Sándor Técsy was a giant of a man. Huge. As far as I could tell, he also had a great big heart. I knew Sándor way back when in the Dover Garage days on Hudson Street but we never had much conversation. It gets complicated, but after I spent ten years as a baby snatcher I came back to tax driving and Sándor and I hung out, he often gave me lifts home in his private car, we talked and we avoided areas of disagreement. Sándor gave me the scoop on the new management at the old garage and encouraged me to come on over, which I did.
I've said before that I don't think taxi drivers can be real friends to each other, or anyone else, at least not by the meaning of the word I used to know. Sándor was as close to a being friend as I had for a while. I think about him sometimes when I see ads for a TV show he auditioned for but unfortunately was not called for. It wasn't long after that that he passed away and I wonder sometimes how things might have gone for him and his family had that turned out differently.
Sandor was born in Rumania of Hungarian heritage. He told me a story of an incident where he and another Hungarian speaking person were sitting in an audience, I think they were waiting for a movie to start. A Rumanian turned around and started getting nasty and nativist, though of course Sándor and his friend were as native as this character was. The guy completely shut up when Sándor stood up and offered a few choice words of advice in perfect Rumanian.
Sándor played the very big guy in this little film.
