An Ode To Ryan Rendleman

Ryan Rendleman, you will be missed.

The things I write on this blog are easy to do. They're easy because it's just opinions about stuff that is trivial in the long run.

However, what I'm about to write is difficult, so excuse me if I ramble.

Ryan Rendleman, a journalist at the Daily Egyptian, was killed Tuesday in a four-vehicle accident on Illinois Route 127, south of Nashville.

Even though I have only known Ryan for a few months, he has definitely had an impact on my life. In fact, in a roundabout way, Ryan is the reason I'm writing for the DE.

He was the person I interviewed for my profile piece, which was the final part of the application process. With just a pen and a sheet of paper, I chatted with Ryan about anything and everything ranging from religion, to food, to what he wanted to do as a photojournalist or "visual journalist" as he told me in my interview. I knew then that Ryan was the kind of person that would go far in this business.

He embraced me as a new kid, and I appreciated it.

When I got the job, I worked with Ryan on several shoots, and I will recount a few of them.

I'll always remember the swimming shoot, where he climbed to the top of the highest diving platform. When I saw him there, I thought I'd say "hey" and when I got up there I told him "Ryan, why must you shoot from up here? I'm afraid of heights."

He told me that it was OK because the pool would break my fall. Then I mentioned I couldn't swim. He laughed, and said it would be alright.

He provided my track and field stories with some cool aerial shots of the athletes. And it seemed like every time he was doing a track shoot, he would ask "Who am I looking for?"

Wednesday, when I knew I had to do a track story, I hoped that I would get a call from Ryan asking "So, who am I looking for?"

I'm going to miss that phone call.

Then there was the story about the bird that would always wake him up in the morning, he hated it. We were looking up in the tree outside the COMM building and swore it was that bird. In turn, I told him the story about my buddy who accidentally shot a pigeon off a telephone wire in an alley in Chicago.

He laughed and said it was a great idea. I'll looked at that tree Tuesday night and laughed. There was no chirping bird.

My last encounter with Ryan was Friday at his place where he was cooking out. My editor, Jeff Engelhardt, called me, invited me over and picked me up to go to Ryan's place. To be honest, I almost wanted to say "No, I'm busy" because my room was a mess and have been trying to clean up for my move. I decided not to, because it was Friday and wanted to hang out with my friends.

I even called Ryan to say "Mr. Rendleman, what do I need to bring." He insisted that I needed to bring nothing. I insisted, so I brought a 2-liter of Cola and a 2-liter of Sprite or Ginger Ale ... I don't remember.

Anyway, at Ryan's I did much of the cooking and everyone there enjoyed it and it made me happy, to the point where I couldn't wait 'til the next Friday so I could possibly have him over at my place when I had my cookout where I would tell him more stories about my cooking expertise.

Unfortunately, that won't happen.

If I had two wishes, the first would be that Ryan would walk through the newsroom door, walk over to me and say "Luis, I'm shooting track, who am I looking for?"

The second, would be the ability to know him for just a bit longer.

Everyone at the DE has their stories about Ryan and even though I've only been here since January, I have my own.

Ryan, may you rest in peace. When we meet again, I've got a burger with your name on it.