Dick Dewing: 'A Wildcat Through and Through'

DURHAM, N.H. – Dick Dewing, already a University of New Hampshire Hall of Famer for his prowess on the football field, made a mark on the program in later years in a rather loud manner.

Dick Dewing had a cannon.

He was invited to bring the weapon to Cowell Stadium some years ago and fire it off in celebration of the Wildcats scoring a touchdown. Dewing enlisted Jeff Durell, a fellow member of the 1^st Newmarket Militia, a group whose mission it largely is to teach children and others about life in the 18^th century, often dressed in full Colonial garb, as part of his firing crew.

A noisy and memorable tradition was quickly born.

And another chapter in Dick's illustrious UNH history – and distinguished and colorful life - was about to be written.

Dick Dewing - 'The Cannon Man,' and so much more – a proud son of both Durham and Tewksbury, Mass., died on April 15 at the age of 92.

He was firing away with the cannon at UNH home games until he was 91, early in the 2019 season.

"He was such a passionate supporter of UNH," Durell said. "Not just UNH athletics, but UNH overall. He was a Wildcat through and through. It was a privilege to be able to go with him every Saturday and see the pride he brought to every game."

He was a man director of athletics Marty Scarano called "a giver. Someone who was always there when you needed him." There to talk. There to lend a helping hand. Maybe there with a weigela or a cotoneaster, a dwarf lilac or another of his favorite plants - skillfully grown from his own cuttings - for your yard.

UNH football coach Sean McDonnell certainly took note of the Wildcat football player turned military hero, supporter of all things UNH and Durham.

"He was a great UNH guy, a great UNH character guy," said McDonnell. "He played football and played both ways. Ironically, he wore the same number I wore – 33."

There aren't a lot of folks from Dewing's era still around, not many to talk to about those football days.

"But through the years whenever Dick Dewing's name came up, people's eyes lit up," McDonnell said. "Let me tell you one thing: Just being around him, the aura around him, I've got to believe the guy was one tough cookie. He's one of those old school New Hampshire guys who has made this place so special over the years. He served not only UNH, but the whole community around here. Guys like him are few and far between. That was a golden era. Those guys took service to another level. He was one of those guys."

Sorties and Stories

Dick Dewing is not only in the UNH athletics Hall of Fame. He also holds membership in the UNH Reserve Officer's Training Corps Hall of Fame and the Tewksbury High School Hall of Fame.

He was the fullback on UNH's last undefeated, untied team – the 1950 squad that went 8-0-0 in a season topped off by a 13-7 win a home over Kent State - and he set rushing records that lasted nearly three decades.

Dewing met Mary Lundberg of Concord, N.H. at UNH and after graduation in 1953 they began a marriage that lasted 65 years until her passing in 2018.

He also entered the Air Force in 1953 and served 20 years as a pilot and fully qualified maintenance officer. He flew 1,195 sorties in Vietnam, approximately 200 of them combat sorties, mostly in cargo and transport aircraft. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and a Marine Presidential Unit Citation for combat missions for flying Marines into and out of combat zones under heavy enemy fire, along with other honors.

Dick loved to tell stories. Not about war, but about flying, about places he and Mary had been, people they had met.

"We'd have time to talk at games and other events and one of the things he always talked about was his passion for flying," Durell said. "He loved, loved, loved to be a pilot. He loved the feeling of flying. He'd talk about flying into Da Nang He didn't get into mission details, but he could remember landing fields and he'd talk about approaching a landing field and doing a short skip. By the time he finished the story, it felt like you were doing the flight. He was the ultimate storyteller. He'd be talking and people around us would be drawn to how the story would end."

When Dick left the military in 1973, he and Mary returned to Durham with their son Jeff, and daughter, Janet.

Shoot First

Here his life of service continued. To UNH. To the town of Durham. To the surrounding community.

Firing the cannons on a Saturday afternoon or evening was a small – but decidedly colorful – part of that service.

And, oh the stories it helped create.

Like the time Dick was quite unhappy that the good folks at Army West Point declined to allow him to bring his cannon on the road when the Wildcats went there to play in 2008. Something about security issues. At any rate, the cannon might not have been well received had it made it inside: UNH won the game 28-10.

When the Wildcats played Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium a few years later in 2011, Dick tried a different tact. He simply loaded up the cannon and drove it to Foxborough.

Once there, he did point out that he probably should have checked with someone first, Durell noted.

"He said, 'we're here. We'll try to get it in,'" Durell said. "We got it past the first and second round of security and were wheeling it around trying to figure out where to put it when a guy said, 'Where are you guys going with the cannon? You can't bring that on the field.' It was the Foxborough fire chief."

Dick was ready for this one.

"He said, 'Let's make a deal,'" Durell said. "'We'll put the cannon away if we can bring our muskets in.' We had to leave the cannon on the trailer, but got to bring the muskets in.''

They were busy with them, too. UNH won that game, 39-13.

Scarano recalls that Dewing and Co. had to tone things down a bit in the early days.

"It was louder back then," Scarano said. "Dick had to back off on the gunpowder a bit. It was ferocious when it first started."

McDonnell loves it.

"All I know is it goes off and it's a great thing," the coach said. "It livens things up in the stands. It gave Cowell Stadium and now it gives our new place a little niche we hadn't had before."

Carrying On

Dewing asked Durell a few years ago if he would keep the gun and continue the tradition as long as UNH wants it and Durell assured him he would. He'll be ready to go – as long as COVID-19 protocols allow – for the home opener on September 11 against Towson.

Scarano is all in. "Oh yeah. So long as I'm here, we're shooting that thing," he said.

"Dick will be there in spirit," Durell said. "He'll be thrilled to see the gun come back."

Dan Johnson is Dick's grandson and he lives in the house Dick grew up in Tewksbury, where one of the elementary schools - the Loella Dewing School – is named after Dick's mom.

The tight-knit family has had a rough stretch, to put it mildly. Dan's mother, Janet, died in 2017.

"We lost my grandmother (Mary) in 2018, the day before my son was born," Dan said. "Just about a year later, we lost Jeff. It's been a lot."

Dan, now 45, lived with his grandparents for a while.

"They were like second parents to me," he said. They really did a lot for me."

Now Dick is gone as well.

"I was very lucky to have him," Dan said. "I was very close to him and very proud of him. . . . I feel very grateful. He was a tremendous role model and I miss him so much."

Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu

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Dick Dewing: 'A Wildcat Through and Through'

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