Rick Duncan is the founder of www.teeboxtimes.com. Rick was born in 1962 and grew up in the late era of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player.
He began watching golf and all sports in his bedroom on school nights on a small 5″ black & white television at around 6 years old. Rick’s mother was a huge sports fan as well and Rick was exposed to every sport imaginable by his mom at an early age. Rick remembers watching every Super Bowl with his mother from SB I, until the 2015 Super Bowl when Brady and the Patriots beat the Seahawks 28-24. Rick’s mother was an avid quarterback fan and he recalls when they were watching the very 1st game Brady played when Bledsoe came out. Unfortunately, Mrs. Duncan died of extreme Alzheimers and had no clue who Tom Brady or what football was in the 2015 Super Bowl.
Rick remembers over the years, primarily starting in the early 1980’s when his mom, Betty, was getting very disappointed in sports. She would make remarks and her exact words were “Sports is going to hell, except for golf” and her reasoning was that she was sensing a move towards the “ME” attitude as opposed to the team attitude. Roger Craig said it well in the 80’s, when asked why were the 49er’s so good? His response “because when we go on the field with Joe Montana, we feel as one, it’s not me or you, but us”. Unfortunately, Mrs. Duncan saw the future in this case and she was correct. The excessive celebrations and the “ME” concept has eroded sports and she even made mention of politics and sports saying that players and managers should keep their mouths shut about their politics and agendas, and this was in the 80’s and 90’s.
In a recent statement Rick said “Unfortunately, over the last few years, sports has lost the true essence of what it stands for. I still remember walking on the fields as a kid to get autographs and getting in the back of Sparky Anderson’s red Lincoln, manager of the Reds, to get his autograph during spring training. I was not only in awe by who they were, but in their play and love for the game as well. During my youth, we would play football, baseball, golf and basketball, only being the best we could be mimicking our heroes and now you don’t see kids out doing this and if so, it’s very rare. What would they mimic? Protesting politics on the field? Protesting a President or some other political agenda? It is a sad day in this country, because we have lost the essence of sports. Sports used to motivate and not only in a sports motivational manner, but it motivated in a way that it could be applied to life in and of itself. Over the decades, I have continuously found myself applying valuable lessons, whether it be from playing sports myself or from my athlete heroes, into every day life and in business. But now sports has become a major influencer of politics, agendas and hatred, even in golf over the last few months.”
Rick grew up in the Los Angeles area and in Merritt Island, Florida. He developed his passion for classic cars from his dad and his passion for sports from his mother, who had been a sports fan since the 1930’s. She was not even 5′ tall but a star guard on her high school basketball team in Harriman, Tennessee. Rick played baseball throughout school and was lucky enough to meet several MLB players during the late 60’s and early 70’s during the Houston Astros spring training in Cocoa, Florida.
Unfortunately, Rick lost his father in 1981 to a heart complication that was initiated by Rheumatic Fever in WWII. He was only 56 years old. His dad always supported him in his endeavors, whether it be in getting his Gemological license or his sports business ideas. When Rick was 17 he started a new sports newspaper in Houston, Texas covering the Oilers and Astros. His dad was an avid entrepreneur and always taught him to follow his dream in business. After his dad died, Rick made an overnight decision to get his law degree. He attended Sam Houston State University, University of Houston and what was then Bates College of Law. From the early 80’s to 1999 Rick built many businesses, from classic car companies, the electrical industry and in the sports industry. Some succeeded, some failed, but his passion was growing and making them successful and selling these businesses.
In 1999 Rick pioneered Houston Sports Weekly, which covered all Houston sports, whether it be high school, college or pro. After 6 publications Houston Sports Weekly won the Prestigious Fight For Life Award for helping the youth of Houston excel in sports.
In 2000, tropical storm Allison hit the Houston area and it devastated Rick’s personal and business life. His mother was working with him at his electrical supply company and his daughter was 6 years old. at the time. They lost everything they had, including personal property and business property along with a classic car collection including 25 vintage vehicles and 90% of their other business inventory. Everything was insured, but due to the fact that it was rising water, the insurance would not pay off and Rick and his family were confronted with starting over after nearly 20 years of building their businesses.
Rick made a choice to rebuild his electrical supply and classic car businesses, but he also started training with a prominent instructor from Florida on his golf game. In 2005 he began playing on the Amateur Tour and won several tournaments through 2008 and qualified for the Nationals 3 consecutive years. In 2009 he had a massive heat stroke while playing in a tournament, then a few months later broke his ankle in 3 places. These two incidents pretty much ended his gold dream, because he never acclimated back to a state where he could play golf in the heat for an extended amount of time.
Rick was re-married in 2012 to a Houston attorney. Due to the fact her dad was ill with congestive heart failure, living in Missouri and pushing 90 years old and Rick’s mother’s Alzheimers was progressing rapidly, they decided to take Rick’s mother and move to Missouri to care for their ill and elderly parents. In order to do this, they had to basically take a full hiatus from all their businesses. Although they worked in a skeleton aspect in Missouri, they cared from their parents until Rick’s mother passed away in 2015 and Rick’s wife’s dad passed away in 2016. Immediately, Rick was ready to move back to Texas, so they moved to the north Dallas area, where they remain today.
To date, Rick has built a successful classic car auction business, a marketing firm and is building a new electrical supply company selling to utilities worldwide. He has also been tinkering in the sports publication business. “It has always irritated me that sports has become so political and agenda driven and the name changes of teams, like the Indians and the Redskins is over the top”, Rick Said. “Politics has even infiltrated college and high school sports. The essence of sports has been eroded from all levels of sports. But, when LIV Golf formed and I witnessed the attacks from the media and vicious attacks at that, I had had enough. It seems the media is always seeking to divide us and they have done that to a large extent within the golf fan community. I even hear players such as Tiger and Rory talking about how LIV Golfers are ruining their legacy. No, they aren’t ruining their legacies, The PGA heads have set that narrative by suspending them and making it appear that the LIV players have done it to themselves. And every media source refers to the LIV Tour as the Saudi Tour. This is absurdity and simply positioning a narrative to create friction and division. Just look at how much money comes into the PGA from sponsors who spend billions in Saudi. As a great guy once called them “the drive by media”, they unite in a narrative to destroy someone or something and to divide the people, and it works to a large extent. Padraig Harrington put it best when he said the PGA used to be the enemy to the European players, so why attempt to divide the players and fans to take sides. The two tours can exist and live together. I am in no way am going against the PGA and it’s essence. The PGA has done great things. The problem is the PGA heads and their political correctness and agenda driven ideas that have created the divide, along with the media. Give me one good reason a player cannot compete on LIV and on the PGA? You can’t. Players have floated to and from tours around the world for decades. It’s all politics, it’s that simple.”
Rick went further to say “This is why I have launched teeboxtimes.com. I used to argue with my mother that it would never hit golf and never get that bad in other sports, but that day has come and boy was my mom correct. At Tee Box Times we will cover all golf and all tours, but we will not take a negative approach on anything that will jeopardize “The Essence of Sports”. Let’s bring back that essence for the youth of our world and give them the opportunity to see the game and players as it/they were meant to be and as we did as children. An inspiration, not a political “agenda driven” arena. Our new team and staff at Tee Box Times will see to it, that the essence of sports is not lost from the game of golf.
