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Dave Toller (U.S. Air Force Academy) – 25-Year Award
by Dave Reed, Colorado College Associate Director of Athletics Communications/CoSIDA Special Awards Committee member
The Toller family at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota – Dave,
wife Verna and children – twins Jake and Jordan, and Jimmy.
Having grown up in the small town of Walsenburg, Colo., the United States Air Force Academy seemed significantly farther away than the 100 miles that separates
Dave Toller’s hometown from the place he has called his professional home since 1990.
Anyone who travels Interstate 25 in Colorado is familiar with the view of Falcon Stadium with the front range of the Rocky Mountains serving as the backdrop. If you are fortunate, you will see the stadium filled with football fans on a fall afternoon.
If you are exceptionally lucky, you might witness the Air Force Thunderbirds performing on graduation day in May.
For the past 28 years, Toller has had a front-row seat for both.
The first stop on Toller’s road to the Academy was in Pueblo, Colo., the midway point between Walsenburg and the Academy south entrance.
After enrolling at the University of Southern Colorado (now Colorado State University-Pueblo), he met roommate Troy Garnhart, who was serving as an intern at the Academy and would later become his colleague and supervisor. Toller applied for a similar position and joined Garnhart and Sean Straziscar (now at the NCAA) as interns who were hired by Dave Kellogg, who was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 2010.
“What a great opportunity for a small-town kid like myself to be able to work in a Division I program three to four days each week,” Toller said. “We had a great pipeline going from Pueblo to the Academy and I was the last one. I think we all know what that means.”
While Toller jokingly infers he single-handedly shot down the program, that assertion could not be further from the truth. To the contrary. Toller’s promotions from assistant sports information director to his current position of Assistant Athletics Director for Media Relations is clear indication of his professional skills.
Toller graduated from Southern Colorado in 1990, earning a bachelor’s degree in mass communications with an emphasis in journalism. In addition to four years in sports information, he worked for the student radio station and wrote for the school newspaper, working his way up from sports writer to managing editor.
Those experiences would suit him well in his position at Air Force.
Early in his career, Toller served as a member of CoSIDA’s writing committee. Unfortunately, his many promotions brought an increase in responsibilities, so he stepped aside since he could not give the committee the attention it deserved.
“I spent several years on the CoSIDA writing committee and absolutely loved it,” Toller said. “As my duties began to increase here at the Academy, I had to get off the committee. It was both fun and difficult as there are so many talented writers out there. That was back in a time where the feature stories that were written were more than 280 characters.”
The insights into how the committee operated paid off for Toller in the form of several CoSIDA national awards for his writing and publications. It also helps when you have great people and accomplishments to promote.
In his first year at the Academy, the football team won the Commander-In-Chief Trophy and defeated Ohio State in the Liberty Bowl for one of the greatest wins in program history. In 2000, the baseball team advanced to the championship game of the Mountain West tournament despite entering the championship as the last seed.
Most recently, while serving as color analyst for the hockey radio broadcasts, Toller watched as the Falcons won its first Atlantic Hockey championship by defeating Army in 2007, upset Michigan in the 2009 NCAA Tournament, and this year upset top-seeded St. Cloud State, 4-1, in the first round.
Hockey is a way of life for the Tollers, especially for Dave and his wife, Verna, who is the business operations manager at the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. Both of their sons, Jake and Jimmy, play for the USAFA Falcons Youth Hockey program, while daughter, Jordan, plays field hockey at Liberty High School.
“The life of an SID can be challenging when balancing work and family,” Toller said. “The long hours, travel, nights and weekends, can make it difficult. But Verna and my three kids are amazing and have turned it into a positive. They often brought me dinner before home events and really got close with a lot of our hockey players.”
It’s no coincidence both parents come from military families. Dave’s father, Fred, served in the United States Navy during World War II and his brother, Dennis, was in the Air Force at the end of the Vietnam War. Verna’s father, Don Pisarczyk, served in the Navy during the Korean War.
Toller’s appreciation of military service made it easier to adjust his professional responsibilities to the demands the cadets face on a daily basis.
“The cadets are pulled in a lot of different directions with academics, military and athletics,” Toller said. “There is a constant battle for their time. As SIDs, we need to be cognizant of that. We have a very experienced staff at the Academy, and that is key to being able to coordinate media requests, photos, etc., while not taking up too much of their time.”
As Toller reflects on his career in athletics communications, he can’t help but think back to the many people who have made his time at the Academy so successful.
“The first two are Dave Kellogg and Troy Garnhart,” Toller said. “Dave gave me my first opportunity in this business and I'm so grateful for that. Troy and I have really grown up together in the business and I have learned so much from him. A couple of coaches that had a tremendous impact on my career are (former Air Force baseball coach) Paul Mainieri and current hockey coach Frank Serratore.”
“When you start anything, you never know where that ride is going to take you,” Toller said. “When I started in this business, first as a student in 1986, I was just happy to have a job and work in athletics. But now, looking back, it has been an absolute blast.”