Jan. 28, 1999. Mid-court, McKale Center: Arizona is about to beat No. 2 Stanford on Jason Terry’s short jumper with 3.4 seconds remaining. Someone pushes my chair to the left, backs me away from press row and climbs onto the press table.
It is 6-foot, 6-6 inch, 220-pound Ryk Neethling, the greatest swimmer in UA history, a nine-time NCAA champion and future Olympic gold medalist. Dozens of fellow UA students are packed in behind him.
“Sorry,’’ Neethling says with a quick glance.”Gotta go.’’
The next morning’s lead photograph in the Daily Star shows Terry engulfed by hundreds of celebrating UA fans, lifting him off his feet.
“It was a beautiful sight,’’ said UA forward Eugene Edgerson, now a Tucson policeman. “I never thought I’d see all of the fans come onto the court. It was special.’’
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No one got hurt.
Jan. 20, 2002. Mid-court, McKale Center. ӰAV overcomes a 20-point UCLA lead to beat the Bruins 96-86. At the final buzzer, CBS’ Billy Packer is knocked away from his broadcast position when hundreds of UA fans jump over press row onto the court.
The next day’s lead photograph in the Daily Star shows UA star Luke Walton fighting his way through a scrum of Wildcat fans. An image in the Daily Wildcat newspaper captures UA football receiving star Bobby Wade, now a UA assistant coach, leading a mass of students rushing the court.
“Chills went down my back,’’ Walton said.
Again, no one got hurt.
Times changed.
Feb. 6, 2004. Tucson High School gymnasium. On the last play of the game, THS’ 6-6 Joe Kay, on the eve of his 18th birthday, makes a breakaway dunk to clinch a victory over rival Salpointe Catholic, his16th and 17th points of the game. Badger fans storm the court and tackle Kay, who crumples to the ground.
In an instant, Kay suffers a torn carotid artery and a stroke. The right side of his body is paralyzed. Kay spends the next eight weeks at University Medical Center. He is unable to play volleyball on the scholarship he had accepted at Stanford. He ultimately earns a Stanford degree in American Studies, followed by an online master’s degree at ASU, but the right side of his body is eternally affected, especially his hand.
In 2005, Kay was awarded a $2.9 million payment from TUSD, and $600,000 from two former Tucson High students who tackled him after the last basket of Kay’s basketball career.
Now, 20 years later, the 38-year-old Kay splits time between Brazil and Tucson. In two weeks he will marry his fiance, a geologist from Brazil.
Kay watched last week’s Duke-Wake Forest basketball game in which Wake Forest fans stormed the court after beating the Blue Devils, knocking Duke’s star center, Kyle Filipowski, to the ground. A few weeks earlier, Kay watched Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark knocked to the floor when Ohio State fans rushed the court after beating Clark’s Hawkeyes.
Neither Filipkowski nor Clark were injured.
Kay is impassioned; court-storming is still creating headlines in basketball. Play basketball at your own risk. Player safety, which should be a priority, is not.
“Twenty years have passed and I’m still disabled,’’ he says with emotion. “Every time I see people rush the court, it’s ridiculous. It’s bull. The college kids act like this is a rite of passage for them. It’s BS. Are they going to wait until someone gets hurt the way I did? My body will be constantly affected until I die.’’
Kay, who has traveled the world the last 15 years, spending as much as six months a year in Brazil on a tourist visa, is displeased that each time there is a court-storming incident, ESPN and other TV outlets show numerous replays of the incident.
“They celebrate it,’’ he says. “It’s sad because they have the influence to to help change it.’’
Kansas coach Bill Self and Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne this week talked about changes. They said, (a) the home team could be forced to forfeit a court-storming game and (b) those apprehended could be jailed or fined.
Both stressed the possibility of litigation involving millions of dollars. Will that threat by two of the leading college sports figures be enough to help eliminate court-storming?
Doubtful. This will likely fade away and mostly be forgotten, as with most court-stormings.
UA basketball teams have been at the center of more court-stormings than anyone in modern Pac-12 history. Incredibly, from 2012-15, nine Arizona road losses ended with court-stormings. And it wasn’t just at ASU, but widely spread, involving Oregon, Colorado (twice), USC, Cal, UNLV and Oregon State.
Former Arizona coach Sean Miller was surely the most outspoken coach in college basketball, especially after his 2014-15 Elite Eight Wildcat team was victim of three harrowing court-stormings.
Beating a Top 25 team, a blueblood such as Arizona, triggers a rush-the-court reaction at almost every road stop.
“Those who storm the court should be held responsible, but they are always let off the hook,’’ says Kay. “They have TV cameras everywhere. They should arrest everyone who enters the court. What really gets my goat is that the schools who are fined $100,000 or so for a court-storming, seem to get more attention, more publicity, than they get otherwise. So they’re happy to pay the conference those fines.’’
The most eventful court-storming in Pac-12 history was probably Arizona’s 1999 loss at woebegone Oregon State. After a 60-59 loss in a rare sellout at Gill Coliseum (10,204), Beavers fans trapped the Wildcats before they could get off the court.
Arizona All-American guard Jason Terry was pushed and bullied. I was standing courtside and saw Terry and an OSU fan end up in a physical altercation. It had the makings of a brawl. Other Beaver fans stole UA warmup jerseys.
OSU coach Eddie Payne grabbed the microphone that night and instead of pleading with his fans to ease up and leave the court, thanked them for their support. Beaver athletic director Mitch Barnhart said “we hope this gets to be something they get used to.’’
Will it take another Kay-like catastrophic injury to stop court-stormings?.
Arizona has had five court-storming incidents at McKale Center: the previously mentioned Stanford and UCLA games, plus a historic 1979 victory over UCLA, a last-second “McMiracle’’ shot to beat Oregon State in 1986 and 2000 upset over No. 2 Stanford.
No injuries were reported. Much of that can be attributed to the difficulty of students in the north end zone getting access to the court. The pep band blocks their access, as do two rows of fans and dozens of photographers and cameramen.
By the time UA students reach the court, opposing players have the time to avoid the rush.
Arizona’s most memorable court-rushing at McKale was Arizona’s upset over No. 3 UCLA in 1979. The Daily Star’s lead photograph the next day showed hundreds of Wildcat fans cutting down the net, of all things.
UA coach Fred Snowden said the celebration should “help recruiting.’’
Now, 45 years later, it’s not clear if a court-storming helps recruiting, or if it’s a massive litigation issue ready to burst.
“It doesn’t make any sense,’’ says Joe Kay. “I was hoping this would all change 10 or 15 years ago, and it’s still the same old story. Does someone else have to get hurt the way I did before there’s a change?’’
Contact sports columnist Greg Hansen at GHansenAZStar@gmail.com. On X(Twitter): @ghansen711