Once More for the Hitman
Josh Gross Jul 28, 2006
Greatness in sport is often measured by statistics. But rarely does
that provide us with a wholly accurate definition. To know the true
measure of its meaning adversity must inspire an equally noble
response.
Tonight in Lemoore, Calif., World Extreme Cagefighting in conjunction with the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino bring an industry together to honor Ryan Bennett, the respected mixed martial arts journalist who died in a tragic automobile accident May 31 while driving his family from Utah to Las Vegas.
“Everybody knew Ryan and I think it wasn’t even a question to a lot
of people to work this show,” said WEC promoter Scott Adams. “This is kind of what
life’s about, you know just helping people.”
Since Bennett’s passing all corners of the tight-knit MMA community have done what they could to honor the 35-year-old founder of MMAweekly.com, whose smile and infectious attitude were impossible to ignore.
For those of us that knew Ryan, his loss remains difficult to put into perspective. This was a man that did everything the way it was supposed to be done. He never picked up a drink. Didn’t smoke a day in his life. Loved and honored his parents. He helped, constantly helped. And above all cherished his wife Tonya and their four children: Allison, Jada, Ashley and Braden.
In every way tonight’s fundraiser — proceeds from the gate, vendors and DVD sales will go to the family — is tribute to something we can’t measure in numbers.
“I told my wife the minute we discovered he was gone, ‘We can’t change the past. All we can do right from this moment on is to help and do the best we can in the future,’” said Richard Bennett, Ryan’s father.
To that end, much of the money raising has focused on securing a future for Ryan’s children and paying off roughly $1.5 million in medical bills.
Having just left his longtime gig as a sports anchor at KSBY, an NBC affiliate in Santa Barbara, Calif., to take over as News Director for the fledgling Fight Network, Ryan was between health and life insurance policies at the time of the accident. The only coverage they had stemmed from Bennett’s auto insurance, which provided $2,500 towards funeral costs.
“On his answering machine was the insurance agent telling Ryan he had the papers ready and he had to stop in and sign ‘em,” said his father. “He never did. So that’s one of the reasons we need these fundraisers cause he had no money.”
Tonya, laid up for weeks with life-threatening injuries, as well as Allison and Jada, who were also seriously hurt, are better now. But there’s still a long road ahead, one they clearly won’t have to travel alone.
“I just can’t believe the outpouring from the community where my son Ryan lived,” said Richard. “The community has helped out tremendously in Utah. And also KSBY here in San Luis Obispo it just blows me away to see all these good people and how good they are.”
“This kind of outpouring is indicative of how Ryan lived his life,” said Frank Trigg (Pictures), co-host of Sound Off, the popular daily Internet radio show Ryan created on his Web site.
Ryan’s better moments as a WEC broadcaster will surely be put on display tonight, and the 2,000 or so people who braved 100-plus degree temperatures to attend, including Richard Bennett, would be right to smile.
“The thing is I know where he got that personality and that’s a bummer because he got it from his old man,” joked Richard. “I’m not as nice as he is, but I’m that type of a person also.”
“He always in his youth had that same big smile,” remembered Donna. “And I think he’s always been a positive person. He affected a lot of people.”
Trigg was one.
For over two years they shared the spotlight via Sound Off, and not long ago Trigg was hired by PRIDE to be the color commentator on its Bushido series. After parting ways with Bas Rutten (Pictures), PRIDE asked Trigg to become its full-time English-broadcast color man.
None of that, Trigg said, would have happened without Ryan.
“The thing that you have to remember about Ryan is he unselfishly gave to the sport,” expressed Trigg. “He did this sport as a part-time for-free thing, just as something he loved while he was working for NBC in Santa Barbara. And then he gave half his family time to the Web site, to covering fights. He would take vacation days, non-paid days off, to cover the sport.”
While Ryan quickly established himself as one of the leading journalists in mixed martial arts, his parents really didn’t understand what he was up to.
“My son told me, which was the day he died, he told me from his cell phone and he was driving to his house in Salt Lake at the time in I-15, he said, ‘Dad, do you know what I do?’ And I said, “Dude when you worked for KSBY I knew what you did. But you work for the Fight Network and I haven’t a clue,’” Richard remembered.
“He laughed and said, ‘Well, I’m gonna bring you a DVD to show you what I do.’ I never did get that DVD and Tonya hasn’t been in too good a shape and I’m not pushing the issue. I’m sure at some point I’ll get to see that.”
Though Richard Bennett’s first impression of MMA was that it was brutal, he quickly came to a different understanding of the competitors and people that make up the sport after Ryan passed.
“I know they’re good sports and love each other,” he said. “That was the part of this industry I didn’t realize. The compassion for the opponents: it’s amazing. That part blows me away.”
Airing live on HD Net tonight at 6:30 p.m. PST, 28 fighters will compete for free in honor of a man who called their bouts from Lemoore to Tokyo.
“Everybody stepped up,” said Adams, who anticipated tonight’s event will raise between $50,000 to $60,000. “I mean Wes Sims (Pictures), JT Taylor (Pictures) … guys you can pay $2,000 to $5,000 easily. I think those two guys in particular wanted to fight on the Ryan Bennett show because of what Ryan meant to them.”
“But I’m more excited about the DVD,” he continued. “Can you imagine if we sold 30,000 DVDs at 20 bucks? That’s 600 grand. … There’s where real money can be made, on the back end.”
As they drove from Utah to Central California early Thursday morning, Richard and Donna Bennett listened to a CD made by U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch. On it, Hatch talked of the greatness of America, whose heart lives in the quality of people that occupy this land.
Richard’s thoughts turned to his son … as will ours tonight.
Tonight in Lemoore, Calif., World Extreme Cagefighting in conjunction with the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino bring an industry together to honor Ryan Bennett, the respected mixed martial arts journalist who died in a tragic automobile accident May 31 while driving his family from Utah to Las Vegas.
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Since Bennett’s passing all corners of the tight-knit MMA community have done what they could to honor the 35-year-old founder of MMAweekly.com, whose smile and infectious attitude were impossible to ignore.
“I’m just amazed, you know,” said Ryan’s mother Donna. “I suppose
as parents we didn’t realize how well known he was. It’s been kind
of an overwhelming experience to see how many people have come
together for the family.”
For those of us that knew Ryan, his loss remains difficult to put into perspective. This was a man that did everything the way it was supposed to be done. He never picked up a drink. Didn’t smoke a day in his life. Loved and honored his parents. He helped, constantly helped. And above all cherished his wife Tonya and their four children: Allison, Jada, Ashley and Braden.
In every way tonight’s fundraiser — proceeds from the gate, vendors and DVD sales will go to the family — is tribute to something we can’t measure in numbers.
“I told my wife the minute we discovered he was gone, ‘We can’t change the past. All we can do right from this moment on is to help and do the best we can in the future,’” said Richard Bennett, Ryan’s father.
To that end, much of the money raising has focused on securing a future for Ryan’s children and paying off roughly $1.5 million in medical bills.
Having just left his longtime gig as a sports anchor at KSBY, an NBC affiliate in Santa Barbara, Calif., to take over as News Director for the fledgling Fight Network, Ryan was between health and life insurance policies at the time of the accident. The only coverage they had stemmed from Bennett’s auto insurance, which provided $2,500 towards funeral costs.
“On his answering machine was the insurance agent telling Ryan he had the papers ready and he had to stop in and sign ‘em,” said his father. “He never did. So that’s one of the reasons we need these fundraisers cause he had no money.”
Tonya, laid up for weeks with life-threatening injuries, as well as Allison and Jada, who were also seriously hurt, are better now. But there’s still a long road ahead, one they clearly won’t have to travel alone.
“I just can’t believe the outpouring from the community where my son Ryan lived,” said Richard. “The community has helped out tremendously in Utah. And also KSBY here in San Luis Obispo it just blows me away to see all these good people and how good they are.”
“This kind of outpouring is indicative of how Ryan lived his life,” said Frank Trigg (Pictures), co-host of Sound Off, the popular daily Internet radio show Ryan created on his Web site.
Ryan’s better moments as a WEC broadcaster will surely be put on display tonight, and the 2,000 or so people who braved 100-plus degree temperatures to attend, including Richard Bennett, would be right to smile.
“The thing is I know where he got that personality and that’s a bummer because he got it from his old man,” joked Richard. “I’m not as nice as he is, but I’m that type of a person also.”
“He always in his youth had that same big smile,” remembered Donna. “And I think he’s always been a positive person. He affected a lot of people.”
Trigg was one.
For over two years they shared the spotlight via Sound Off, and not long ago Trigg was hired by PRIDE to be the color commentator on its Bushido series. After parting ways with Bas Rutten (Pictures), PRIDE asked Trigg to become its full-time English-broadcast color man.
None of that, Trigg said, would have happened without Ryan.
“The thing that you have to remember about Ryan is he unselfishly gave to the sport,” expressed Trigg. “He did this sport as a part-time for-free thing, just as something he loved while he was working for NBC in Santa Barbara. And then he gave half his family time to the Web site, to covering fights. He would take vacation days, non-paid days off, to cover the sport.”
While Ryan quickly established himself as one of the leading journalists in mixed martial arts, his parents really didn’t understand what he was up to.
“My son told me, which was the day he died, he told me from his cell phone and he was driving to his house in Salt Lake at the time in I-15, he said, ‘Dad, do you know what I do?’ And I said, “Dude when you worked for KSBY I knew what you did. But you work for the Fight Network and I haven’t a clue,’” Richard remembered.
“He laughed and said, ‘Well, I’m gonna bring you a DVD to show you what I do.’ I never did get that DVD and Tonya hasn’t been in too good a shape and I’m not pushing the issue. I’m sure at some point I’ll get to see that.”
Though Richard Bennett’s first impression of MMA was that it was brutal, he quickly came to a different understanding of the competitors and people that make up the sport after Ryan passed.
“I know they’re good sports and love each other,” he said. “That was the part of this industry I didn’t realize. The compassion for the opponents: it’s amazing. That part blows me away.”
Airing live on HD Net tonight at 6:30 p.m. PST, 28 fighters will compete for free in honor of a man who called their bouts from Lemoore to Tokyo.
“Everybody stepped up,” said Adams, who anticipated tonight’s event will raise between $50,000 to $60,000. “I mean Wes Sims (Pictures), JT Taylor (Pictures) … guys you can pay $2,000 to $5,000 easily. I think those two guys in particular wanted to fight on the Ryan Bennett show because of what Ryan meant to them.”
“But I’m more excited about the DVD,” he continued. “Can you imagine if we sold 30,000 DVDs at 20 bucks? That’s 600 grand. … There’s where real money can be made, on the back end.”
As they drove from Utah to Central California early Thursday morning, Richard and Donna Bennett listened to a CD made by U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch. On it, Hatch talked of the greatness of America, whose heart lives in the quality of people that occupy this land.
Richard’s thoughts turned to his son … as will ours tonight.
