after them or yearbooks dedicated to them. Those someones will give directions and donations. They will overtip and shingle and open scallops and sell the raffle tickets then they die and are buried under hills that the children will sled down.