Oklahoma State

I was particularly shocked and saddened to hear about the death of two Oklahoma State University coaches in a plane crash Thursday.

As some of you may recall, there was a crash in January, 2001, that killed ten men associated with the OSU athletic department -- including my best friend from college, Kendall Durfey. Kendall and I had attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa; Kendall's father, the late Dr. Thomas Durfey, was my academic advisor, and I worked with Kendall for a year after college at a radio station owned by the Durfey family.

Later, Kendall went on to OSU to earn a master's degree; he stayed to work for the university, producing instructional videos and serving as the engineer for radio broadcasts of OSU sporting events. It was that latter job that caused him to be on the plane returning from a basketball game in Colorado.

Here's a link to the post I wrote back in January, on the tenth anniversary of that crash.

For the same university to be hit with a second such tragedy in ten years is truly a bitter turn of fate, and my thoughts and prayers are with the students and faculty; with the family members of these latest victims; and with the family members of the 2001 tragedy, like Kendall's mother Ellen, who will no doubt find this a painful reminder.