By now I hope you have heard of the Do It for Durrett Benefit Concert which will be Monday night at Billy Bob’s Texas. Perhaps a more appropriate name would be Do It for Durrett’s Kids. I met Owen and Alice last week. I visited the Durrett household to produce a feature for Rangers Insider and Rangers Live. Owen, who turned six on Tuesday greeted us at the car and asked if he could help carry the equipment into the house. Alice, who is three, quickly gathered her sandals so she could help too.
Kelly says they are a big help around the house and soon they will be pressed into more duty. Kelly is expecting with Baby Durrett due in January. “My daughter actually said the other day, she said, ‘Mommy we are going to have to teach the baby about Daddy because the baby isn’t going to know Daddy.’” Kelly then tearfully related what she told her daughter, ”I told Alice, ‘yes you will have to tell the baby all the things that Daddy liked to do. And how much he loved us.’ It’s hard to imagine what that is going to be like.”
It has been nearly three months since Richard Durrett died unexpectedly and Kelly admits that she still expects to see him walk through the door some days. It sometimes feels like this is a long Rangers road trip and her husband will be home soon from covering the team. She notices that the kids grieve in doses. Kelly and the kids were visiting her mom in LA when Richard collapsed and died on June 17th. On June 18th the Durretts were going to go to Disneyland – instead they traveled back to Texas in shock. At some point on the trip home Owen dropped this bit of perspective, he said, “This happens to some families. Some families lose a parent and now we are one of those families.”
It is for those kids and their unborn sibling that we are raising money on Monday night in Fort Worth. Their dad covered every sporting event and team in the Metroplex, and that means that every team has contributed unbelievable auction items for the event. How about a chance to sit next to Mark Cuban at a Mavs game, or two spots in a Byron Nelson Pro-Am? These are just two of fifteen live auction items available Monday night, and you don’t see these kind of packages at auction anywhere else. The complete list of live and unbelievable silent auction items is at doitfordurrett.com.
Most recently Richard had been on the Rangers beat. Last month Kelly took the kids to a Rangers game where Emily Jones gave them a behind the scenes tour. The kids got to go on the field, and they even met a Rangers player, Colby Lewis. Kelly was beaming as she remembered the day, “He talked to the kids. He is now Owen’s favorite player, mine too. He was great, the kids loved him. Owen came home and drew a picture of him.”
So help us help them on Monday, even if you aren’t interested in the auction items it will be a great night of music at Bill Bob’s. Casey Donahue will be there, so will Rhett Miller of the Old 97’s and lots of other stars from the Texas country music scene. Tickets are only $20 in advance and $30 at the door, available through Billy Bob’s website. There will be a long list of local sports figures in attendance too, including Mike Modano, Michael Young, Marty Turco, Derek Holland and Jon Daniels. Do it for Durrett. No, do it for his kids.
