Darin Jonathon Cole

I only knew Darin from being a parent in the basketball family. We never had any long conversations that would shed light on his character and beliefs. Yet, you can learn a lot about a person just by watching them and Darin spoke volumes to me though his actions and clear approach to life. It always impressed me how he was always there to support Marcus at basketball tournaments, to keep score, to hang out with the boys and play around in the pool with them all after a long, hot day in the heat at Hoopfest. Darin often came to the boys' practice and jumped in to help them scrimmage. To me, that was Darin-a caring, loving big brother and son that always wanted to be with this family. I always admired him for that. Darin did all of this with the brightest smile on his face. His smile was infectious. When he walked into the gym with that big smile and his colorful gear, he exuded happiness and I couldn't help but smile myself. As others have said, Darin owned the colors and pulled it all off with confidence. I also had a chance to see Darin's sense of humor. When his Mom and Dad told me that Darin and Marcus had taken a liking to The Office and Michael Scott's cringe inducing "that's what she said" line I remember laughing out loud. A fan of the show myself, I wish I could have talked to him about his favorite episodes and shared laughs about what made it so funny. On occasion, I could hear him casually sneak in a "that's what she said" during one of those long tournament weekends and it always made me laugh. Darin, you touched more lives than you will ever know. Rest in Peace.