Tackling Tornado's Aftermath in Alabama
7/20/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Emily Vincent, Kent State University Communications & Marketing
On Sept. 3, the Kent State University Golden Flashes football team takes the field in Alabama for the season opener against the Crimson Tide. Setting aside the rivalry, a group of five members of the Kent State community are making an earlier trip to Alabama to help with relief efforts caused by a devastating tornado that ripped through Tuscaloosa on April 27.
Kent State players Spencer Keith, Ishmaa'ily Kitchen, Lee Stalker and Jacquise Terry, along with Alan Ashby, Kent State's assistant athletic director for communications, travel to Alabama on July 21. Coordinating their trip with the American Red Cross and the Toomer's for Tuscaloosa organization, the student-athletes and Ashby will spend the next two days working on a Habitat for Humanity house in Holt, Ala., for a family displaced by the tornado and volunteering at the City of Tuscaloosa's McAbee Volunteer Center. In addition, the Kent State group will hold a football clinic at Holt High School for a group of underprivileged kids who were displaced by the storm.
"Our players are excited to go down and lend a helping hand in the Tuscaloosa community," says Kent State head football coach Darrell Hazell. "What life really boils down to sometimes is being able to help those in need. These four young men will represent the Kent State community well."
The Kent State players are scheduled to meet with Alabama coach and Kent State alumnus Nick Saban, '73, M. Ed. '75, who led the Crimson Tide to a national championship in 2009. Saban and his wife, Terry, also a Kent State graduate, have pledged $50,000 from their Nick's Kids Fund to Project Team Up to help rebuild homes in a nearby town devastated by the twister. Saban's players and staff also have pitched in to aid with the relief efforts as the town struggles to recover.
"On behalf of the entire American Red Cross organization and the people of Tuscaloosa, I thank you and your student-athletes for your spirit of volunteerism," wrote Bev Leigh, development director with the American Red Cross of West Alabama chapter, in an email to Ashby.
Check back for updates and photos from Alabama and follow us on Twitter (@KSuAthletics).
