On the morning of Saturday October 29th, 1988 Danny Schow went over to see his friend Dave Vanderspek at a warehouse he'd been living in. There was no answer at the door and somehow Danny had the feeling he should enter the building. Once inside he found Dave hanging from a rope naked. There was no note but there were some writings in his office at his parents house that gave pretty clear indications that he was struggling inside.

The local newspaper in San Leandro reported the strange death on Tuesday of the next week based on the odd circumstances but didn't yet know how well known Dave was in the local community and around the world. He was simply the caretaker of the warehouse.

As the week unfolded, letters to the newspaper from Dave's friends who could not stand to see him dismissed as simply the caretaker of a warehouse prompted several news articles as well as a television news report. Attention shifted to Dave's involvement with drugs and many considered his death an intentional suicide. Although, the police officer who arrived on the scene reported it as an accidental suicide related to Autoerotic Asphyxiation a means of heightening sexual pleasure by cutting off one's own air supply. There is speculation that the lead singer of INXS also died this way.

I personally don't feel like Dave was in the frame of mind to intentionally commit suicide. I had seen Dave about a week earlier and we had a good time. We scammed our way into a show on Broadway street (I think it was Megadeth or something equally metallic). I saw no indication that he was so down. It was the same old Vander screwing around, trying to talk to girls, rocking out, talking about ideas he had for the Curb Dogs and just having a good time. I can't imagine that what had him so down could have all come on in the next week.

I think in a lot of people's mind Dave killed himself intentionaly but I don't really believe that. While he caused his own death, I don't believe that he was trying to kill himself. Although there were some depressive writings found in his office back at his parents house, there was no suicide note at his house. If you know Dave you knew that he always wanted to try something radder and it's not a far stretch to think that he was doing just that when he tried Autoerotic Asphyxiation. Nobody really knows if that was his first attempt. For all we know, he may have developed a habit and this time, it just killed him. The death certificate lists the reason for his death as "probably accidental".

A lot is attributed to drugs though and there is no doubt that he had a drug problem. I would not call him a junkie and there are certainly professionals who have had worse drug problems than he did. Not much has been said about what I think of as the classic child actor syndrome where you find yourself making a transition from somewhat of a star to the real world where you have to make money and get used to the mundane everyday aspects of life. In a lot of ways you feel like a has-been and the stress is very high.

Many people I've talked to from the first group of professional freestylers had a hard time making that transition and I know I did as well. Dave knew that the sport was changing and growing. The Vanderoll was an old trick by now and he did not really have anything new to go with the more modern tricks of the time. Dave was tired of competing and it showed. He turned to street riding which was not yet fully recognized and only received mentions in the magazines.

Dave's funeral was held at Broadmoor Community Church and there was hardly enough room for all the people that could even make it much less the people around the world who had not yet heard the news through the BMX magazines. Hundreds attended and it was standing room only. On November 7th, 1988 Dave Vanderspek was cremated and his ashes scattered by his parents. There is no gravesite to visit but there is a semi-permanent memorial placed at the San Francisco side of the Golden Gate Bridge.

As part of The Bridge's 50th anniversary in 1987, the public was offered the chance to purchase inscribed bricks that became a path in the visitor's area completed the next year. A unique opportunity to have Dave Vanderspek memorialized in a public place where hundreds of thousands of people pass every year.

Although I had wandered by there several times over the years and stared at those bricks, I still not found the one with Dave's name on it. Only after this site went up did I find out from Steve Blick. If you're going to the Golden Gate Bridge, make sure to stop at the tourist area on the San Francisco side where all the busses park. You'll see the brick path. Use these to pictures to locate the brick. Use this guestbook to record any thoughts.

Interestingly enough, the monument near Dave's brick is to inovators - which Dave definitely was.

Dave Vanderspek
5/30/1964 - 10/28/1988