February 26, 2009: Rick Beckett Died

It’s hard to believe that it was 15 years ago, February 26, 2009, that Rick Beckett passed away at the age of 54.

I often think of Rick’s last blog post — that he posted just three days before his death. It was a quote by Leo Rosten:

“The purpose of life is to matter, to be productive, to have it make a difference that you lived at all—using the talents that God has given you for the betterment of others.”

Looking back on Rick’s life and times, I think he accomplished exactly what that quote was referring to.

Here is the blog post I wrote the morning after Rick’s death. (Thanks to Adam Diaz for helping me find it!)…

“This is a blog entry I never, ever, wanted to have to make. I’m not even sure it’s possible to put complete sentences together at this point, but here goes…

“On Thursday night, I received that dreaded call of the passing of a friend and co-worker, Rick Beckett.

As most of you know, Rick and I started working together when I was just a part-timer at WKLQ back in 1989. I was honored to take the job of becoming a permanent member of the ‘Q-Morning Zoo’ in September of 1993.

Throughout those 15+ years we had a lot of fun working together on the airwaves in West Michigan. Oh sure, there were a few bumps in the road along the way, but those minor setbacks always made the team of ‘Rick and Scott’ that much stronger.

I’m always asked, ‘What is Rick Beckett like off the air?’ Well, he was pretty much the same person when the mic was on, as he was when the mic was off (aside from his “list of words and phrases you can’t say on WOOD Radio!). One thing I don’t think people realized was how big of a heart Rick had. He was always bringing in goodies for co-workers when he came into work in the morning. When we had food delivered to the station (due in part to his superb job of begging on the air), he took pleasure in making sure he could give it away to co-workers.

Needless to say, I didn’t get any sleep last night. The harddrive in my head was on constant rewind, replaying so many ‘Rick Beckett Moments’ in my brain.

To Rick: You will be deeply missed my friend, Rest in Peace, and share the remote a little with all those around you in heaven!! And you always used to say ‘hold the applause until after the show’, well I think now it’s time for all that applause.”

In the days following Rick’s passing I spent countless hours sorting through audio in an effort to put together the best “tribute” show that I could. I didn’t get much sleep that weekend.

Back on February 26, 2009, we were both enjoying a few days off. I was down in St. Louis, MO, visiting a friend when I got the phone call. The following morning Gary Allen and Steve Kelly took calls from listeners for the entire morning. Here is the call I made into the show that Friday morning…

Once I arrived back in Grand Rapids, WOOD TV did an interview with me at the WOOD Radio studio. Here is that interview…

On Monday, March 3, 2009, I did the toughest radio show I have ever done. I’m not really sure how I made it through. I was dealing with a cold, plus I had very little sleep. That combination made for a very raspy and weak voice, but Rick’s spirit was there to push me — and we made it through those three hours.

Here are all three hours of that show…

Hour 1…

Hour 2…

Hour 3…

I’ll be honest here…It has been 15 years and I have yet to listen to those three hours in their entirety. I’ve heard the beginning couple of minutes of the first hour, and the final minutes of that last hour, but that’s it. I just can’t quite bring myself to listen to the whole show. I guess having been there when it happened — I still can remember just about the entire show in my head…I don’t need the actual audio.

Here is the digital billboard that WOOD Radio had following Rick’s death…

Here is another great tribute put together by Scott Fitzgerald…

One of Rick’s biggest fears in life was that he would be forgotten after he passed away. Oh if he could have realized how he would be remembered. People still talk about Rick as if it were just yesterday that we lost him. Those memories surely have not faded in the least.

CLICK HERE to hear other “Rick and Scott” audio clips.

In the comments below, leave your fondest memory (or memories) of “King R.B.”. I’d love to see them and I’m sure others would like to read them as well.