To whoever may be receiving these emails and stories, I’d like to extend my condolences for the loss of such a special life and man.
I didn’t have the fortune of getting to know Rad extremely well but I feel lucky to have been able to call him a buddy.
I would love to share a small story about Rad that I believe shows the type of guy that he was and that I saw him as. This encounter has always stuck out to me for some reason over the years and has become more profound as I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few days reflecting in my own thought about Rad.
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When I was in college at University of Alabama I worked at a bar called The Booth. I was at the bar one night senior year and from what I remember it was an “off-night” if you will — mid week when it typically wasn’t crazy crowded and not much going on. I was up by the front of the bar where there is old glass garage doors from when the bar used to be a auto shop way back in the day. The garage doors allow you to look out into the street and see people walking up to the door of the bar or just walking by while on their way to another downtown destination. I remember seeing a familiar figure walking past through the windows so I started making my way closer to the front door so I could see if I actually knew the guy. As our paths began to converge I realized it was Rad…
To add a little more context — it was very often that I would run into friends in Tuscaloosa that didn’t go to school there and that I wouldn’t be expecting to see. Town is a bumping place, especially when there’s a big football game in town so it constantly brought visitors in for a weekend. But this was not one of those nights to where it would make sense to be running into someone like that, so when I made out that the familiar figure was Rad (and when Rad realized the dude rushing towards him coming out of a bar was me) I can distinctly remember us both getting really excited with the “what are you doing here?!” type reaction and embraced with a big hug as it had been a while since we saw each other last, and obviously we weren’t expecting to see each other. It’s crazy reminiscing back on it now because I can’t even tell you when the last time Rad and I had seen each other before then. It had probably been sometime 4-5 years earlier in high school.
So to get on with it — amid my excitement to see him, in attempt to clear the confusion why he was in town on a random Tuesday/Wednesday night, I did in fact ask him what he was doing there. He told me he was there to surprise Clay Smith, one of my best friends from growing up and one of Rad’s best friends from high school.
Rad drove 5.5 hours all the way from Athens after class to come surprise Clay for his birthday. And not only that but after we chatted for maybe a minute or two and I remember asking him if he was sticking around for the rest of the week or a couple of days and he said he was out in the morning headed back to Athens to not miss class...
I can honestly say that I don’t know too many people that would drive over 5 hours to come surprise their friend on their birthday to turn back around 12 hours later and make the drive all the way back — but Rad did. And that always stuck with me.
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A few months ago I had the pleasure of driving Rad and my roommate Max Kemether down to Savannah for a wedding I was attending and they had one of their own. I don’t think I had seen Rad since that night we bumped into each other outside the Booth in Tuscaloosa. We spent the car rides down and back telling stories, sharing laughs while making fun of mutual friends, and some goals/excitements for the future. I will FOREVER cherish those 8 hours in the car I was lucky enough to spend with Rad. It was the last time I ever saw him.
It breaks my heart that Rad won’t be able to hunt down all that excited him about the future. The world was better off with Radcliff Spencer in it.
My prayers go out to his family and loved ones.
With Love and the Utmost Respect,
Zachary L. Miller