Over the last couple of months, Ryan Spurlock has handled tragedy like a man far older than his 18 years.
Spurlock, who at press time led the Arkansas State Golf Association’s Junior Player of the Year race and who will head off to play for Arkansas Tech in the fall, has embraced the game and his golf family in the wake of the death of his mother, Andrea Epperson of Conway, on May 13.
The accident happened one week before his Maumelle High School graduation.
“I’m having my good and bad days,” he said recently. “Any time I’m on the course is a good day because I’m doing it for her. That makes me feel better, but the times when I’m alone, at night — it tears me up.”
Epperson was traveling east on Interstate 40 near Conway that evening when a westbound pickup crossed the median and hit her car. She was med-flighted to UAMS.
“I was at work (at the Maumelle Country Club pro shop) that afternoon, and she texted me about 4 p.m., ” Spurlock said. “She just said, ‘Hey, what’s up?’ That was really weird, because she’d never done that before. I told her I was at work, and she said, ‘Call me later.’
“I went on and played golf, and after I locked up, I was getting a putting lesson, and when I got home my dad said, ‘You need to go pick up your grandparents. There’s been an accident.’ So I went (to Conway) and picked them up, and there were five or six police cars at their house. I asked (the officers) if she was alive, and they said, ‘You just need to go to the hospital.’
“My dad was the first one to the hospital, and he had to identify her. I’ve seen my dad cry twice, when his mom and dad died, and when we got there, he was crying.”
Spurlock said the accident had happened about 6 p.m.
“The guy (who hit Epperson) said he had a diabetic seizure, and he crossed the median and hit her head-on in an F-350 going 100.”
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Ryan is the only child of Epperson and Ross Spurlock. The couple divorced when he was 6, and he lived with his father, who works for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, in Maumelle.
But Andrea, who was living with her parents, Bobby and Roxanna Epperson, when she died, was always close.
“His mom had her battles, but I’m one of those dads that we always stayed close,” Ross Spurlock said. “It’s not very often a dad gets custody, but we didn’t do my weekend, your weekend. If I ever wanted to go visit, I went.”
Ross Spurlock hasn’t remarried.
“I told him, ‘One of these years, you’re going to be gone, and I’ll do my thing then,’” he said. “He’s my priority.”
A few days before his graduation, Ryan spoke at his mother’s funeral at Morrilton’s First Baptist Church.
“It was excellent,” Ross Spurlock said. “There wasn’t a dry eye in the place.”
Graduation was the week’s next hurdle. Epperson had helped her son send out invitations and had planned his party to follow the ceremony.
“All of a sudden, it was over,” Ross Spurlock said. “That week, for an 18-year-old, was just unbelievable.”
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Ross Spurlock was a golfer, and years ago, he encouraged his young son to take up the game.
“But I was always into football and basketball,” Ryan said. “But when I tried it — I was 9 or 10 — I loved it. The competitiveness of it — you can never conquer it; you have to work every day to get better at it.”
Once he picked up a club, he went all in for the sport, and he started playing tournaments on the PGA Junior Tour before graduating to the ASGA’s junior circuit. He won the Junior Player of the Year award in 2014 and finished runner-up last year.
And his parents were always around for the ride.
He said he was dedicating this summer to Epperson. At press time, he had won two tournaments and finished among the top five in every ASGA event he had played.
“Mom went to all the tournaments with me,” he said “My dad went to some when he could get off work, but she traveled with me and watched me play every day.
“Some of the best golf memories I have were just her being there when I won. She could be there and celebrate, and every time I had a bad round, she would always tell me how proud she was, even if I shot 80 or 65 — it didn’t matter. That’s why I always liked her being there, because it didn’t matter how I played.”
Ross Spurlock said of Epperson: “She for sure was his No. 2 fan, because I’m No. 1. His nana falls in there, too. (Epperson’s) mom is still there for nearly every tournament. Since this has happened, his grandfather is coming more, too, and that’s been good for him.”
Ross Spurlock said he makes as many tournaments, especially the big ones, as possible.
“It’s different now than before he started to drive,” he said. “His success has been from hard work. He started following me around to the little tournaments I played, and before I knew it, when he was 12 years old, I couldn’t beat him any more. Then by the time he’s 15, he doesn’t want to play with me.”
The ASGA, and the Maumelle golf community, have embraced Spurlock in the aftermath of Epperson’s death.
“It’s been amazing,” he said. “So many parents have called, texted, emailed, sent cards because she had affected their lives so much. She was a member of the golfing family, so it affected everybody.”
Jay Fox, executive director of the ASGA, is a big Spurlock fan.
“Ryan is far mature beyond his years and is a very impressive young gentleman,” Fox said. “He is always one of the first to congratulate his fellow competitors when he doesn’t win, and when he does win, he is always humble and gracious.
“I cannot imagine the grief and pain he must feel with the loss of his mother the same week he graduated from high school. He has handled it with such grace.”
In the aftermath of the accident, some Maumelle Country Club members held a fundraiser in memory of Epperson. Ryan got to choose the beneficiary.
“They suggested (Arkansas Children’s Hospital) or Baptist (Medical Center), but I told them no,” he said. “I thought the ASGA was a good choice because my mom loved everybody there.”
Ross Spurlock called the ASGA circuit “a clan.”
“We all travel together, stay in motels together and know each other extra special just because of that,” he said. “With him working at the country club, everybody’s got to know him. They have been over the top. There’s such a good group of people here in Maumelle.”
Cary Maddox, head professional at MCC, called Spurlock “very mature.”
“He handles every situation with great poise, thinks things through, and he’s just very polite in everything he does,” Maddox said. “That’s why everybody likes him so much out here. He will do anything for anybody. He’s always taking care of the members. (After the accident, w)e had to tell him to take as much time as you need.
“It’s pretty amazing how he’s handled this, at any time for anybody, but much less at his age and what was going on. Just unbelievable.”
Ross Spurlock said because of golf, his son had friends all over the state, and they’ve turned out to support him. The game has been a huge influence on his son’s life.
“Instead off me having to worry about him running the streets, he’s more worried about his golf,” Ross Spurlock said. “He spends all of his time doing nothing but that, where some of these other kids are getting out and getting into trouble. I don’t have any worries about that stuff.”
Maddox agreed.
“Just how he’s managed his playing and school and work — he’s willing to do whatever it takes,” he said. “Ryan is a very driven individual, which is cool to see with all the things that kids are doing these days to be lazy or whatever. He’s always working.”
Ross Spurlock summed up his son as “focused.”
“But one thing he’s done since the accident — he spends a lot more time with his buddies,” he said. “He’s found if he’s around people and doing stuff, it takes his mind off it.”
Ryan, who attends New Life Church in Maumelle, said his faith had grown stronger since his mother’s death.
“Through the Lord’s strength, I’ve overcome so much,” he said. “I have closure knowing she’s with the Lord.”
But managing the interval will be an ongoing task.
“One of the worst days he’s had was after he went up to play golf with his Tech coaches, and coming back he had to drive through where it happened,” Ross Spurlock said. “That was his first time through there since then. He’s going to have to contend with that in the future.
“We’ve still got a long ways to go.”
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