PVMS scores with Career Day keynote speaker

The Cranston Herald ·

On the last day of school before the April vacation week, the students at Park View Middle School had the honor of hearing David Quinn, former PVMS student and now head coach of Boston University Men's Hockey, speak to them about his life experiences since he sat in the very seats they were now in.

Quinn was preceded with introductions from Principal Mike Crudale, Assistant Superintendent Norma Cole and Mayor Allan Fung, who each welcomed the students to Career Day, an event which takes place every other year and is sponsored and organized by the Guidance Department. Before Quinn began his presentation, Mayor Allan Fung presented him with a City of Cranston Challenge Coin, providing him with a memento to remind him of where he began.

"It's amazing how time flies," Quinn began. "Park View shaped me. I was lucky, I had teachers who cared for me and helped me through difficult times and through good times. I'm sure that as you sit here, thinking about your future career path and what to do in life, I imagine that you all think it's all about the money. But before I get started, I want to tell you that I have never in life made one decision based on the money. I make my decisions based on my passion and doing what I love." Quinn stated that as he looks upon his upcoming 51st birthday this coming July, he knows that he has a job, but never feels as if he's had to work one day in his life.

"That's because I do something that I love," he said. "In life we get a little bit concerned about what other people think, but if you have a passion, it doesn't matter, whether it is art, music, math, or construction, it do something you love." He went on to tell the students about his life growing up in the Park View neighborhood as a student at the school.

"I was very active growing up. I played on the Park View basketball team for grades seven through nine, I would get up at 5:30 in the morning when I was 14 and deliver papers, then I'd get on the bus, I'd play basketball after school, I'd play hockey six nights a week, and I'd play spring baseball when the winter sports season was over," he said. "My success was due to my teachers in my life, not just my coaches. I had teachers, counselors, principals who all cared for me, like you do now. They influenced me and shaped me to become who I am."

Quinn talked about an early turning point in his sports career, which happened while he was still at Park View.

"Growing up, I was a good student but not a great student, and by the time I was in the ninth grade I was better at hockey than I was at the other sports I played. In the ninth grade [at the time, middle school went from grades seven through nine in Cranston] the Kent School prep school approached and asked me to leave my school and my home at 15 to go to their prep boarding school in Connecticut to play hockey," he said. "The cost was $6,000 a year. Today it's $52,000 a year. My mother was a school bus driver and my father was a police officer, we couldn't afford it, but the boarding school gave me a scholarship and I left my school and friends at 15 and went to boarding school in Connecticut."

As Quinn approached his senior year of high school, he was being scouted by many teams.

"A lot of people were telling me that I was going to be a first round draft pick, and I was 17. That June of 1984, I was the first round pick for the Minnesota North Stars, but I decided to go to college instead. I wanted an education. I chose to go to Boston University." Halfway through his freshman year, Quinn had to have surgery. He spent half the season out. Sophomore year he experienced several blood related injuries and lots of bruising.

The Minnesota North Stars wanted him to sign an NHL contract, but Quinn was now considering playing in the Olympics.

The team doctor recommended he get some blood work done to see if they could determine why he was getting so many blood related injuries and illnesses.

"Two days later I went into the coach's office to talk about which decision I was going to make, and the team doctor was sitting in his office. When I sat down, he told me the blood work had come back and I was a hemophiliac," Quinn told the audience in the now silent auditorium. "I didn't even know what that was. It turns out, it's a blood disorder that makes you bruise more easily and your bruises are bigger and the last longer. It's a disease you are born with, and I can't believe that with all the contact sports I'd played growing up; all the hockey, football, boxing, the level of sports involving physical contact, that I wasn't more seriously hurt."

Quinn's hockey career ended that day.

"I wasn't going to play for the NHL and I wasn't going to play in the Olympics," he said. "Picture yourself at 20 years old, your career is over. Needless to say, that was a pretty dark day. It was pretty tough news to handle."

He stayed at BU to finish his education, and today he continues to credit the support he received along the way as being what helped him make it through that time.

"I had great support. I had a great family and great coaches," he said. "Being thrown that curve ball, having that roadblock at 20 was a very difficult time. I kept coming back to how influential my coaches were in my life, how influential my teachers were in my life. They say that most people change careers seven times throughout their life, and I needed to figure out what it was that I wanted to do."

An opportunity came Quinn's way to try out coaching, as an assistant coach at Northeastern University.

"I knew then that I loved it. I stayed for three years and then I became the first assistant coach for the University of Nebraska where I stayed for seven years. I became the head coach for the US National Program in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and I had the opportunity to coach the best players in the country as well as the opportunity to travel all over Europe when we played in international championships," he said. "In 2004 I became the assistant hockey coach at BU and I was there for five years. In 2009 we won the national championship. What a great way to finish my coaching career at BU."

A new opportunity opened up for Quinn to become the head coach for the American Hockey League team, the Colorado Avalanche.

"And this is where the money comes in," Quinn told the students. "This was a $60,000 pay cut from what BU was paying me. At 43 years old I thought to myself that I have never made a decision based on money. This was a career opportunity, but it was going to be a setback financially." Quinn took the job.

"I did it for three years and at that time the head coach for BU retired and I was offered the BU head coaching job. I was filling big shoes. There was a lot of pressure," he said.

That first year Quinn's team won only ten games.

"It was the worst season ever for BU hockey in 50 years," he said. "It was not a great first year. I had to make a lot of difficult decisions and I cut a lot of players who were not doing their jobs academically or socially, it's not just about doing a good job athletically. The second year we won 28 games and made it to the national championships, which we lost 4-3 to Providence College. Last year we made it to the national tournament, this year we made it to the national tournament."

Even with all the success Quinn and his teams have realized over the years, he still credits all of the success to his education and to those he encountered throughout his educational career.

"All I can think about is how fortunate I was to have teachers, counselors, principals, vice principals, and others who cared about me, those same people who today care about you," he said. "I was that same kid I drove by and saw waiting at the bus stop today. I was smart enough to pay attention and listen to my parents and my teachers and to those who cared for me. I was not concerned what other people thought." Quinn also credited the fact that he made good choices in life, and hung with other kids who made those same good choices. He encouraged the students to surround themselves with others who make good choices as well.

"There will be bumps in the road, there will be adversity, things won't go great for you, but that's life. It's how you handle it that matters," he said. "I could've packed it in the day I got that news, but instead, I thought about how fortunate I had been in my life, how fortunate I was to have people who cared about me and supported me."

He concluded his presentation by giving the students three pieces of advice.

"Do what you love to do. Don't make a decision based on money. Do not listen to what other people think because kids can be cruel at this age," he said. "If you follow those three rules, I guarantee you will have success in life."