Ricky Myatt was delivering mail on the Isle of Palms long before the beach was lined with luxury mansions. He owned a bar on the island then, too. It was known far and wide for its turbulent Super Bowl parties, beach volleyball, innovative marketing plans, and not-so-successful attempts to draw customers to what he pridefully described as “a dive.”
Years after Hurricane Hugo banished that bar, Malibu East, to the long-forgotten annals of island history, Myatt and his business partner, Paul Schwartz, launched a company that produces everything anyone would need to participate in a game called Half Rubber. With a nostalgic resemblance to stickball, it uses a “half-ball” made of sponge rubber and a 1.5-inch diameter chunk of poplar that looks a lot like a broomstick – which is what kids have used to play the game in the densely populated cities of the North for a century or more.
Still an IOP resident and now on the doorstep of his 70th birthday, Myatt’s most important job is to be a dad, though the lines that separate father from best friend and roommate are sometimes blurred. His bestie is Grace, his 25-year-old daughter who has Down syndrome, a steady job, an infectious attitude, and an affinity for Clemson football. They have always taken care of each other, but their relationship has grown stronger since Maggie, Ricky’s wife, and Grace’s mom, passed away in October 2019
Coincidentally, the Myatts received good news and bad news on the same day. Shortly before their 27th wedding anniversary, with Ricky and Maggie planning a trip to Costa Rica, they were informed that Maggie had stage 4 lung cancer and that her days were numbered. When the stunned couple pulled into their driveway, they found a letter in the mailbox: Grace had been accepted into ClemsonLIFE, a prestigious program that prepares young men and women with intellectual disabilities to hold down a job and live independently.
Ricky’s Greatest Blessing
Maggie’s doctors knew something was wrong long before Grace drew her first breath. Ricky tried to be strong, but he admits that he cried like a baby. Nevertheless, the Myatts never considered the alternatives. “The doctors wanted us to abort, but we wouldn’t do it,” Ricky says. “They told us her brain was full of fluid. They didn’t think she had a brain. But without her, I wouldn’t be here. She is the greatest blessing I’ve ever been given.”
Without her, I wouldn’t be here. She is the greatest blessing I’ve ever been given.”
-Ricky Myatt
Ricky enjoys bragging about his daughter’s athletic prowess. Despite the challenges that have been thrown her way, she excels at soccer and basketball. When she was younger, Grace and her dad would play football on the beach. She could fire spirals either right-handed or left-handed. “One day, a man who was watching us came over to me and said, ‘Your son can throw so well,’” Ricky remembers. “I told him I don’t have a son. I have a daughter.”
One day, a man came over to me and said, ‘Your son can throw so well,’ I told him I don’t have a son. I have a daughter.”
-Ricky Myatt
At Bishop England High School, Grace served as the manager for the girls' varsity soccer team. Her relationship with the team didn’t end when they graduated, however. One night Ricky heard music coming from Grace’s room and found her dancing in her room on a Zoom call with the team. “They would call Grace for their regular Thursday night dance-off,” Ricky says. “They were making a difference in her life. It’s one of the coolest things I ever heard.”
‘Hey Grace. How ya doin'?’
Ricky likes to relate a story he heard from one of the independent living assistants in the ClemsonLIFE program. She told Ricky a group of students and supervisors took a trip to Lake Keowee. While they were out hiking, they heard motorcycles approaching and spotted a gang of tough-looking guys with long hair and tattoos. “We had visions of being raped and murdered,” the ILA told Ricky. Instead, one of them said: “Hey Grace. How ya doin'?” It turned out, sometime earlier, Grace had walked past a biker bar in Clemson wearing what the bikers thought was the coolest jacket they had ever seen.
Grace ━ who bags groceries at the Harris Teeter store on Isle of Palms ━ knows how to take care of herself and doesn’t like to be treated like something is wrong with her. One day she and Ricky were eating at Five Guys burger bar, and a man came over and started talking to her as if she were a 2-year-old. When he left, she looked at her dad and said: “I think there’s something wrong with him.”
She takes care of herself and, at times, also takes care of Ricky. One night her dad came home after consuming a half dozen or so beers, and, though the house was a mess, decided to go right to bed. When he woke up the next morning – or maybe afternoon – the dishes were done, and the clothes were washed. “Grace. You are the best woman I have ever met,” Ricky told her, and she responded by warning him that “Mom can hear you.”
Ricky, of course, does his share of taking care of his best friend. He even paints her nails purple, her favorite color. And Grace, who makes a habit of staying up late, sometimes has to tell Ricky when it’s time for him to go to bed. In their give-and-take relationship, she has gone so far as to giving him a nickname – “Teri Yacky” – “because you talk so much.”
The good-natured ribbing between father and daughter continues. They have their differences on occasion, but nothing that will ever affect their rock-solid relationship. “We have our fights once in a blue moon, but she’s a good one. We were best friends from the beginning. It drove Maggie crazy,” Ricky concludes.
