He was a mountain of a man, balding with grey stubble, but equipped with court smarts. And Costello wondered, crazily: could this aging giant be lured to play for the Algonquin Thunder?
A hint was dropped and it set Dan Stoddard on a mission, the fulfilment of a dream he’d set aside in high school. “C’mon. I’m 38 years old, going to be 39 in November. I’m absolutely out of my mind, right?”
Yes, 38 and, at the time, six feet, eight inches tall and weighing 380 pounds, with a full-time job at OC Transpo, two teenage kids at home and a house in Russell that needed new siding.
There are Hoop Dreams, there is Hoosiers, and there is Dan Stoddard, the real thing. Spurred by Costello’s offer, he began to work out two hours a day at the OC Transpo fitness centre, consulted a personal trainer, used a buddy’s home gym. He got the Thunder practice schedule and meshed it with his driving duties at OC.
