‘Thanks Uncle John.’ Nieces glorify former UK football coach on basketball court.
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2022 Girls’ Sweet 16 coverage
Click below to read all of the coverage from Kentucky.com and the Lexington Herald-Leader during the Girls’ Sweet 16 State Basketball Tournament in Rupp Arena.
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Being a “warrior” runs in Kay Freihofer’s family.
She tore her ACL during her freshman season and wore a 5-pound brace in games throughout last season, one impacted by COVID-19 protocols. The Cooper High School junior broke her hand and missed seven weeks of this season before returning in late January. She’s been key in the Jaguars’ historic postseason run and a win streak that stretched to 11 games following their victory over Pikeville in the Mingua Beef Jerky Girls’ Sweet 16 State Basketball Tournament on Thursday in Rupp Arena.
The 5-foot-8 guard, MVP of both the 33rd District and 9th Region tournaments, frequently leads her team in rebounding. She’s a secondary scorer — fourth on the team at 9.8 points per game — but constitutes the glue that’s helped jell Cooper into a contender for a state championship. The Jaguars, 24-9 overall, were 16-2 with her in the lineup entering Friday night’s quarterfinal game against Bowling Green.
“Kay, she’s a special kid,” Cooper head coach Justin Holthaus said. “She’s tough as nails. She’s never going to tell you that she’s hurting, that something’s affecting her. We always want to do what’s best for all of our student-athletes and there’s sometimes where she’s probably pushed herself, but it’s always about the team.”
She’s just like her uncle, John Schlarman, in that respect. The former University of Kentucky football coach and player, who battled a rare form of cancer until his death in November 2020, continued showing up to practices and games until the final weeks of his life. The lasting impact he left on the school’s football program is evident in many ways — that three UK offensive linemen will get drafted into the NFL in April is one of them — but the effect he had on his family has been less documented.
When Kay tore her ACL in 2020, Schlarman leaned on firsthand experience to lift her spirits.
“He also tore his ACL a few times being a lineman, so when I tore mine, he was always like, ‘You’ll be good, you’ll get through it. I got through it, I was back out on the field,’” Kay said. “So I was like, ‘All right, thanks Uncle John.’”
Kay and her sister Liz, a sophomore starter who’s ball-handling responsibilities increased as a result of Kay’s absence this season, know that if John and his dad, Bill Schlarman, were still alive, they’d have been the loudest among the thousands who turned out to watch the Jaguars play in their first state tournament. Bill died in July.
“He’d be super proud of me and Liz,” Kay said. “He’d be our number one fan, with my grandpa, in the stands and they’d be cheering us on. I can almost feel their presence here being at UK, so it’s a really special opportunity for us.”
“We’re definitely just going out there and trying to carry on his legacy, trying to be positive, always working hard,” Liz said. “Get it done, just like he would.”
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This story was originally published March 11, 2022 at 8:19 AM.
