Billed as the largest girls’ basketball showcase in the world, the annual Run 4 Roses event last week in Louisville, Ky., featured more than 2,000 teams from several different countries – and unfortunately a frightening afternoon.
Spread out over 100 courts at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center and Freedom Hall, this year’s Run 4 Roses included the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League.
More than 2,000 coaches from each collegiate level attended with Dawn Staley of South Carolina, Kim Mulkey of LSU, Geno Auriemma of national champion UConn and others watching the action.
What attracts me to the event are the grassroots clubs from St. Louis. Most of our area players play for either Napheesa Collier Elite, Lady Brad Beal Elite or Missouri Phenom.
The Missouri Phenom 17U EYBL team features a pair of St. Louis’ top players in junior Amaya Manuel of Lift for Life and sophomore Jordyn Haywood of MICDS.
During the summer, Amaya and her twin sister Cara Manuel have become celebrities. After each game, young girls wait to have photos taken with them. The same scene takes place in the team hotel or out in public places.
The first session of the event went off without a hitch as the quality of play was excellent and several area teams won bracket championships. However, the tenor of the event changed on Sunday during the first day of Session No. 2.
I had already returned to St. Louis when my phone began blowing up. Utter chaos had broken out back in Louisville as there were reports of an “active shooter” or “active aggressor” in the building.
Nobody was sure what was happening, but it sounded bad – really bad. People thought I was still in Louisville and were checking on me, but I was already back home. I started working the phones to check on folks.
Naturally, I went on to social media and some people had taken video of the scene. What I saw was shocking and downright scary. There were hundreds of people sprinting in all directions. Outside, a helicopter circled the area and police advanced to the building armed with long rifles. It was a frightening scene.
I was shaken because there were hundreds of people from St. Louis and around the state in that building, with many of them being children, from high school age down to elementary school.
“It was just crazy,” said Lift for Life Athletic Director Chandra Palmer, who was there to watch the Manuel twins along with several other Hawks players in the event.
“Everybody was running everywhere. When we got closer to the door, we saw police officers outside with their [weapons.] They asked us if we saw anything. And I saw the helicopter flying around. It really freaked me out.”
An official statement from the Run 4 Roses social media account reported there was no active threat and play resumed on Monday.
Several of the participating teams, along with college coaches and recruiters, decided not to return to the event. It was difficult to see so many young people experiencing such a traumatic situation at an event that is celebrating their talent.
Earl’s World
Four-star football high school football standout Jacob Eberhart of Kirkwood High School has given a commitment to the University of Illinois. A 6’3” 210-pound wide receiver/safety Eberhart chose Illinois over Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. He will be continuing a family tradition as he is the son of the late Jason Eberhart, a former Mehlville High football star in the mid-1990’s who also played at Illinois…Former Missouri basketball stars Tamar Bates and Caleb Grill saw respective NBA Summer League action last weekend in Las Vegas. Grill scored eight points as his Chicago Bulls lost 109-92 to the Sacramento Kings in an early game Saturday in Las Vegas. Bates tallied13 points in Denver’s 94-83 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves…17-year-old Australian sprinter Gout Gout is being hailed as “a young Usain Bolt,” and American sprinter Noah Lyles is calling him “Little Bro.” Gout won the Monaco Diamond League 200-meter event on July 11 with a 20.10 second time – while running into a strong headwind.