Calipari “thrilled” UK fan with ticket help
July 12th, 2010 | 
Author: By LARRY VAUGHT
Karen Powell won the women’s 3-point shooting contest on ESPN during the 1994 Final four to cap a terrific career at Southern Illinois University.
Since then, the former Garrard County (Ky.) basketball standout has coached on the collegiate level at Hartwick College, SUNY, South Dakota Tech, and Lincoln Trail College as well as Herrin Community High School in Illinois to reach her current position — head women’s coach at Division III Becker College in Worcester, Mass.
However, one thing has not changed — she is still a Kentucky basketball fan.
That’s why she got so excited when UK hired John Calipari and she found out that Becker men’s coach Brian Gorman had once been on Calipari’s staff at Massachusetts.
“I said to him after Calipari was hired, ‘I know you follow men’s basketball, but if you have never been around Kentucky basketball and that atmosphere, you just don’t understand how big it is. I have to get tickets. I have an in all of a sudden with you and you have to get me tickets (to a game),’” said Powell during a brief visit home last week.
Guess what? Gorman did.
He called Calipari and Powell had tickets for herself, her dad and her brother went Kentucky beat Long Beach State in December.
“It thrilled me. We went in through the players’ entrance and had great seats. It was fantastic,” Powell said. “I hope I can get tickets again at Christmas if their schedule and my schedule match up okay.”
Powell wasn’t sure Gorman understood how much she appreciated him getting her tickets through Calipari.
“I said, ‘You just don’t understand. This is huge.’ So I brought him back a bottle of bourbon from Kentucky,” she laughed and said. “I told him, ‘This is all I can do for you, but you don’t get it because you have never been around to a game and didn’t grow up in Kentucky. You don’t understand just what basketball means in Kentucky.’”
She says Gorman and Calipari still speak “frequently” and that Calipari still “takes care of him” if he needs help with anything. “It just makes me love UK basketball even more to know we have a coach this good who also is loyal to those he has known,” Powell said.
Posted in UK Basketball
I can see it now on TMZ.com and the cover of the NY Times… “NCAA to investigate Calipari Involvement in Moonshine For Tickets Scandal.” Heck, they will probably even have him operating a still behind that big wall on Richmond Road!
But seriously, what a great story Larry! It is refreshing to see the passion and excitement for UK Basketball return, after its two-year hiatus under BCG. Cal is a special guy and the NBA Draft gaff aside, seems to understand how big Big Blue really is around here.
ClassyCatFan, you made me laugh again today, you and Jim Boyer need to get together and do standup in Lexington before the games! I bet TMZ is going to try to blame Mel Gibson’s latest fiasco on Cal and I’m surprised no one has blamed him for the Gulf situation yet.
This was a wonderful story, Karen,thank you for sharing it. It is nice to see the passion and excitement back and it was longer then 2 years before Cal came. It has been steadily going down hill for several years. This is just a really wonderful feeling to see everyone enjoying the good times again and sharing how they feel. Go CATS!
Linda you are sweet. If you know who Lewis Black is, and can imagine him reading any of my comments about the NCAA, you can kind of picture me saying them. That pious, self-important, organization of small minded, 90-something year-old, Kentucky haters just makes me want to SNAP!
I have never heard of him, but just looked him up on the internet, maybe we need to get him to join our little ‘club’ and have him rant and rave about the NC2A, TMZ, NYT, Forde, ESPN, Tipton, the dude that outed John Walls daddy, the CJ journalist and who ever else we can find! However, you, Jim and sometimes myself also do a pretty good job. When I get really mad I do a pretty good job myself. Come the end of the month when I get laid off, I will have more time to think about all the garbage these people are throwing out. The unadulterated, rude, socially unacceptable, poor excuse of human kind that I have ever seen in my whole life will feel the wrath of the old blonde Ms. Wildcat. Beware, she will be on the loose! I might find a cardboard box to live in behind Memorial Coliseum. GO CATS!
Sorry to hear you are getting laid off. I went through that my self last year. I loved my work but hated the company I worked for, so I saw it as a blessing in some ways. I was fortunate to have savings that saw me through until I could move back to Kentucky and find a job here. Larry can send you my email address if you ever need to just vent about being laid off or if I can help in any way. One thing for sure, in these times, there is no shortage of people who can relate.
This was a good story, enjoyed it very much, it is so much fun to have so much in common with all the people like BBN.What an icebreaker, I can see anyone with a UK shirt, umbrella,pocketbook, license plate etc and I can hardly wait to start a conversation.
ClassyCatFan, I don’t think that Larry can give us each others email addresses, because LindaS has asked him a couple of times to give me and Dale Castle her email address but he hasn’t. I figure it must be due to the privacy act, or maybe something with the NCAA, that they do not want Kentucky fans to have each others email addresses due to the fact that we give them enough h-ll on this site without being able to talk all the time.
Anyway I agree with LindaS you and Jim Boyers and let’s add NashvilleCat in there should do stand up before the games, or maybe Cal would like for you to open for him on his show.
I would have the them so upset with my rants, they would move the NCAA headquarters to Lexington… I would be on their case so much they would have an open investigation that includes anything and everything Kentucky and it would never end. Hey, don’t they already do that? What the heck!
Would you not think that by now with all the information they have about Kentucky that they would be fans instead of trying to take us down all the time?
Some people just never learn: It is a heck of a lot easier to love us and be our fans, than to hate us, because then we retaliate!!!!
Jan, I like that last statement…I wish I had come up with that one. That would look nice on my tombstone and no, not my pizza! Jan are you on facebook?
Wish I could share email addresses, but our policy is not to do that. However, you can email me directly and I can share it that way. just can’t pull it off your blog post.
But glad you all liked this story. Love sharing these insights into coaches and players
Jan in Indiana. Dale is a moderator in the forums at bigbluerules.com you can contact her there by pm as LouisiaCat