Rick Duncan, managing member of Group Duncan, LLC. 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 his 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.
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, being the best we could be mimicking our heroes and now you don’t see kids out doing that. The ball fields have been vacated for video & social media. Over the decades, I have continuously found myself applying valuable lessons, whether it be from playing sports myself or from my athletic heroes into my every day life and in my businesses. But now sports has become a major influencer of politics, agendas and hatred. We are are even robbing girls of their glory days of competition, but inserting men into women’s sports.
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 was a star guard on her high school basketball team in Harriman, Tennessee and the University of Tennessee said she was just too small to play although she made the team.. 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.
In 1999 Rick pioneered Houston Sports Weekly, which covered all Houston sports, whether it be high school, college or pro. After only 6 publications Houston Sports Weekly won the Prestigious Fight For Life Award for helping the youth of Houston excel in sports.
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 ultimately ended his gold dream, because he never acclimated back to a physical state where he could play golf in the heat for an extended amount of time.
Rick uses the term “The Essence of Sports” and believes that sports can be a guiding light for the youth of the world to develop mentally & physically with. “I believe the essence of sports has many dimensions, but to state it simply it’s primary thrust is that feeling a child gets when he is in the presence of his sports idol and his eyes says it all or when that kid excels at a sport and the drive of excellence begins to shape his life in full” Rick said. ” I started Tee Box Times because I loved the LIV Golf concept and becoming friends with many of the players have been a dream of a lifetime.”
