[SIZE=3]Earlier this week, my wife told me about John Calipari visiting high school sophomore Kevin Massey who was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. At first you may think this is just another story about a coach and/or player who is visiting a sick kid, but this time it’s a little different. There weren’t any film crews, photographers or university reporters along for the visit, it was just our coach making a difference in someone’s life.
Kevin is a sophomore at Franklin Central High School in Indianapolis. He is a member of the cross country, baseball and basketball teams. He has always been a UK fan and often receives a good ribbing from his friends who are mostly Hoosier fans.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]
It only took seven days for the Massey family to have their lives turned upside down. Kevin’s health deteriorated rapidly after he developed a pain in one of his legs during practice. Just a few days later it progressed to not being able to move his right arm or leg. After ruling out meningitis and stroke, it was determined that Kevin had an inoperable brain tumor.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]
It was reported that Mark James, Kevin’s basketball coach, called his friend and one-time Calipari assistant Ed Schilling. He originally asked Schilling if Coach Cal would be interested in signing a few things, and then have them sent to a Indianapolis hospital where Kevin was staying. Shilling was happy to help and made the call to Calipari on behalf of the family. Calipari was happy to follow through on the request and then offered to fly to Indianapolis to hand deliver the items. [/SIZE] [SIZE=3]
Coach Cal made the trip and walked into Kevin’s hospital room carrying the game ball from UK’s win over Alabama. It was reported by a family member that both the family and Calipari were moved to tears when the two met for the first time. The game ball was covered in autographs from Wildcat players.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]
WKYT conducted a phone interview with Mark James who had this to say about the reactions from Calipari’s visit.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]
[/SIZE] [QUOTE][SIZE=3]”The family was pretty overwhelmed,” James said via phone. “It was an unbelievable experience for that family.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Calipari brought with him the game ball from UK’s win over Alabama. It was covered in autographs from Wildcat players. When coach Cal left, Kevin never let the ball out of his sight.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]”It was neat, because Cal did this out of his heart,” James said. “There were no TV cameras. He got no ink. This is something this kid will never forget.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Franklin Central’s cross country coach, Eric Kellison, is a lifelong Hoosier fan, “but he’s (Calipari) making it hard to not like Kentucky.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]”You can accuse him of alot of things, but put a big check mark right up there on his side for this one,” James said of Calipari. “This is stuff you only read about.”[/SIZE]
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Pictures of Coach Calipari with Kevin can be found at [URL=”http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/kevinmassey”]http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/kevinmasse[/URL]. You can also leave Kevin a message to let him know how much Big Blue Nation is thinking about him and his family during this difficult time.[/SIZE]
