I am not going to pretend that I was a close personal friend to the late Richard Durrett, nothing could be further from the truth, but as a Texas Rangers blogger and a Texas Rangers fan, I was an admirer of Richard Durrett. As I read the tributes coming out about him on twitter this morning from all the great Texas Rangers writers such as Anthony Andro, T.R. Sullivan, Jeff Wilson and others, I wonder why I am even broaching the subject of honoring a man I hardly knew at all.
When I first started out blogging in 2008, I knew nothing at all about writing or covering a team. I still don’t know anything about covering a team, although I hope I have learned a little about writing by now. I have to depend on Twitter and the beat writers to get the news that I write about, and I have built a professional relationship with a few writers that cover the team. I have interviewed Anthony Andro for years and he is always very gracious to come on when I ask him too, so has Jeff Wilson, Drew Davison, and so did Richard Durrett. The first time I ever contacted Richard was in 2012 to ask him to come on my podcast and The Hague Sports Podcast. Richard responded by giving me a compliment and sending me his personal email so I could more easily get a hold of him.
Ben:
Keep up the good work. If you need me, this is my email.
Richard Durrett
That was it, but it has stuck with me ever since I received the email. I remember telling my wife how honored I was that he took the time to look at my website and give me a compliment. Later on he sent me his phone number so I could reach him via text if I wanted to interview him again, which I did. Nathan Hague and I had the pleasure of interviewing Richard several times about both the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Cowboys, and he was always so gracious every time we talked to him.
The last time I spoke with him was 3 months ago during spring training, and I remember him saying he was extremely busy but he could give me 10 minutes or so. Before we started recording he was explaining to me just how busy he was, and I was both surprised and grateful that he took the time to talk with me. But then, from everything I am reading today, that is just who he was. He helped people out, even if they were his so called competitors or a no name blogger like myself.
My heart breaks today for his wife and small children, while I am sad to lose someone I had a ton of respect for, I just can’t imagine what they are going through. My thoughts and prayers will be with them for the foreseeable future. And I would like to give a thank you to all of the beat writers that are giving him such wonderful tributes today and letting us all see into the heart of a man that loved his sports, loved his job and loved the Texas Rangers. He will be greatly missed, even by those of us that only knew him by his writings.
