Athens business owner dies in wreck

By Jayson Larson

May 09, 2008 09:59 am

— Randy Roberts remembers giving Rance Hood a job at Creative Graphics while he was still a high schooler.
Three years ago, Roberts sold the business to Hood.
On Thursday, Roberts was back at the business, dealing with the sudden death of a man he said was like a son.
“You couldn’t have asked for a better person,” Roberts said.
Hood, a 27-year-old Athens resident, died Thursday night just before 10 p.m. from injuries he received during a wreck in the 900 block of Loop 7 in Athens earlier in the day.
Roberts said Hood delivered an order of T-shirts to a school in Martins Mill Thursday afternoon and then stopped at a local business to wish happy birthday to one of his grandparents. After making those stops, he began heading back to the office.
According to Athens Police reports, Hood was traveling eastbound in a 2005 Dodge Dakota extended cab pick-up when the wreck occurred about 3:25 p.m. He was driving in a heavy rainshower in Athens.
Dale Franklin Jones, 50, Friendswood was headed westbound on the loop with a passenger, 32-year-old Alex Larios of Texas City. Jones was driving a 2007 Chevrolet 2500 extended cab pick-up.
Police reports state Hood’s truck began to hydroplane because of defective tire pressure and slick tires on the wet roadway. The truck spun counterclockwise and collided with Jones’ truck in the westbound lane.
“He was trying to avoid the accident as much as possible,” Athens Police Lt. Mike Davis said of Hood. “We were there pretty quick, and it was a very hard downpour there.”
Hood was taken to East Texas Medical Center Athens and later flown to ETMC Tyler, where he was pronounced dead at 9:55 p.m.
Jones and Larios, who were walking around at the wreck scene, were taken to East Texas Medical Center Athens. Both men were treated and released, according to a hospital spokesperson.
Roberts on Thursday morning remembered Hood as a “renaissance man” who was always true to his word.
“If he told you something, you could bank on it,” Roberts said. “If I had a son, I’d have wanted him to be just like him. I felt like he was mine.”

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