by Logan Meriwether
Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.
That’s how J.R. Holder Wellness Center Director Richard Burdick has concluded that baseball has taken him a lot of places in life.
Burdick went to Enid High where he played on the baseball and football team and always stayed busy keeping good grades and playing sports.
Burdick was recruited by Joe Philips to play baseball at Northwestern. He first met Philips when Burdick moved to Enid and was playing on the Enid EGRT little league team. Burdick’s little league team beat Alva in the Little League World Series and then won the Little League World Championship. After the game Burdick met Philips and kept in contact with him throughout high school.
Burdick felt like Northwestern was perfect for him when he first moved on campus. He enjoyed the small-town feel.
“My favorite thing about Alva was how welcoming and supportive the community was, and you never met a stranger,” Burdick said.
When he wasn’t busy with baseball Burdick enjoys fishing and getting to golf in his free time. Now that he is graduated and is the director of the Wellness Center his hobbies have changed to taking care of his two sons. The most recent son is 8 weeks old and the oldest is three years old. They keep him busy and take up most of his time outside of work.
When Burdick can get away in the summer he loves to go to the beach with his family. He loves Mexico and if he could go anywhere he hasn’t been, it would be somewhere in the Pacific Northwest.
“You can’t beat the beaches and the warm temperatures,” Burdick said.