PULLMAN, Wash. — Late Tuesday night, news broke that WSU safety Bryce Beekman passed away.
The Whitman County Coroner's Office told said on Wednesday afternoon that it will take 2-3 months to determine the cause of his death, and all we really know is that the police responded to a call at Beekman's residence at 5:44 p.m. concerning a breathing problem.
I want to be upfront here: I never interacted with Bryce, so I know I'm not the best resource when it comes to his character, but while watching his interviews on WSU's YouTube last night something stood out to me. It wasn't a quote. It was a word.
"Sir."
Beekman consistently addressed reporters he talked to as sir. Now, if you're reading this from Louisiana, I just want to let you know that that is not a commonly used phrase in the Pacific Northwest. Nine times out of 10 if someone says sir, they don't mean it in a nice way.
But Beekman so earnestly did. He seemed to treat others with respect.
My colleague Armen Araradian at CBS-affiliate KLEW in Lewiston recounted meeting Beekman during fall camp and that he shook every reporter's hand and said thank you.
Like Armen says here in this tweet, that's not common among high-level Division I athletes.
Personally, I don't remember the last time an athlete did that with me.
I think that says a lot about the person we lost on Tuesday night.
And his teammates seem to agree.
Simply put, Wednesday was a rough day on the Palouse.
Watch the video below that KREM's Karthik Venkataraman put together in remembrance of Bryce.
