It was a year ago today when I received a phone call from my boss that still sends chills up my spine.

The first call came when I was in Stratford covering a softball tournament and Sean Barker, the Register's sports editor, asked me to call him when I got home.

I figured there was an assignment he wanted to me cover on short notice or something of that sort. So when I returned home I did as he wished. Sean hesitated for a few seconds, took a deep breath and began to break the unthinkable news that the Register's esteemed sports columnist Dave Solomon was killed in a one-car accident on his way home from UConn football practice.

Even now a year later I find it hard to believe that Dave is gone. I fully expect to see him show up at UConn practice tomorrow although I know that is simply not the case. In my eyes Dave was the epitome of what a sports writer should be - tough but fair, versatile, a born storyteller and one of the most passionate people I've ever accounted. He put as much care into writing a column off a Super Bowl as he did off of high school or youth sports event. I learned more from him than any other person I've worked with in my 25 years in this business and his absence is still felt by those at the paper not only professionally but personally as well.

I think it is fitting that his widow has started a scholarship in Dave's name at UConn which will support future journalists. Dave took more than his share of young writers under his wing so it is only natural that his memory will be honored by doing pretty much the same. In honor of the one-year anniversary of Dave's passing I made a donation to the Dave Solomon Scholarship fund at UConn and would encourage others to do the same. The address is www.friends.uconn.edu/solomon.