Our Story

 

Hi there, I'm Dave and I was raised right here in Salt Lake City.  

 

At 18, I moved to Richmond, Virginia to get an education and "become a man."  Mission accomplished, I think. Anyway, after college, I found myself doing the "corporate thing," working for the man. I kinda hated it.

 

But, I loved playing kickball with my friends after work. River City Sport and Social Club was the setting for the most fun, embarrassing, and empowering moments of my young adult life. Alas, it didn't last forever.

 

Discovering my (ex)wive's infidelity motivated me to move back to Salt Lake City, and explore a new career. Over one too many beers I decided that career was going to be organizing the first adult sport and social club in Utah. As I drove every possession I had across the country I spent every tearless minute calling friends, asking if they'd play in a summer kickball league. When I ran out of friends I called random 801 numbers. That was a bit awkward although it did lead to a few new friends!!

 

 

Nearly 1,000 phone calls later, I rolled into the Salt Lake valley with 75 kickballers ready to take the field. I recruited two friends, Ben and Jimmy to help me figure this happy problem out. On July 8th, 2011 Jimmy and I set up the fields for our first week of kickball and waited. And waited. The games were set to start at 6:15pm. At 6:05pm there wasn't one person there. We exchanged concerned glances (read: terrified) as the seconds ticked onward. 

 

And then, like an Oregon Trail wagon train the cars started piling into the parking lot. Coolers and laughter spilled onto the fields. Tears streaming down our faces we greeted everyone with toothy smiles, the dream was alive.

 

After those first games, at the bar, as Jimmy and I argued about whether the Utah Jazz would ever win an NBA title, we agreed on one thing: if we prioritized making new friends over the final score, we'd be successful.  We were mostly wrong about our sports predictions. We were right about that one.

 

Twelve(!) years later, we are humbled to be continually entrusted by thousands adults in Utah to organize social sports leagues. We wear the increase in signups each season as a badge of pride. Beehive started as a comfortable place to make new friends, that remains our calling to this day.

 

My journey with Beehive has led me to the best friends anybody could hope for. I hope you'll come join us next season to see if the same thing happens to you.

 

Each year, I write an annual letter to the community. You can read the latest one here. 

 

2021, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 editions for the avid reader. 

 

If you're more into watching than reading, here's a corny little video we made.