Outside Science Lecture Hall 123, a wooden plaque with the figure of a skier performing a back flip sways from a branch. The token is intended to remind the campus of the deceased 21-year-old Randy Davis.
Friends of Davis, juniors Jane Libershteyn and Shayna Fogleman, created and hung the plaque in his memory.
“We wanted to make his presence felt,” Fogleman said.
The back is a replica of a photo of the competitive skier’s flip. The front displays his name, the years 1987 to 2008 and the quote, “If you can dream it, you can do it!” Friends and family who called his cell phone would hear this recording on his voicemail and this saying became something Davis lived by.
Davis, a senior exercise biology major, frequently climbed trees on campus, including this particular one. He often told his friends of a time he fell asleep in a tree one night while stargazing.
“He did everything under the sun and was never the kind of person who thought he couldn’t do something,” Fogleman said.
The Tahoe City native died on Christmas Day doing what he loved most – skiing in Squaw Valley. His body was found under the aftermath of an avalanche.
“His life in Davis is a big part of him too,” Libershteyn said. “We felt like making something so people would know here and have the memory of him.”
The Randy Davis Memorial Fund was created to present annual awards to local Tahoe and Truckee skiers to fund summer training camps. Visit riprandy.org for more information.
POOJA KUMAR can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.
