Winthrop fought valiantly in a 65–55 loss at seventh-ranked Ohio State on Tuesday night. But like Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim the night before, Eagles coach Pat Kelsey used his postgame press conference not to discuss the game but rather the fallout from the Newtown, CT, shootings last Friday.
“I’m gonna walk into my house, and I’m gonna walk upstairs, and I’m gonna walk into two pink rooms, OK, with a 5-year-old and a 4-year-old laying in that pink room, with a bunch of teddy bears laying in that room,” Kelsey said. “And I’m gonna give them the biggest hug and the biggest kiss I’ve ever given them.”
“And there’s 20 families in Newtown [sic], CT, that are walking into a pink room with a bunch of teddy bears with nobody laying in those beds. And it’s tragic.”
If more coaches and sports figures like Kelsey, Boeheim and Providence College basketball can use their platform to call for change, more power to them.
