They Asked Me First — You’re Going to the State Convention as a Da*n Substitute 😂 – Dave C.

About This Speaker Tape

Dave C. shares his story at Sessions by the Sea in Ocean City, Maryland, just one day short of his twentieth anniversary of sobriety. A college-educated coach and engineer from North Carolina, Dave traces his alcoholism from college drinking with World War II veterans through a rapid downfall that cost him two teaching jobs, his first marriage, and his freedom. His father died of alcoholism, but Dave spent years comparing his drinking to his father's, unable to see himself clearly — a denial that nearly killed him.

Dave was committed to Dix Hill, North Carolina's state psychiatric hospital, five times in six months. He describes chasing squirrels in the inebriate ward, padded cells on Skid Row, and electroshock treatments in the psychiatric wing. He escaped once, was caught, and eventually served time on a chain gang. His family gave him a wad of money and told him to leave the state. Instead, he went four miles to a broken-down hotel and kept drinking. His mother finally cut him off — the greatest gift she ever gave him.

On September 11, 1957, Dave found himself in a back alley in Roanoke, Virginia, unable to get a drink down, convinced he would die there. A school superintendent who knew him tracked him down and brought him to the old Easy Does It Club. An old man named John Phillip, who got sober at 76, put his arm around Dave and said the words that changed everything: "All you've got to do is do what they tell you to do. You never have to be alone anymore." Three men sat up with him all night, helping him stay sober one minute at a time.

Dave credits his survival to following directions, working the twelve steps, his home group, and sponsors who told him what he needed to hear rather than what he wanted to hear. His second sponsor, Tom Perretta — one of AA's first hundred members — imposed a four-year moratorium on Dave's speaking and drilled the Big Book into him. Dave rebuilt his engineering career, married his second wife Sue, and slowly reconciled with his mother after nine and a half years of sobriety. He closes with four things he still must do: maintain a monumental desire to stay sober, build his AA around his home group, work the twelve steps daily, and on hard days, just hang on.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Opens with a joke about a long-winded convention speaker and the man who stayed because he was next
• 3:30 Introduces himself as an alcoholic with nearly 20 years of sobriety, credits sponsors and his wife for survival
• 7:00 First drink at 16, father died of alcoholism, family protected his drinking for years
• 12:00 Coaching career collapses — fired from first school, then second school after six months of morning drinking to stop shaking
• 18:00 First commitment to Dix Hill at age 27 — inebriate ward, padded cell on Skid Row, walking the halls for 30 days
• 25:00 Returns to Dix Hill five times in six months, ends up in psychiatric ward with electroshock treatments
• 32:00 Escapes Dix Hill, chain gang sentence, family cuts him off with a wad of money and tells him to leave
• 38:00 September 11, 1957 — back alley in Roanoke, cries out to Higher Power, found by school superintendent and brought to the Easy Does It Club
• 44:00 Old-timer John Phillip says 'You never have to be alone anymore' — three men sit up with Dave all night, sober one minute at a time
• 52:00 Sponsor Tom Perretta drills the Big Book, imposes four-year speaking moratorium, reconciliation with mother after nine and a half years