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Siataga's smile
Former Bobcat's helpfulness makes him a local legend
by Bill Lamberty |
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Brian Weisel will always remember the conversation he had with David Siataga late last fall.
"If you ever need any help, I'm willing," Siataga told Weisel, MSU's former equipment room manager.
"And he was always willing to help out," Weisel said. "He was always happy to help unload bags off the plane (after a football road trip), which is just very unusual. He helped me a lot. I have nothing but good things to say about David."
In a group of over 300 MSU student-athletes who have contributed more than 3,000 voluntary service hours in the Bozeman community last year, Siataga stands out more for how he does things than what he does. Always a favorite of the previous football coaching staff, which recruited the Sacramento product and coached him during his two years in the Bobcat program, the stout former nose tackle similarly found favor with the school's current coaches.
"Your first impression of David is that he always has a smile on his face," said first-year MSU football coach Rob Ash of Siataga, whose elgibility ended after his senior 2006 season. "He has the best disposition of anyone I've ever seen. He's been doing thankless work, but he always appears to be enjoying himself."
Siataga's smile has lit up the Bobcat football program.
"A ray of sunshine," Weisel said about Siataga, who arrived on the MSU campus as a junior college defensive lineman from Sacramento City College in 2005. Siataga is now working in the equipment room as he finishes up his coursework en route to graduating in sociology.
"Your first impression of David is that he always has a smile on his face."
--MSU football coach Rob Ash |
"He is an inspiration to everyone," said Siataga's former linemate Aaron Papich, now a senior team captain. "If it was a down day in the locker room and there was not a lot of energy, his smile gives you that. His smile gives you energy. He makes the game fun by seeing how much fun he has."
Almost everyone who has had contact with Siataga has a story.
Former Bobcat football coach Mike Kramer remembers a phone call from the Strand Union Building Food Court on the MSU campus.
"The caller told me that we had a person over in the SUB that had grabbed a washrag during their lunch rush and was cleaning tables," Kramer said last spring. "Just to help out. They couldn't believe it. I knew right away they were talking about David."
Cheerfulness alone fails to explain how Siataga ingrained himself into the culture of Bobcat Athletics and helped make him a fixture on campus in just two short years.
The stories can best be understood by knowing a bit about Siataga's family and his Samoan heritage. His father met his mother at a Samoan dance performance, and Siataga grew up singing and performing Samoan dances.
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