It was a good ride

They didn’t make them any nicer.

I met Britt Radford when he was only 17. I was 18.

We were going through rush at OU at the same time.

Little did we know it back then,  but a friendship that would last a lifetime was made.

We were initiated into Sigma Chi and lived together one summer school at Village West Apartments on the west side of Norman on Lindsey.

It was there one day I  caught a pan of grease on fire trying to make doughnuts for Britt out of canned biscuit dough.

Britt was the best man at our wedding that hot day in August 1979.

Through the years we kept up, sometimes going on vacation or just visits.

Matt, John Denny and I ate chili at Britt and Ann’s house in Tulsa the night Purcell played at Cascia Hall in the State playoffs in 2014.

Just before we were leaving for the game, I was putting on my duck shoes since it had been raining.

Britt laughed and told me they had artificial turf.

Duh.

Britt was a slow talker. Telling even a short story would take him awhile.

Take five minutes to say hello.

The first time he came to visit my parents’ house in Hobart is when we could still sleep-in in the morning.

My mom went into my room to check on us and made a startling discovery.

We hadn’t mentioned to her that Britt was a diabetic and when she saw the needles in the trash can she freaked out thinking I had brought home a drug addict.

Britt and I froze our hind ends off watching K-
State beat the Sooners in the Big 12 championship game in 2013.

I remember being very cold and very tired since Britt Snored like a Champion the night before.

A lot has happened to us in the last 50 years, many things together.

Shouldn’t be taken for granted.

My great friend, fraternity brother and wedding Best Man had a fatal heart attack late last week.

My heart is heavy.