When the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame convenes for its 46th annual banquet next Saturday night, something will be missing.

Somebody, actually.

Dan Cunningham.

In his first year as president of the organization, Cunningham will not be present for the proceedings at the Butler Days Inn because he is hospitalized. He is just beginning a lengthy recovery from serious injuries sustained in an automobile accident last week.

Cunningham, 63, will not be part of the county sports scene for quite a while.

That’s hard to believe because he has meant a lot to sports around here.

Besides his work with the Hall of Fame, Cunningham has served American Legion baseball, been a local umpire for years and managed the Saxonburg entrant in the Eagle County Baseball League.

Thankfully, Cunningham is still with us. He could have been killed in that wreck. The photo of his mangled car on the front page of the Eagle last week makes one wonder how he survived.

He did not suffer a head injury. His will to recover will eventually take care of the rest.

But this is one of those accidents that made me stop and think.

We see pictures of serious accidents in the newspaper all the time.

When we drive by the aftermath of a wreck on an interstate, we all slow down to take a look.

There is no shame in admitting that. It’s human nature.

What I’m guilty of is never taking time to realize the devastation a given accident like this creates.

That realization hit like a ton of bricks when I saw the picture of that totaled automobile on the front page of the April 17 edition with the name Daniel Cunningham appearing in the caption.

“Wait a minute ... I know that guy ...”

I felt sick to my stomach.

While Cunningham is on the mend, others will have to pull together and fill the void.

Cunningham is excited about the county Hall of Fame’s recent decision to honor great teams from the area along with great athletes. He was particularly excited about the 2000 Karns City girls basketball state championship team being recognized this year.

He won’t be there to see it, but Dan’s presence in the room will be felt that night.

This is a guy who cares very deeply about Butler County sports.

A whole lot of people should be caring about him right now. Count me among them.

Get better, Dan.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle