Twice during his prep career P.J. Washington had the opportunity to play basketball at Marshall County. He played once in the Marshall County Hoopfest and then last year played in the Kentucky Lake Classic.
His father, Paul Washington Sr., coached Findlay Prep at this season’s Hoopfest less than months ago. His youngest son, Spencer, played on teams competing at Marshall County the last two years and each time Sherry Washington, Paul’s wife, was there.
The Kentucky freshman admitted after Tuesday’s win over Mississippi State that he was “shocked” by the shooting at Marshall County High School earlier in the day that left two students dead and 17 others injured.
“It was crazy. I have been there a couple of times. It’s just sad to see something like that happen and I am really shocked by it,” Washington said.
There was a moment of silence in Rupp Arena before the game for those impacted by the shooting at the high school.
Kentucky coach John Calipari — and various staff members — have been to Hoopfest several times to watch players. He was there in December to watch James Wiseman, J.D. Jeffries and others.
“I was literally nauseous because I had my TV on in my office and it came across my — the ticker, the sound wasn’t on and I looked and I turned it on. And it is — if you have children, my first thought was, when they said some people got killed, and people were injured, was like, ‘Oh, my gosh,'” Calipari said after the game when asked about the incident. “And then they made this statement; and parents are racing there to get their children. Could you imagine that drive to that school not knowing if your child had been killed or not? I mean, I just like welled up. I’m like, oh, my gosh, and I’ve got children. So I don’t know, probably there’s nothing I can say other than I’ll be praying for all of them tomorrow at mass. I’ll take Communion for them, light a candle for them.”
However, Calipari was visibly upset and his emotions carried over to what he said next.
“What is going on? We’ve got to come together as a country. We’ve got to figure out this opioid issue. We have got to figure out this gun issue; is it a gun issue or is it a mental health issue or what the heck is it? It is something, and we’ve all got to come together, man. Finally got the government up and running, thank goodness. But it’s an issue now. It’s happening over and over. Come on,” the UK coach said. “But I was physically, like gut-sick, and then I thought, when they said ‘parents are racing to the school,’ I’m like, oh, my. Like, the emotion must be — and the first responders I heard were brave and did their thing. I thanked them and prayed for them.
“We’re in a country, we’ve got issues that we’ve got to deal with, and we’re not going to fix them fighting each other and I win, you lose. Win/win.”
(By Larry Vaught)