growing up I had so many great memories
with my father you know whether he was
taking us horseback riding or taking us
fishing or taking us to the zoo just
spending time with dad was was amazing
and some of the greatest memories I've
had were in sports whether it was
playing hockey with my brother Joel or
football and especially boxing my dad
never missed the boxing match one of my
favorite memories was when I was in the
finals of the New York State AAU boxing
tournament
I mean epic battle I was in the fight of
my life we were going back and forth I
remember driving this guy across the
ring and all son we went through the
ropes into the stands onto the cement
floor into the the chaos and the
confusion the commotion I remember
thinking I gotta get back in the ring
and as I start climbing up the ring
apron I see this man with a white
sweater holding the ropes open for me I
realized that was my father but if
father is in the ring and it's a mark
come on get back in and I went on to not
only win the tournament and get most
outstanding boxer but the thing I'll
never forget is that my dad was always
there for me my father was living in
Buffalo New York and I was living in
Florida he had it at a hospital for some
tests they had enough keeping there
longer and longer so I decided to fly in
see my father and my other sister Jody
and I would stay at his house and we'd
visit him all day then we go back to his
house and sleep when we got a phone call
at 6:00 the morning they said mark you
need to come see your dad right away so
we drove to the hospital as fast as we
could when we pulled up to the hospital
there's no parking so I jumped out of
the car took the elevator up to the
floor they was on I ran down the hall to
my dad's room when I open up his
hospital room door I could see my father
wasn't doing good so I wasn't inside his
room I took the Hoss there's these
railings on the hospital bed and they
snapped down and I scoped my father in
my arms
and I got in his bed and I laid my dad
across my lap and just then my dad he
just like it just looks up and he closed
his eyes and I lost it I just started
crying I just held him in legacy and
when I was crying my tears were coming
out so fast that could hit my father in
his face where look like my dad was
crying but I never saw my father cry he
was like one of those little school
tough guys he just never cried but for
the first time by the way my father was
crying even though they're my tears and
then I don't know nobody told me when I
was eight years old I said daddy don't
cry everything's gonna be okay
please don't go you're my best friend he
died in my arms
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unfortunately my dad has passed on and
all I have is those memories and I won't
be able to make new memories but maybe
you can maybe this is day that you could
reach out and call your dad stop over
and see him give him a big hug to tell
how much you love him there's no
promises of tomorrow
life passes quickly life is precious but
you have today don't miss the
opportunity make today a special day
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[Applause]
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