Individual Details

Death

Lubbock Christian High School head softball coach Rick Furr dies -- When the scope of the project became too overwhelming, Brian Pitaniello, then Lubbock Christian high school’s baseball coach, sought additional help in planning the school’s baseball stadium construction. It came from a resourceful group of parents — known as the MacGyvers — led by Rick Furr. The group worked diligently in upgrading the facility, one piece at a time from 2002 until the field’s completion in 2006. After learning about Furr’s death Sunday, Pitaniello recalled how much his initiative helped the school. LCHS Athletic Director Pete Stone confirmed Furr’s death Sunday. He was 61. The cause of Furr’s death is not immediately known. “His impact on (assistant baseball coach Phil Bryant) and I was probably as much as any impact he had on the kids,” Pitaniello said. “He brought a maturity. He had been around for a while. He became a mentor for us and I never would have dreamt that he’d become one of my best friends. You know he was loyal. You could count in him. If you gave him an assignment, you could let that assignment go.” On Sunday afternoon, Stone met with the softball team and team parents. “That’s a loss they’re going to take really hard,” Stone said. “(Furr was) a big influence over those girls and over our school.” In 2010, as part of series examining West Texas sports figures and the medical conditions they face, the Avalanche-Journal profiled Furr’s dealing with on-again, off-again symptoms of hepatitis C. In that story, Furr said he believed he contracted hepatitis C during a blood transfusion during surgery 20 years ago. “Interwoven through all of this is that he wasn’t supposed to live,” Pitaniello said of Furr dealing with health issues while coaching at the school. “He had hospice called two different times. The fact that he won a state (softball) championship a year or two after a night we were all together in his room at Baylor Hospital in Dallas to tell him goodbye.” Furr has been involved with Lubbock Christian High School since 2000 and in an official coaching capacity since 2002. Furr also worked as a baseball and football assistant coach. “With great sadness, Lubbock Christian School wishes to offer our sincerest sympathy to the family of Rick Furr, longstanding pillar of LCS and head Lady Eagle Softball Coach,” the school’s Facebook post read. “Coach Furr passed from this earth on Sunday, January 3, 2016 to claim his heavenly reward.” Funeral arrangements are pending for Furr, who has an award named after him at LCHS: the Rick Furr Courage Award. “It’s one thing for adults to respect somebody,” Pitaniello said. “And to see kids (respect him), they’re not as quite as apt to let their guard down and share their feelings. Rick Furr, along with (Superintendent Peter) Dahlstrom, would be the most beloved person in our school.”

LUBBOCK-Rick Furr of Lubbock passed away on Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016, at the age of 61. He was born April 14, 1954, in Hobbs, NM. He graduated from Hurst L.D. Bell High School in 1972. Rick earned his Engineering Degree in 1976 from Texas Tech University. He married Renee Harris on March 11, 1994. He began coaching at Lubbock Christian High School in 2000, and later became the assistant baseball coach and head softball coach. He also was a Sales Engineer for BC Supply. Rick was active in the Texas Cotton Ginners Association and a member of Green Lawn Church of Christ. Those left to cherish his memory are his wife, Renee; parents, Keith and Barbara Furr of Dickson, Tennessee; children, Kenneth Furr and wife, Emily, Cody Furr, all of Austin, Blaze Taylor and wife, Macalee of Los Angeles, Calif., Kenedy and Kamryn Furr of Lubbock; and sister, Melissa Furr-Neil and husband, Marc of Dickson, Tenn. Memorial services will be 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, at Green Lawn Church of Christ. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the baseball or softball program at Lubbock Christian High School or Lubbock Christian University. Please celebrate the life of Rick by visiting www.combestfamilyfuneralhomes.com.
Published in The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal on Jan. 6, 2016