Knoxville Catholic Bus Crash

[IrishBBall]

Knoxville Catholic Lady Irish have the Luck of the Irish tonight as they escape serious injuries after a bus crash on the way to Gatlinburg-Pittman. Bus overturned and slid into a creek on the way to the game. Four players and a coach were taken by ambulance to the hospital for treatment. By 11:00 3 players and coach have been released with the remaining hopefully released later tonight. We escaped with a broken wrist, concussion, ankle/knee sprain, and a fractured back. I'm sure the rest will be quite sore come morning when the adrenaline wears off. Irish elected to forfeit the game instead of playing tomorrow.

 

Special thanks to the people at GP and School Superintendent Jack Parton. They were there to help at the scene of the crash and followed to the hospital. They stayed until the girls were getting released and brought pizza and prayers to a scared and rattled group of players, coaches and parents. First class actions. Good luck going forward GP, you've earned a group of fans from Knoxville Catholic!

[Play4life]

Thank you IrishBBall for the update.  What a scary situation for the girls and coaches and all involved.  Prayers going out for your team and their families. 

[HOOPSGURU]

Forfeit or makeup?

[GeorgiaVol]

It was originally planned to be made up tonight at 6:00 PM, but I have since heard it was a forfeit.  Not sure why that was changed,

[Sportyz]

Glad everyone is ok and it's great when people can look beyond the competition and pull together to help one another, GP is a class act and good luck to both teams in the future.

[IrishBBall]

It was originally planned to be made up tonight at 6:00 PM, but I have since heard it was a forfeit. Not sure why that was changed,

The makeup time was proposed by the GP staff before they realized the extent of the injuries. It was discussed among the Irish coaching staff, AD and Administration and the decision was made to forfeit. Around 10:00 3 players and coach were being released. The players not treated will be very sore this morning after tumbling around the bus. Not an easy decision to make, but looking at the big picture the game is a little less important. A tough way to end a season!

 

Thanks for the many prayers and messages. I wish I knew how to attach the pictures I have and you would understand what the crash looked like. It could have been much worse.

 

Again, thanks to the folks at GP for everything! We even had some of the police officers come by the hospital after their shift ended to check on the kids.

Edited February 22, 2014 by IrishBBall

[JanaLee]

There is an article on www.themountainpress.com that has a picture and gives a pretty good explanation as to why they forfeited.  Only 10 players and 4 hurt.  So glad none were serious.  

[zst]

May GOD be with them they more to life than a basketball game somebody made a great call for once we have you in our prayers on Sunday we are at exit 301 Monterey Tennessee from our basketball family

[ernieg]

The entire GP school and staff are a great group...they always treat others with respect and dignity.  

[IrishBBall]

The entire GP school and staff are a great group...they always treat others with respect and dignity.  

Agree 110%. I spoke to Mr. Parton and his wife along with Coach Katie Parton at the boys game Saturday night to thank them again for all the help. Coach Parton even offered our girls the opportunity to sit with them tonight on the bench if they would like. They should serve as a model for class and character. This is what high school sports should be about! 

 

ALSO....shout out to the school resource officer who was invaluable Friday night at the scene, came to the hospital after her shift ended to make sure we didn't need anything AND sang the National Anthem, took pictures through out the boy's game. She may have even been up with the pep band for a solo. WOW! I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't cook the pre-game meals and print the programs.

Edited February 24, 2014 by IrishBBall