Joe Dado's friends will remember him as a jokester -- the quiet, mellow guy who loved soccer and playing video games with his Tener Hall buddies.
The day before he went missing, he invited his floormates to his family's Penn State football game tailgate.
Dado's body was found Monday night at the bottom of a stairwell between the Hosler and Steidle buildings. University officials said the 18-year-old's death appears to have resulted from an accidental 15-foot fall in which he sustained severe head trauma.
Dado, of Latrobe, is survived by his parents, Denise and Joe; his sisters, Natalie and Nicole, both Penn State students, and Jennifer, a high school student.
"Joe was always so psyched for Penn State events," friend and floormate Eric Hayes (freshman-engineering) said. "He loved the football games."
Hayes said he played Xbox 360 games with Dado, floormate Matthew Ludwig and Dado's roommate Ryan Stroup.
Stroup first met Dado about five years ago when they started playing on the same club soccer team. With Stroup as a center midfielder and Dado as a striker, the pair began a friendship that would lead them to Penn State together as roommates.
"We talked about all kinds of stuff, normal guy things -- football, sports, class and girls," Stroup said.
The pair always left their dorm room door open, and it quickly became a hangout for the four guys, Hayes said.
"I only knew the kid for three or four weeks, and this is the worst day of my life," Hayes said. "Everyone here will miss Joe more than anything."
Following the Penn State football game Saturday, the guys played what would be their final video game together before heading downtown.
"When I was coming to Penn State, I couldn't imagine meeting a cooler kid," Ludwig said.
In addition to friends and family, Penn State students expressed their condolences through a Facebook group, "Rest in Peace Joe Dado." More than 2,600 people had joined the group as of press time Monday.
Amanda Ehoff, a fellow Tener Hall resident, remembers hanging out with Joe only a few weeks ago.
"We were in his room singing 'Only the Good Die Young,' " Ehoff (freshman-division of undergraduate studies) said. "I can't stop thinking about it."
