Sports serve as therapy for radio team that survived Kentucky tornado
For almost a decade, Dennis Stephens and Bob Hayes have called high school sporting events for Princeton, Ky., radio station WPKY. Each lost his home on Dec. 10 when tornadoes devastated western Kentucky.
Neither needed prodding to recall that night.
Hayes, a retired bank president, and his wife, Pat, had returned home from dinner around 8 p.m. An avid reader, he returned to his latest book of choice.
Around 10 p.m. Hayes heard his cell phone pinging. Then he noticed red alerts. He turned on the television.
“The first words I hear is there’s a tornado on the ground heading toward Princeton,” he said. “It’ll be there at 10:22. …
“And I looked at the clock beside the television. It’s 10:15. I’m thinking, wow, we don’t have a lot of time.”
Hayes and his wife hunkered down in a bathroom in the middle of the house.
“About two minutes later, here came the train,” he said in reference to the rumbling sound associated with tornadoes. “It almost sounded like a jet plane flying 40 feet above our heads. Then in 30 or 40 seconds, it was over.”
As Hayes recalled, the house did not shake. He and his wife did not hear any crashes. But when they emerged from the bathroom, they saw the three windows in their bedroom had been blown away and rain was coming down on the floor.
Then moving to an adjoining room, “I could see the sky,” Hayes said in reference to a portion of the roof that was gone.
Stephens and his wife, Gloria, live in the same neighborhood that borders Princeton Golf Club. As Hayes likes to say, Dennis and Gloria are about an 8-iron away.
Dennis and Gloria were watching TV. They took comfort in learning that the tornado had been on the ground for two hours. “We thought it’d dissipate,” Dennis said.
Upon learning that the tornado was headed toward their neighborhood, Dennis and Gloria went to the basement.
“It was really still for a minute,” he said. “Then all of a sudden, you hear the train rumble. It was one of those we didn’t know if we’d make it through or not.”
When they emerged, they saw three bedrooms “coming up the hallway,” Dennis said.
Upon looking outside, flashes of lightning revealed the neighborhood devastated.
Stephens and Hayes are calling games again.
“Kind of like therapy for Bob and myself,” Stephens said. “We get a little sense of normalcy.”
Stephens suggested that sports can serve as therapy — or an escape — when tragedy strikes. He recalled that a part of the country’s recovery from the 9-11 attacks was thought to be then-President George W. Bush throwing the ceremonial first pitch before a Major League Baseball game.
During a recent pregame interview, Dawson Springs High School girls’ basketball coach Amanda Scott noted the shock of a tornado.
“It’s like you can’t really believe it’s something that’s going to happen to you,” she said. “And then it does. And I think that’s why so many people were unprepared for it.”
Scott, whose home was damaged, saluted players on the girls’ and boys’ teams volunteering in the relief effort.
“It just makes me proud as a teacher and a coach when you see these young people stepping up just as much as adults because they care so much for their community,” she said.
Stephens expressed thanks for how the University of Kentucky and Coach John Calipari have aided the recovery effort.
Of the reported $5 million raised to help in the recovery, he said, “That was awesome” he said. He used the same word to describe UK inviting the Dawson Springs High School girls’ and boys’ basketball teams to a practice.
“Coach Cal has been nothing but great with this,” Stephens said. “He’s the right fit for UK basketball. He realizes western Kentucky is part of Kentucky. It’s not just Lexington and Louisville.”
Both the broadcasters’ homes have been demolished. Both couples plan to rebuild.
Meanwhile, Dennis and Gloria Stephens are living in a house they leased from a couple they know at church. Bob and Pat Hayes moved to a daughter’s nearby home.
“I tell people it’s one way to downsize,” Hayes said, “which we’d wish we never had to experience.
“Sure, it was bittersweet to see my house torn down. But it still didn’t trump the fact we were safe and we had relatives.”
Reminiscing
Tubby Smith expressed an interest in recruiting Reed Sheppard for High Point. As the player’s father, Jeff Sheppard, recalled, Smith’s UK connections to the player’s parents put a potential strain on abiding by NCAA recruiting rules.
Jeff Sheppard recalled the family seeing Smith on the AAU basketball circuit.
“There are all these NCAA rules,” Jeff Sheppard said. “Coaches can’t talk to players. Coaches can’t talk to parents.
“There’s Tubby and Stacey having a 20- or 30-minute conversation. Laughing and reminiscing.
“I said, Coach, you’re going to get in trouble. And he said, ‘What are they going to do to me at this point?’”
‘Negative energy’
During a teleconference, a reporter asked South Carolina Coach Frank Martin to assess his team going into SEC play. This prompted a comment about how the internet flows with opinions.
“Social media is disgusting,” Martin said before adding, “I apologize to those of you guys who like it.
“The negative energy that exists there, it’s sad. It’s just sad. So, I can’t read the nonsense, the rush to judge on a daily basis one way or the other. I can’t live my life that way.”
That said, Martin added that he has used social media to post updates on the South Carolina team.
Politically incorrect
Tennessee Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, apologized for trying to pull down the pants of a referee at a high school basketball game Tuesday.
Faison, who is the House Republican Caucus Chair, had come onto the court to object to technical fouls being called on both teams after a scuffle for a loose ball, according to a story by the Tennessean of Nashville.
Referee Paul Pendleton ejected Faison.
“You can’t tell me to leave the floor. This was your fault,” Faison told Pendleton, according to a report the referee filed with the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association. Pendleton said in the report that Faison tried to jerk his pants “down and off.”
Later Tuesday, Faison posted an apology on his Twitter and Facebook accounts.
“Unfortunately, I acted the fool tonight and lost my temper …,” Faison wrote. “I hope to be able to find the ref and ask for his forgiveness. I was bad wrong.”
Father shoves ref
On Dec. 16 during a middle school game for eighth-graders in the Seattle area, a father charged the court and shoved a referee face first to the floor. The referee suffered a broken nose and cheekbone.
The father is Mark McLaughlin, a 6-foot-6, 215-pound former college player. He averaged 22.4 points for Central Washington in 2012-13. The referee is 72.
McLaughlin pleaded not guilty to second degree assault charges. He was released from jail after posting bail, which was set at $20,000.
According to news reports, the incident began with McLaughlin’s son fouling an opposing player. This led to a standoff between the teams. In trying to separate players, another referee caused McLaughlin’s son to fall to the floor.
Video shows McLaughlin rushing from the stands and shoving the 72-year-old referee to the floor.
Happy birthday
To Larry Stamper. He turned 72 on Thursday. … To Bobby Perry. He turned 37 on Friday. … To Kahlil Whitney. He turned 21 on Saturday. … To former Ole Miss coach Rod Barnes. He turned 56 on Saturday. … To Terrence Jones. He turns 30 on Sunday (today). … To Kirk Chiles. He turns 73 on Sunday (today). … To Isaiah Jackson. He turns 20 on Monday. … To former Georgia star Dominique Wilkins. He turns 62 on Wednesday.
