By Denny Deady | Published Thursday, March 12, 2009
Even though he didn't rope a steer or ride a bull, Richard Griffin of Forest Hill went home as one of the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo's luckiest contestants Feb. 8.
Griffin won the 2009 GMC truck given away by James Wood in Decatur and Denton and KSCS FM radio. He was one of 4,000 persons who had registered at Wood's exhibit-hall booth.
At the final rodeo matinee, Griffin was one of six semi-finalists who drew a Dierks Bently CD and visited with KSCS radio personality Brother Van. Each CD came with either a "finalist" sticker or a $100 gift certificate.
Griffin and the two others who found the sticker were driven into the arena, where each drew one of three random keys that could start the red 1/2-ton.
"Richard was so nervous he had to hand his envelope back to me to open. He drew the first key, and the first key started the truck," said Susan Miller, marketing director for James Wood.
"He was shaking before starting the truck and definitely overwhelmed after his key was the lucky one," recalled Roy Young, who as general sales manager for the Decatur dealership has witnessed several drawings during James Wood's long association with the Stock Show.
"Richard's wife was in the audience, and it must have felt like she was watching the drawing in slow motion on the big screen," Young said.
