A 42-year-old Seattle man, who has at least one son, was killed when he was hit on Highway 101 in Oregon.
What was he doing on the freeway?
He was 14 days and 260 miles into the mission he had given himself — that of dribbling a soccer ball 10,000 miles to Brazil in time for the 2014 World Cup for charity.
For what great charity was he dribbling the soccer ball?
The charity is a Berkeley-based effort to donate durable soccer balls to developing countries.
Nina Golgowski reports for The Daily Mail, May 14, 2013, that police in Lincoln City, Oregon, say 42-year-old Richard Swanson was hit on Tuesday morning while walking south along U.S. Highway 101 near the city limits.
He was declared dead at a hospital. The driver has not been charged and is said to be cooperating.
Swanson set out on the trek on May 1 to promote the One World Futbol Project, based in Berkley, Calif., which donates durable soccer balls to people in developing countries.
Along the way he documented his travel on his BreakawayBrazil Facebook page with a map and photos of the sights he saw and people he met.
A map shows Swanson’s planned course of dribbling a soccer ball 10,000 miles from Seattle down the U.S. west coast and into Central and South America.
Among those expressing their grief was Swanson’s son, Devin Swanson, who wrote on his Facebook page: “He died doin what he loved and thats the only [consolation] I have. I f***ing love you dad and I hope you’re in a better place now. I would give anything and everything just to have one more day with you.”
~Eowyn
