Born in Cumberland, Wisconsin, Dave grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. While living on the West Side of St. Paul and going to Humboldt High School, Dave became a member of the National Honors Society and was a three-sport star athlete. He was recruited by Universities and colleges and chose to attend the University of Minnesota on a full scholastic scholarship after US Olympic Gold Medalist hockey coach Herb Brooks recruited him.
Dave left the University to pursue his hockey career by joining the St. Paul Vulcans Junior team where he won two National Championships and subsequently got drafted by the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey league and the Minnesota Fighting Saints of the World Hockey Association. He played 10 season of pro hockey in almost every professional league that existed between 1974 and 1984. Dave started in the minor leagues playing for the Johnstown (PA) Jets and reached the WHA and the NHL during his playing career. During his pro career, Dave won two league and three playoff championships, was named team MVP, captained teams, scored 300 points (goals & assists), and racked up nearly 3,000 minutes in penalties in about 700 games.
Dave retired from playing in 1984 and went into business management. He oversaw an alpine and cross-country ski area, two professional minor league hockey teams, a NHL team’s practice facility and is currently the general manager of the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center, a multi-sport and family entertainment complex in Pittsburgh, PA.
Dave also appeared in the 1977 feature film classic Slap Shot as Jack Hanson, one of the Hanson Brothers, along with his former teammates Steve and Jeff Carlson and legendary film star Paul Newman. He appeared again with his fictitious brothers in Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice, where the Carlsons and he won the “Best Supporting Actor Award” in a DVD premiere. With the Carlson brothers, Dave appeared in national and international TV and radio commercials, has been featured in many newspaper and magazine articles, has had action figures and bobble heads made of their likeness and featured again in a third Slap Shot film – Slap Shot: The Junior League – released in November, 2008. The Carlson brothers and Dave have helped raise in the neighborhood of 12 million dollars for charitable and needy causes throughout North America and Europe.
Dave, his wife and their family presently reside in Pittsburgh, PA.