vendredi 7 janvier 2011

RICHY ROY (1982-2011)



Today we lost a good member of the club. Richy Roy was killed in a mining accident at Kidd Mine in Timmins.

I met Richy about a year ago when he joined Sudbury BJJ. He had a background as a high school wrestler from Chemmy and was one of Paul (Berthiaume)'s boys.

In jiu jitsu, you get to know your training partners pretty quickly. The nature of the sport sees alot of close contact so getting past the initial stages of "hello my name is" to "bro, you need to wash your junk because you stink...but I still love you" comes pretty quick.

The pictures I've posted are from Richy's first competition at the Arnold's in Ohio last winter. Funny story, I had hoped to go, but was away on business in Alberta at the time. Along with the BJJ competition, the Arnolds is a huge martial arts and sports expo. At any rate, Arianny Celeste (ring card girl for the UFC) was going to be in attendance. I'm a happily married man, but I've often joked about my love for Arianny.

So, with that, I told the guys heading to the expo that if one of them could find Arianny and have her hold up a signed piece of paper saying hello to me, there would be some type of prize in it for them when they got back. Well...apparently the lineup to see Miss Arianny was pretty long, so Richy decided to find a replacement for me. The flash from the picture blurred out the message to me, but you'll appreciate Richy's humour here. (if you've seen it on his facebook page, he tagged me on it and left a pretty funny caption for yours truly).



Richy did manage to meet a handful of UFC fighters, here's a picture he got with The Natural, Randy Couture.



We often talked at length in the locker room after a training session. Last winter, he was gearing up to head back to work with Redpath, but most of the time, we talked about our boys. Richy was very proud of his son Austin and although I never saw them together, I know he was a great father just from the pride he took when talking about him.

Richy will be missed by everyone he came in contact with and it goes without saying that he'll be missed at Sudbury BJJ.

Rest in peace Richy! You sir...are the man.

3 commentaires:

  1. I was on this trip with Richy. I knew him before leaving for Ohio, but I got to know him very well. We shared a bed and his snoring kept me up the first night. Richy has charisma and charm that you instantly loved the guy. I spoke to Richy a couple of days before the accident and he was excited to be back training with his teammates at the club in a few months. I will forever remember Richy for being a super-athlete and an all-around great guy. He will be missed.

    André

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  2. Steve had also added a story to this on Richy`s facebook page. Apparently, Arianny wasn`t the only UFC personality that had long lineups that day. He got that picture with Randy Couture by walking past a lineup of around 200 people who were waiting patiently to get an autograph. He walked up to Randy with his smile and asked if he could get a picture. Randy obliged with a "sure, no problem."

    He was one of those guys who could get you to do anything...even a complete stranger like the former UFC light & heavyweight champion.

    Yves

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  3. Richy Roy will be missed forever. Women wanted to be with him, and men wanted to be him. He was the best "Gin and Juice" back up singer ever.

    Rest easy, Richy.

    Guy

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