Another Great One Dies

Growing up I had the honor of playing against some great athletes on the basketball court. We lost another great one on Saturday night when Rick Bryan from Coweta, Oklahoma, passed away from a heart attack. We were rivals playing 5 miles away from each other. He was one of the strongest athletes I ever played against in high school.

Sports Editor Mike Strain’s blog: Bryan was a great player who had his coach’s respect.
All-American. Hard worker. Country boy. Warrior. Coweta’s favorite son.All of those things described Rick Bryan, a former NFL player and two-time University of Oklahoma All-American who suffered a fatal heart attack at his home Saturday night. Bryan was 47.Former OU coach Barry Switzer, who drove Sunday to Coweta in order to be with Bryan’s family, said Bryan was a “great, great player.” Bryan was a three-time All-Big Eight player at OU and was an All-American in 1982 and 1983. He owns the school record for career tackles (365) by a defensive lineman, ranking ahead of Kevin Murphy and Lee Roy Selmon, and is OU’s eighth-leading career tackler regardless of position.“No one outworked him,” Switzer said of Bryan. “I just wish he had played on a national championship team. He had it all.”Bryan’s memorial service will be 10 a.m. Thursday at Coweta High School. Among survivors are his wife, Shelby; son Mike, who is an All-Conference USA linebacker at the University of Tulsa; and two daughters, Jenni and Kristin.Bryan’s youngest daughter, Jenni, is a basketball standout who will be a senior at Coweta High School. In the summer of 2007, a bale of hay weighing more than 1,000 pounds fell on her and dad’s old football skills came in handy.

“He hit the round bale so hard that it came off the ground by half a foot,” Jenni told the Tulsa World in 2008. “It came right off me.”Imagine how college kids and NFL linemen felt when Bryan delivered a blow.Bryan was the ninth overall pick in the 1984 NFL Draft. He was selected by the Atlanta Falcons and spent all nine years of his pro career with the team. The Falcons learned what OU already knew: Bryan was flat-out tough.“It’s amazing to see how one person can withstand and endure so much pain and discomfort and still perform the way Rick Bryan does,” then-OU trainer Dan Pickett told the Oklahoman in 1983.“I’ve never seen anyone else like him. I really haven’t... As trainers, we’ve scratched our heads a time or two.”A compilation of injuries (including back and neck pain — and a popped Achilles tendon) eventually drove Bryan into retirement.Falcons team doctors advised Bryan to quit after he was diagnosed with a spinal nerve injury in 1989. He kept playing and started 16 games each of the next two seasons, producing a career-best 131 tackles in 1991. He once said his back pain was so severe he couldn’t tie his own shoes.“Rick was a warrior,” Falcons All-Pro tackle Mike Kenn said when Bryan retired. “That’s what made him such a good football player.”Switzer was once told by a Falcons defensive line coach “that he would take a truckload of Ricky Bryans and go play against anybody.” Bryan became a part-time assistant coach at Coweta after his playing career ended and he told the Tulsa World he was doing exactly what he wanted to do.“This is my hometown, and football has given me everything I wanted,” he said. “I’m giving back as much as I can. I’m just a guy who grew up out on a farm, and got lucky and got 10 years of pro football. The Lord has taken care of me, and He has let me do what I want with my life.”Bryan was chosen to the Tulsa World’s all-century high school football team in 1999 because of what he accomplished at Coweta.“Just a great kid,” Switzer said. “A great ol’ country boy. He was a hard recruit (to get). He wanted to go to Oklahoma State. We worked very hard to get him signed at Oklahoma.”Bryan was a linebacker and tight end at Coweta.“I knew nothing about the defensive line,” Bryan once told the Tulsa World. “But (then-OU defensive assistant) Rex Norris told me during freshman two-a-days I could be a two-time All-American. That made me feel good, that a coach of that caliber had that much confidence in me.”Bryan’s brothers, Mitch and Steve, also played at OU. Tulsa World sports writer Bill Haisten once wrote that the Bryan brothers are to Coweta what the Selmon brothers are to Eufaula. All you need to know about how much Rick Bryan loved his hometown is he returned there to raise a family when his playing career ended. He told the Oklahoman in 2008 that he owns more than 1,000 acres in the Coweta area.“It’s a cattle farm and I have some soybeans and wheat, too,” he said. “It’s all I’ve ever done my whole life, ever since I was a kid. I enjoy it. It’s a hard way to make a living. But that’s just the way I was raised.”Bryan once said his first year away from Coweta was “tough” because he was homesick all the time. But Bryan grew to love playing on big stages. Asked to recall his first OU-Texas game, he once said, “For a country boy like me to be involved in something like that, it’s just like you are in a dream. It’s like you are really not there. You are just walking down that (ramp) and thinking what in the world am I doing in something like this?”

Thought for Thursday

"Difficulty strengthens the mind as labor does the body."

Learning New Things

One month in my new job....... I'm still learning about the position and the district. I have enjoyed the challenges and the "newness" that it has brought to my life.

It's a refreshing feeling, but one that can be stressful and terrifying at times. Why because you become vulnerable. Change is difficult but one that is needed if we are to grow in to what God has in store for us.

In Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." God can instill the promise into your heart.

As we look at the the possibilities in the coming school year, what is it that seems nearly impossible in your life? Is there something that God has called you to do that seems well beyond your capability to achieve? You might have trouble understanding how a problem, concern or situation can work out, but the Lord certainly does. He takes complete responsibility for your needs when you obey Him. Answers to life's struggles are all found in His Word.

Psalm 16:11 reads, "You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever." The Lord will show you what to do and instruct you how to live daily life at its very best. Your responsibility is to stay focused on His will, and completely trust in Him.

Thought for the Day

"He who has no fire in himself cannot ignite others."

Daylight

Most of my friends are aware of my future retirement plans when I hit that certain age. I have a passion for the early morning quiet. I am an early riser and hit the road running about 4:45 each morning. Literally. I also have a love for donuts. I know where every donut shop is located in the mid-west. I have had great donuts, I have had some bad donuts. Yes, there are bad donuts out there! My goal someday is to open a donut shop in a small town (close to a great fishing hole and a great golf course) and make people happy. Have you ever met someone eating a donut that is unhappy?

Saturday morning, on our anniversary (Debbie was sound asleep) I got up at my usual 4:45 and headed to the Columbus Daylight Donut for my first time. I have been so busy, I have not had a chance to try the local establishment. What I found were great donuts. I like donuts that have the doughy substance not the light air taste. I got exactly what I enjoy. They also had my favorite hot-out-of-the-fryer pine cones. When I got back to the house with my donuts and Joplin Globe, Debbie was up ready to enjoy the great donut masterpiece with me.

So for my friends up north concerned I would be lost in southeast Kansas without my favorite donuts, not to worry, the donuts down here are even better.

Anniversary

Debbie and I celebrate 28 years of marriage on Saturday. It has gone so fast. We have enjoyed each moment together. The great times as well as those difficult situations, it has been such a fulfilling life spending it with someone who loves God more than anything else. I have learned so much from this Oklahoma girl. She will never know how blessed I am to be able to spend my life with such a beautiful and caring person.

My prayer for everyone today is a marriage blessing. May God give to you what he has blessed me with the past 28 years. A loving wife, who is the apple of my eye and the most beautiful woman on earth. Thank you God for giving me Debbie! We hope to celebrate with a quiet dinner in Joplin.

Visitors

We had a great surprise on Thursday evening as Mark and Margaret Hoffmeister came by to visit. They live in Independence, Kansas. Their son had a baseball game here in Columbus. Mark and I played college basketball together at York. Mark and Margaret also met each other at York. We enjoyed the visit and look forward to many more being so close to Independence. They worship at the Cherryvale church of Christ.

Jack

We made a fast trip to Broken Arrow on Saturday afternoon to see our wayward child Jack. He will be back with us very soon. I'm not sure he wants to leave the comforts of a Sooner life!

Thought for the Day

"The man who says it can't be done
is generally interrupted by someone doing it."

Article-Keys to A Lasting Marriage

I don't agree with everything in the article below but the researchers make some good observations. A relationship built on God has a very positive outcome.

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) – Living happily ever after needn't only be for fairy tales. Australian researchers have identified what it takes to keep a couple together, and it's a lot more than just being in love.

A couple's age, previous relationships and even whether they smoke or not are factors that influence whether their marriage is going to last, according to a study by researchers from the Australian National University.

The study, entitled "What's Love Got to Do With It," tracked nearly 2,500 couples -- married or living together -- from 2001 to 2007 to identify factors associated with those who remained together compared with those who divorced or separated.

It found that a husband who is nine or more years older than his wife is twice as likely to get divorced, as are husbands who get married before they turn 25.

Children also influence the longevity of a marriage or relationship, with one-fifth of couples who have kids before marriage -- either from a previous relationship or in the same relationship -- having separated compared to just nine percent of couples without children born before marriage.

Women who want children much more than their partners are also more likely to get a divorce.
A couple's parents also have a role to play in their own relationship, with the study showing some 16 percent of men and women whose parents ever separated or divorced experienced marital separation themselves compared to 10 percent for those whose parents did not separate.
Also, partners who are on their second or third marriage are 90 percent more likely to separate than spouses who are both in their first marriage.

Not surprisingly, money also plays a role, with up to 16 percent of respondents who indicated they were poor or where the husband -- not the wife -- was unemployed saying they had separated, compared with only nine percent of couples with healthy finances.

And couples where one partner, and not the other, smokes are also more likely to have a relationship that ends in failure.

Factors found to not significantly affect separation risk included the number and age of children born to a married couple, the wife's employment status and the number of years the couple had been employed.

The study was jointly written by Dr Rebecca Kippen and Professor Bruce Chapman from The Australian National University, and Dr Peng Yu from the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

Craig Visits Washington DC

Guess Where Craig Is?

A Family Shot

After the tearful farewell on Saturday in Osage City we met the entire Carriger Clan in Ottawa for lunch before heading back to Columbus. Sure will be nice to have Debbie home and her great cooking.

Goodbye

As I looked across the empty rooms for a moment they were alive once again. I saw my 6 and 3 year old boys running down the hall. I saw toys in the living room and Lego's on the table. I smelled fresh baked cookies in the kitchen. I heard Debbie in the laundry room. I saw Maggie in the barn area barking at a cat that ran across the driveway. Then I realized it was only a memory.

Saturday we said our final goodbyes to our Osage City house. The people that are buying it will move in on Friday.

It was a difficult on Saturday closing the door for the last time never to pass through that doorway where so many memories were made. God blessed us with some great family moments at 1626 Brant. I know even greater memories will be made at 405 Lash in Columbus.

Thank you God for giving us so many blessings and memories..........................................

Thought for the Day

"The economy is looking bad. You know how bad it is? In Beverly Hills women are firing their nannies and having to learn the names of their own children. That's how bad it is"

Jay Leno

Where is Jack?

This is a pic of our wayward dog Jack. He is vacationing down south at the in-laws. We hope to have him in Columbus by the time school starts.

Would You Let This Group In Your House?

It was a fun 4th at the Carriger House. Good food, fun and family. What else could you ask for? Craig being here as well. We miss you big guy!

Scripture for Today

Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.

Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.
Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.

1 Chronicles 29:11-13

First Board Meeting Today

Tonight is my first board meeting in USD 493 Columbus. I'm excited as we look to the future and plan for the 2009-10 school year.

Debbie is headed to Osage City today to prep for a garage sale on Friday. We have good news......we have a contract on our house in Osage. We hope to finalize everything by July 17. Please be praying for everything to turn out well on the sale of our house.

We had a great time with family this past weekend. The food, fireworks and family time was great!

Placed Membership Today

The Church at Columbus has been a very caring and welcoming to Debbie and I. We have enjoyed good Bible teaching and preaching from Troy and really have enjoyed getting to know the Church Family.

Debbie and I will officially place membership with the congregation today. We wish to be a part of this great family and minister to the Columbus community. We pray we can encourage the church here as much as they have encouraged and supported us in our move here.

We should have several family visitors attend church with us today.

The Annual Carriger 4th of July Celebration

It's that time of year once again for the Carriger Family to head to our place for the 4th of of July weekend. This year they head to Columbus for our annual catfish fry and BBQ fest. It should be a fun time.

I have enjoyed my new position and getting moved in and acquainted with the staff of USD 493. They are great people.

A Room With A View

Craig has a nice view from his summer apartment in New York City.

My First Day on the Job

July 1, 2009, my first day in my new position as Superintendent of Schools in Columbus. I'm excited as I meet new people and work with a great group of educators and support personnel as we try to give the students of USD 493 Columbus the very best education possible. Please pray for me in my new position and as we look to the future.