“This helps put sports in perspective.” The phrase, which we constantly hear after some type of tragedy, is maddening. At least to me. On one hand we shouldn’t need a devastating event to put something as trivial as sports “in perspective.”
Besides, sports actually can help us forget temporarily about hardships we’re dealing with.
Coaches at Union University are facing that now. Last week, the school in Jackson, Tenn., was among the areas hit by tornadoes that killed 56 people in four states on the night of Feb. 5.
Union is probably a familiar name to many in the Kansas City area. The Southern Baptist school with an enrollment of approximately 3,000 students, usually has great athletic teams competing in the Kansas City-based NAIA. In fact, the men’s basketball team is usually an annual participant in the national tournament played at Municipal Auditorium each March.
(Incidentally, the head coaches for both their men’s and women’s basketball teams — Ralph Turner and Mark Campbell, respectively — played at another school that used to be a contender each year for the NAIA national title in Kansas City, Lipscomb University or David Lipscomb College, depending on how old you are.)
Union University suffered substantial damage last week as an EF-4 tornado ripped through campus. Except the gymnasium, each of the school’s 19 buildings was damaged to some extent. It’s been said that the tornado tossed around every vehicle that was on campus that night.
The hardest hit buildings were the student dorms. Students, who were huddled on the bottom floors of the buildings, crawled from under metal, glass and fallen cinder blocks to escape after the storm. Miraculously, however, no one on campus died.
“One amazing thing that solidified what we already knew was when many of the parents and kids were interviewed on TV,” said Campbell, “not one person looked hopeless or distraught. There’s hopelessness in a lot of other places (affected by the storms), but at this school there’s a tremendous trust and hope in God. You know bad things happen, but how do you deal with them?”
Compared to the devastation we saw in Greensburg, Kan., last May, writing this column almost seems trivial. It’s not a city being wiped out. And it’s in west Tennessee. But then you begin to realize that a tragic tornado, regardless of the damage, is, well, a tragic tornado. Whether you’re in Greensburg or Jackson, a tornado is a life-altering — if not life-changing — event.
But then the sports aspect comes back into play. Six days after the tornado, with only one game cancelled, Union’s basketball teams played their first games since the tornado. It was a home contest for Union, but because of the damage on campus, the Lady Bulldogs and Bulldogs played their games at a local high school.
It was a chance for the players to resume some normality. It also was a chance to help people in the Union community forget about that night a week earlier.
“I’m not much on pregame speeches,” said Campbell, who has a few of his players staying with his family at this time, “but I told our team before the game that we could uplift everybody and just enjoy being together. I think sports is like going to a movie for a couple of hours; it’s just for fun. Winning is important, but it’s not everything, even for me.”
Before you scoff and assume they must not be very good, the women’s team, which has won NAIA national titles in two of the last three seasons, is currently ranked No. 1 in the country.
Union struggled during the first half against Cumberland. The Lady Bulldogs were down early by 10 points, a deficit they haven’t faced all season. But then things clicked and Union dominated the majority of the game, winning 92-75. Union remained perfect on the season, 23-0. (The men had a few more cobwebs, losing by three points.)
“I had no idea how they would respond, but this is the best team in terms of character that I’ve had,” added Campbell, who’s in his ninth season at Union.
And then everyone went back to their lives, especially the clean up in the area.
Early estimates have the damage at Union at approximately $40 million. Classes have been cancelled until Feb. 20.
Union’s story is touching people not affiliated directly with the school. Union’s fiercest rival, cross-town Lambuth, fed the Union teams before Thursday night’s games and presented Union with a check for its relief efforts. And that’s a year after the teams from the two schools fought outside after a game.
PGA golfer Shaun Micheel, who won the 2003 PGA Championship event, has pledged to donate $500 for each birdie that he makes during the Northern Trust Open.
Micheel went to college at Indiana. Really, his closest connection to Union is that he lives in Memphis, which is about an hour from Jackson, and a tornado came within a few miles of his house on the same night as the Union storm.
“There’s a lot of things that (Union students) are facing that most people don’t really think about,” Micheel said in a statement on the school’s Web site.
Besides his own donation, though, Micheel has been talking to businesses throughout west Tennessee to see if they will match the amount he gives.
“I went to my bank in Memphis and asked them if they would be generous enough to let me open up an account to allow people to make deposits. That’s how it all started,” Micheel said, “then I started getting phone calls from all sorts of people.”
See, that’s the thing about a tragedy. It doesn’t put sports in perspective. But it can bring out the best in people.
“People on the outside have been extremely gracious toward us,” said Campbell. “And the attitude around here has been awesome. People are reaching out to help each other, and looking for ways to bless other people. A Godly community, as far as what we read in the Bible, is being exhibited here.”
To comment or to find out how you can help the efforts at Union, visit mattfulks.com.