Remembering Reese: A void at the Armory

Note: This is another in a series of posts in remembrance of Marist Running Alum Greg Salamone (Class of 2001), who passed away in October 2014 at the age of 35 after battling melanoma for eight months.  

It is difficult for me to fathom that it was at the MAAC Indoor Championships last year when I saw Greg Salamone, fresh with staples in his head following his first big operation to deal with the cancer that would end his life way too quickly and way too soon. There he was, joking about the staples, upbeat about the grim prognosis, and happy to support his former team. This photo of the two of us is one of my favorites. He is smiling, clearly happy to be back at a track meet. I’m looking grizzly in my long winter beard. His presence at last year’s Indoor MAAC Championships was the lone bright spot in an otherwise dreary meet for us.

So on Saturday night, we go back to the Armory for another MAAC indoor meet. Greg won’t be there. He lived very close to both Van Cortlandt Park and the Armory. Every time we go to either venue, I think of him. I think of the great races he ran at both venues. I think of the dozens of times he came to watch our team in the subsequent years. I think of the many medical treatments he received at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, across the street from the Armory. And now I think of his spirit, and I pray that it continues to live on in our athletes.