When Bad Things Happen To Good People

Happy Memorial Day -- 2011

By Richie Whitt
May 30, 2011

Osama Bin Laden is dead. But the fight -- and the hefty price -- to fend off terrorists around the globe lives on. Just yesterday, for example, eight more American soldiers were confirmed dead in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Sad, but let's face it, we've become numb to the numbers...
At Least Ron Springs' Family Will Be Compensated For His Tragic Death. Right?

By Richie Whitt
May 17, 2011

Ron Springs' fight is dead. His litigation, however, lives on. While former Cowboys teammates Roger Staubach and Everson Walls prepare to speak at Springs' funeral in Carrollton on Thursday, the ex-running back, who died of a heart attack while in a 3 1/2-year coma last week, is still being represented furiously...
Ron Springs: From Triumph to Tragedy

By Richie Whitt
May 13, 2011

Ron Springs was pronounced dead yesterday. After dying on Oct. 12, 2007. I wrote about Springs' sad plight in a March 2010 Observer cover story. But you already knew his tale. Former Cowboys' running back who became a national poster boy -- along with Everson Walls -- for warm-n-fuzzy feelgoods...
RIP: David Milson

By Richie Whitt
Feb 1, 2011

Despite another brave battle, cancer won again yesterday. Back in July I told you about friend and fantastic basketball coach David Milson, one of the happiest people I ever did meet. Lung cancer finally got the best of him, as the former Cedar Hill High School basketball coach has passed away...
BREAKING NEWS: They Caught the White Truck Killer

By Richie Whitt
Nov 3, 2010

A while back I wrote about a motorcycle accident on 75 that killed two of my friends, Ernie and Elisa Santos. Today I come bearing bittersweet news: The driver of the white pickup, whose recklessness was the first domino that caused the accident, has been arrested and charged with two counts...
Ernie and Elisa Santos, R.I.P.

By Richie Whitt
Sep 22, 2010

I was supposed to meet Ernie Santos Saturday morning at Twin Peaks in McKinney. I'm digging into an Observer cover story on metroplex motorcycle clubs/gangs and he, being a member of the Dirty Bastards, invited me to a sort of meet 'n greet with his crew. Seems one of their...
David Milson: Bad News For a Great Coach

By Richie Whitt
Jun 17, 2010

Now it's time to return the favor. Because while battling lung cancer, the former Cedar Hill High School basketball coach needs a lift. His spirits should be at least temporarily boosted Monday when family, friends and colleagues hold the David Milson Charity Golf Tournament at Tangle Ridge Golf Club in Grand...
One of the Saddest Stories You'll Ever Read

By Richie Whitt
May 18, 2010

Your bucket list should never include kicking the bucket. An 87-year-old World War II Navy vet was being honored for his generous blood donations out at Texas Motor Speedway over the weekend when an accident on the track resulted in his death. Don Krusemark was a passenger in a corvette...
Healthy Local Runner Drops Dead at 32. Um, Time to take Physical Inventory?

By Richie Whitt
Mar 16, 2010

Mark Austry was healthy. Not an obsessed fitness nut, but healthy. Played baseball at Texas Tech and with the Fort Worth Cats. Was a superb golfer. And, when he found time from being a devoted family man to wife and two kids, he got out and ran. Sunday he dropped...
Warning: Disturbing Video

By Richie Whitt
Feb 16, 2010

If you don't want to see the fatal luge accident of 21-year-old Republic of Georgia Olympic athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili during a training run in Vancouver last week, don't click here. I watched it. Not for morbid entertainment, of course, but for education. As in, what went wrong?...
Hey, it Could be Worse. Dwayne Goodrich Still Sits in Prison.

By Richie Whitt
Jan 18, 2010

You think the current Dallas Cowboys are bumming today? Consider the plight of a former player, Dwayne Goodrich. You remember Goodrich. Couple years back he speeds through an accident scene on I-35 and kills two Good Samaritans. Ring a bell? Well, the good news for Goodrich is that in October...
Happy Thanksgiving!

By Richie Whitt
Nov 26, 2009

In between turkey, dressing and indigestion, take a second today to be thankful for what you have. Then read my tale of Ray Johnston, and be thankful for what you don't have...
Damm Cancer

By Richie Whitt
Nov 9, 2009

Hate to bring the room down in the wake of Cowboys 20, Eagles 16, but I'm sitting here crying. Tears streaming down my face. Off my cheeks. Onto my keyboard. I shit you not. A year ago I was introduced to one of the bravest, most courageous men I've ever...
A Moment of Silence ...

By Richie Whitt
Nov 6, 2009

Every once in a while - unfortunately - we're reminded that sports is just a toy-box diversion. And that life, it ain't fair at all. Our own soldiers killed on our own soil, by one of our own...
This Just In: Don't Drink and Drive

By Richie Whitt
Nov 3, 2009

If your name is Newy Scruggs, Laura Dean-Mooney or Jesus H. Christ, you have permission to stop reading. The rest of you, I'd like you to think back to the last time you were driving while drunk, schnockered, intoxicated, tipsy, under the influence or, if you prefer, merely buzzed. Last...
Matthew Stafford > Josh Hamilton

By Richie Whitt
Aug 11, 2009

Former Highland Park star and Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford had himself quite the summer bash recently. Girls in bikinis. Dirty dancing. Some sort of beverages in those same red cups that I serve alcohol in at my pool parties. Who knows, maybe whipped cream made a cameo at some...
Frisco's Erin Brockovich Update = Defeated

By Richie Whitt
Apr 27, 2009

Got a call over the weekend from Charmane Jackson, who lost her legal fight against golf manufacturing giant U.S. Kids Friday in Sherman. After a week of testimony the jury deliberated only 90 minutes before failing to find U.S. Kids responsible for the death of 12-year-old Chandler Jackson. Asked if...
Dwayne Goodrich Goes Under ESPN E:60 Microscope

By Richie Whitt
Apr 21, 2009

I told the sad saga of former Dallas Cowboy Dwayne Goodrich in an Observer cover story back in December. Something tells me Jeremy Schaap is going to tell it even better tonight. To say I "consulted" ESPN E:60 is probably a little strong, but I did sit down with Schaap...
Frisco's Erin Brockovich Takes on the Kids Golf Industry

By Richie Whitt
Apr 20, 2009

Maybe Hopefully you remember Chandler Jackson. Quick refresher: Gifted 12-year-old Frisco boy tragically killed in a 2005 freak accident by a broken golf club in tiny-town Kentucky. After almost four years of misery and mystery, Chandler's parents - Rick and Charmane - may this week get some closure. At the very least,...
Firing a Bad Coach: Good; Honoring Bad Players: Notsagood

By Richie Whitt
Jan 26, 2009

Something tells me the inventor of basketball planned neither on 100-0 winners nor 100-point-loser celebrities. I just threw up in my Raisin Bran. Now, where'd I ... put ... my ... ah, there it is ... soap box. America has gone softer than Bob Dole without his Viagra and it makes...

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