Thursday morning I got back to my desk and randomly brought up latimes.com. There was a short sentence at the top of the page, next to red lettering to denote an emergency. It said there had been a shooting in Douglas County, Oregon about a half hour before, and that they were still waiting for more news. I read through the rest of the sentence and saw that the incident was at Umpqua Community College.
"No, no, no!" I said to the computer screen.
I picked up my phone and called my friend, Umpqua coach Dave Stricklin. There was no ring; it went right into voicemail. He didn't answer his office phone, either. This scared me, and I spent the next few hours worrying and waiting. When I finally got hold of him a few hours later, my relief turned to alarm: at the time I'd called, he was on the phone with his point guard, who had been trapped in the classroom next door to where the shooting was taking place. He'd stayed on the phone with her until the gun man ultimately killed himself and ended the nightmare.
Now, the team is trying to move on, and have a good season.
Jasmyne Davis' story is amazing. And so is Stricklin. He has built a power house program in the Northwest Athletic Conference, and that includes not only court skills but the kind of caring he exhibited three days ago. It didn't surprise me that he had a team meeting the same day; I had written about this phenomenon in his program before.
This story reminds us all to celebrate life each and every day. To be careful no matter where we are. And it reminds us that some of the finest coaches in all of basketball aren't necessarily at the big schools.
Here's hoping that the Riverhawks have a fantastic season. They deserve it.
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