Pat Quinn dressed up in a Santa Claus costume just to make people smile. He carried dog biscuits in his pockets in case he met strangers walking their dogs.
But nobody stayed strangers for long around Pat Quinn. He wasn’t just a Desert Vista security guard, wasn’t just a volunteer coach for the girls cross country team. No, said Coach Doug Christofis, Pat was in the “occupation of lifting the human spirit. This man was able to make someone smile, feel loved, feel important.”
And that spirit is what drew nearly 500 community members and another 200 cross country team members, family and volunteers to Desert Vista on Saturday, Aug. 25, for the initial Pat Quinn Community 5K race and walk. They donated $3,610 in Pat’s name to go to his favorite charities, an animal shelter and the DVCC runners he adored. It was a moving scene as those girls surrounded Pat’s family as they completed the walk.
Pat passed away in May working out on the track he loved. In a ceremony before the walk, a quartet sang the Irish classic, “Danny Boy” in his honor and Coach C awarded the first Pat Quinn award to his widow, Jolene. In future years, the plaque will go to “a runner who exemplifies the qualities Coach Quinn lived by – uplifting, a smile on the face, encouraging,” Christofis told the large crowd. “Let me tell you how special this family is. Back in the spring, Jolene told me, ‘These girls were like daughters to Pat. We want to donate $500 to DVCC.’ I told her no. What does she do when she shows up today and I’m not looking? She donates $500 to us.”
Coach C and his boys counterpart, Chris Hanson, said they would honor the man with an annual event as long as they coached and hoped DV will carry on the tradition long after that. “This is a community effort to honor a young man who brought many smiles,” said the school principal, Dr. Anna Battle. “I want to make sure the Quinn family knows they will always be a part of the Desert Vista community.”