My Story

Born May 20th, 1976 in small town of Northern Greenville County in Travelers Rest, South Carolina to Roy Lee Booker and the late Merenda Lee Booker, A. Ricco Booker devoted many years of blood sweat and tears trying to be the best athlete to ever come out of the area and leave a legacy that people would always remember. Playing sports since the age of five, Ricco put most of his time and effort in perfecting his craft of baseball in hopes of one day getting the opportunity to play baseball professionally. I graduated from Travelers Rest High School in 1994 and was drafted by the Florida Marlins without even going to college, but declined the offer due to influence of a male figure in my life that I thought had my best interest at heart. The male figure that should have impacted me in life decisions was absent since I was four years old when my parents separated.

As a young boy, the one thing I craved more than anything was a relationship and support of my father. The one thing that every little boy wants to do is play catch with his dad on the baseball field. Growing up throughout the years and not being a part of my life, I called him by his first name b/c in my eyes he didn’t deserve the title of Dad, Pop, Father, Papi and so on. He let my mother fend for herself to raise his kids by herself to get us everything we needed not everything we wanted. He chose to do things he wanted to do and be selfish enough not to love anybody but himself. For 24 years of my life he was known as Roy to me. I had so much hatred towards him that I couldn’t have cared less if anything happened to him. I was hurt and frustrated for many years of he not being a part of my life I accepted it.

One day at the age of 24 I went and knocked on his door and told him we need to talk man to man. I let him know how I felt about his absence and the affect it had on my life and then I forgave him and buried the grudge and bitterness I held for so long because If I continued to do so, in hell I would lift up my eyes. 

After having that conversation with him, tragedy struck the family hard a few years later in the death of my mother in 2002. The news shook me in a way that I couldn’t believe it was true. Being on family vacation out in Texas made it easier to cope with instead of being in her presence when it happened. I got the call around 5:30 that morning with the news that she was gone. Growing up in the Travelers Rest area with no streetlights or cell phone, I took off walking in the dark not caring if anything happened to me and basically parentless. When I finally returned around 7:30 that morning, I heard a knock at door- guess who it was: Roy. He said to me exactly the same thing I said to him when I knocked on his door and said I can’t change what I did or did not do in the past, but I’m here now what can I do. It took a tragedy for me to get the one thing I’ve always craved and that was a relationship with him. My mother never saw me get married but he did. She never got to see my children born but he did. He has done more for his grandchildren than he ever done for me and I’m good with that. His efforts have improved in so many ways now I can call him Father.

Our relationship has improved so much that he joined our church for a little while before returning to our home church. While we attended church together we formed a Coed Softball team that he, my sister and I all played on. The one thing I always wanted to do as a little boy was to play catch with my dad on the baseball field. For the first time at the age of 44 I was able to share and cherish the moment I craved for so many years.