If you’ve ever been to a Goshen College home athletic event, chances are you’ve seen Dan Schrock ’64.

At indoor events Schrock usually sits in the front row, around the halfway line, cheering on the Maple Leafs. At outdoor events, such as soccer, Schrock sits with the Maple Leaf faithful, mingling with students, faculty and staff. At the end of the game, he doesn’t leave immediately. Instead, he stays, greets the players and offers a kind word about their performance.

Schrock himself has a rich background in athletics. When he was a senior at GC, he was asked by the superintendent at Bethany Christian High School to become a coach. Schrock coached soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter and track and field in the spring. 

“I was really on the edge of knowing what I was doing,” Schrock said. “I didn’t know soccer at all. I just grabbed a manual and read as fast as I could.”

Aside from GC athletics and sports, Schrock has a love for travel. He has traveled all around the world, including Kuwait and Iran. He combined his love for travel and sports when he went to the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal and the 1980 Games in Los Angeles.

Schrock’s inspiration to go to the Olympics came from Roman Gingerich ’41. “He went to the Mexico City Olympics in ’68,” Schrock said. “I thought, ‘Wow, that would be so cool.’” He and his wife bought a Volkswagen Camper and camped outside of both Montreal and Los Angeles. At the Montreal games, Schrock recalls watching Bruce Jenner win the men’s decathlon. 

Despite the fact he has traveled and seen some of the world’s best athletes, Schrock’s love for GC and its events always prevails. 

“I go to those events to support the friendships I’ve made among students,” Schrock says. “If those same students happen to be singing in Sauder Hall, I’ll go there too.” 

Schrock’s granddaughter, Carmen Merino, a fifth year sustainability major, said,  “[Schrock’s] friendship and love have been steadfast and unconditional throughout a decade of life’s ebbs and flows. I have several diseases, many of which began developing around the time I met Dan. Yet there hasn’t been a moment since we met that I haven’t known that I am loved.”

Schrock can oftentimes be found drinking coffee at Java Junction, where he can be seen talking with students and reading The Record and Squirrel Digest, GC’s student led magazine. Merino hopes that students know: “H e is always thrilled to make new connections, and that even a simple, ‘Hello’ makes his day so much brighter.”

On the school as a whole, Schrock said, “I believe in what they do, I think they turn out good people.” 

On Sunday, Sept. 13, Schrock was announced as the Fan of the Year at the Leafys, GC’s sports awards ceremony. 

Schrock described his win as, “Shocking,” and that he was wearing his “food truck casual clothes.” He is grateful for this recognition.

Merino was in the hospital when Schrock was announced as the award winner. “When his name was announced, I came closer than I had in months to disobeying my doctors orders while trying to fight the urge to wrap him in a hug,” she said. “There was half a second when we looked at each other in shock and in the next, I was doing the most animated single-armed, teary eyed expression of joy that I could manage. It was pure pride.”  

“It’s a very, very nice recognition, the whole evening,” Schrock said. “I’m not just doing it for me. On the other hand, you can’t deny a good feeling when it happens.”

“My interest is in building relationships and encouraging students,” said Schrock. “I get so much out of it, I can’t believe it.”

“Nurturing community and relationships in general, is really what this whole life thing is all about. There is so much to love in this world, and it is absolutely vital that we share that love with one another,” Merino said. “He is love in human form.”