March 25, 2003

ISU alumnus killed in Iraq

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — An Indiana State University graduate killed in action in Iraq is remembered as a good student, a talented athlete and a trusted friend.

Lance Cpl. David Fribley, 26, who obtained a bachelor's degree in recreation and sport management in 2001, was among nine Marines killed Sunday near An Nasiriyah, about 230 miles southwest of Baghdad.

U.S. officials have said Fribley died when an Iraqi unit indicated it was giving up, but then opened fire when the Marines approached.

"The university is saddened by this tragic news," said Indiana State President Lloyd W. Benjamin III. "We certainly have David's family and all of his many friends at Indiana State in our thoughts and prayers."

A 1996 graduate of Warsaw High School, Fribley "was one of those energetic students that made himself well known to all the faculty," Steven Smidley, assistant professor of recreation, said Tuesday. "He was eager to do well in class, very interested in what the future held for him in this field. We talked several times about career opportunities and the paths he was choosing."

Fribley was most interested in resort recreation and had worked at resorts in Florida, Smidley said.

He competed in the shot put as a walk on for the Sycamore track team and was "a very friendly kid, very smiley," said head track Coach John McNichols. "He was a good worker."

Smidley and McNichols say Fribley's death brings back memories of an earlier war. Both lost several friends in Vietnam.

"It's a tragedy that young men have to lose their lives," Smidley said. "But I understand why it has to be. It's just sad when it's someone you know."

"Before it's over with, it's going to touch probably every community in the country," McNichols said of Operation Iraqi Freedom. "I guess our President and military leaders are willing to put people in harm's way for the cause and I think as citizens we have to accept that."

Mike Lee, assistant hall director at Burford residence hall and a graduate student at Indiana State, was a Kappa Alpha fraternity pledge brother with Fribley in 1996.

"David was one of those simple, gentle people," Lee, a Brownsburg, Ind., native, said. "You could ask him to do anything and he would stop what he was doing and help you. He was one of those people that I trusted with everything. I could go to him with a problem. I would go to him with an issue and he would always come through."

Lee described Fribley as "a fighter. He's a tough guy and it's pretty hard to get him down. We lost a really good guy in this fight and it strengthened my belief that we are fighting for a just cause and it was one that David believed in."

Kappa Alpha plans to make T-shirts with a photo of Fribley as a show of support for the Iraqi war, said Lee, the fraternity's alumni adviser.

Fribley kept in contact with several of his professors after graduation, said Smidley, suggesting that his commitment to a cause he believed in - a cause for which he gave his life - would have been "the basis for a successful career in anything" had his life not been cut short.

"His staying in touch with us I think indicated that he probably valued his time here and respected the people that work here and probably is very proud to have gone to Indiana State," Smidley said.

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Writer:
Dave Taylor, ISU Public Affairs, (812) 237-3743 or devtaylo@isugw.indstate.edu

ISU Public Affairs:
(812) 237-3773 or http://isunews.indstate.edu