This is horrible news. Richard Durrett, an ESPNDallas.com writer who covered the Rangers for the past several years -- and who served as a Dallas Morning News reporter several years before that -- died yesterday. He was only 38-years-old. While it hasn’t been officially announced, many people are saying he was killed by a brain aneurysm.
ESPN and the Rangers both issued statements on his passing, which can be read here.
Durett was a truly nice guy in a line of work that doesn’t necessarily require or reward being a nice guy. I met him on a couple of occasions and he was the polar opposite of the sportswriter stereotype. He wasn’t grumpy or cynical. He was funny, but his humor was not the dark or gallows humor you often hear from those who inhabit press boxes. When I, as a clueless newbie, showed up in Surprise, Arizona for spring training a couple of years ago, Durrett was kind and accommodating and showed me around the place to help me get my bearings. That doesn’t happen too often. When you’re a tourist in the press box, you’re usually on your own.
In 2011, after Rangers fan Shannon Stone fell to his death at the ballpark while trying to reach a ball for his son, Durrett wrote this piece in response, thinking about fathers and sons. And, specifically, his own son who was three at the time and is only six now. Give it a read and remember what’s important in life.
Thirty-eight is far too young. Take some time for a nice thought or a prayer for his family who will now have to spend way too much time without him than any family should. And make sure you do whatever you can do to live your life in the present, making sure those who you love know that you love them. Life isn’t fair. Death is less fair than that. All we can do is make the most of it while we can.
