Need for tornado relief means ‘all hands on deck,’ and that will include UK basketball
After Kentucky lost at Notre Dame on Saturday night, John Calipari did not began his postgame news conference with basketball. He spoke about the widespread death and destruction caused by tornadoes that swept through western Kentucky and other nearby states.
“The Commonwealth really was dealt an unbelievable blow that’s going to take decades to fix,” the UK coach said.
Kentucky basketball will join in the effort to recover from the deadly storm.
“Now, it’s, like, all hands on deck,” Calipari said. “I believe we’ll have a Tuesday telethon (and) have my team really engaged in this.”
Calipari led a telethon to raise funds after an earthquake hit Haiti in 2010 and again when flooding from Hurricane Harvey in 2017 did extensive damage in the Houston area.
With the tornadoes Friday night and Saturday morning, Mayfield, Ky., was especially hard hit with reports of as many 100 or more deaths.
“If it wasn’t that far, we’d probably take a drive out there,” Calipari said. “But it’s a little far for them at this point when they have finals and stuff going on.”
The Kentucky team was well aware of the tornadoes long before the 66-62 loss to Notre Dame.
Calipari said he and others visited The Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes on the Notre Dame campus Saturday morning.
“We were tracking it,” Calipari said of the storm. “We talked about it. I said, ‘We play basketball. This is someone losing their mother.’”
Keion Brooks said the team wants to help storm victims.
“Thoughts and prayers for everybody who’s been affected by the tornado,” he said. “I woke up, it was kind of shocking to see that and to see the destruction. …
“I wish we could do more because that’s devastating what’s happened to them. But, you know, the best thing we can do for them is prayer and be there for them. Let them know they’re not alone.”
This story was originally published December 11, 2021 at 8:58 PM.
