LEXINGTON — In October 2022, Micheal McGuire went from an unknown, small-town coal miner to a household name almost overnight.
McGuire rocketed to fame after a picture of him from Kentucky basketball‘s annual Blue-White preseason game went viral. Holding the exhibition in Pikeville as a way to raise money after flooding devastated the region months earlier, McGuire had planned to shower prior to taking Easton, his then-3-year-old son, to the game. But pressed for time after coming out of the mine, McGuire went directly to the Blue-White contest, coal soot still covering his face and clothes. After the picture began making the rounds on social media, then-UK coach John Calipari reached out, wanting to learn the miner’s identity. Less than a month later, Calipari and the Wildcats hosted McGuire and his family at Rupp Arena, giving them the red-carpet treatment as Kentucky faced Duquesne, with Micheal serving as the Y as the cheerleading squad spelled “Kentucky.” Calipari’s program hosted the McGuires three more times after that.
The relationship has never abated.
“We still talk to him to this day,” Mollie, Micheal’s wife, told The Courier Journal. “He still checks in. We still talk to him frequently. He’s definitely a very genuine, down-to-earth person.”
Calipari texts Micheal and Mollie on their birthdays. They’ve received well-wishes from the Calipari family at Christmas.
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“We had some bad weather come through last year,” Mollie said. “(Calipari) messaged to make sure we were OK, we weren’t affected (and) didn’t need anything.”
For the McGuires, it’s still surreal.
“Just to be a normal little family in eastern Kentucky and receive something from the Caliparis?” Mollie said. “It’s not something we ever expected — that we would even be a thought when it came to things like that.”
Guiding Kentucky’s program for 15 seasons — the second longest for any coach aside from Adolph Rupp‘s four-decade run — before disembarking for Arkansas last year, Calipari enjoyed immense success in Lexington. More than 400 wins. A national title. Four Final Four appearances. A dozen SEC championships, divided equally between regular season and tournament crowns. NBA draft picks galore.
Yet Calipari also left a legacy of giving and outreach rivaling anything he ever accomplished on the court.
Years ago, Rabbi Shlomo Litvin had a weekly ritual, grabbing a cup of coffee at a Lexington shop every Friday morning. Each week, he usually had a partner: Calipari. Standing in line at the same time, they’d share small talk.
Everything changed Oct. 27, 2018.
The Tree of Life synagogue shooting. Eleven people died; it remains the deadliest attack on the American Jewish community. And it occurred in Pittsburgh, just south of Calipari’s hometown of Moon Township. Six days later, when Calipari walked into the coffee shop, he made a beeline for Litvin.
“He said, ‘What can I do? I’m so sorry. What can I do to help?’” Litvin said, recalling Calipari’s words. “And we spoke for a while. He told me about his ties to Squirrel Hill specifically, and to Pittsburgh. He had played sports in Squirrel Hill growing up, which is the Jewish neighborhood there where the attack happened. He still had a lot of friends in Pittsburgh, still had strong ties with the community.”
As Litvin processed Calipari’s question, the answer was clear. Litvin, the director of Chabad of the Bluegrass and senior rabbi at the UK Jewish Student Center, asked Calipari to take part in Hanukkah. Specifically, lighting the public menorah in Lexington.
“He said, ‘What’s the date?’” Litvin said. “I’m like, ‘Hanukkah is eight days long.’ December is a very tough month for him. It is still basketball season. He said, ‘Over eight days, I can make one clear.’”
To lock in the exact date, Calipari provided his private office number. When Litvin called, the staff was shocked.
“She said, ‘He doesn’t do this. What day do you want him there?’” Litvin said. “She made it very clear that this is way out of the norm of what the basketball coach would be doing in a week where they’re playing games.”
True to his word, on the fourth day of Hanukkah in 2018, Calipari was on hand to light the menorah. Which, that night, was far easier said than done. Wind wreaked havoc as Calipari attempted to light the candles. Despite the freezing temperatures, Litvin was “sweating profusely” as time dragged on.
“Here’s coach Cal. He’s got so much on his plate. He’s got so much to do,” Litvin said. “And he came here as a favor to the community, and we’re struggling (with the candles). And he pauses, turns to the crowd and goes, ‘Guys, I’m gonna stay here till this is lit. I’m not going anywhere.’ And it just took all the anxiety out of me. We got it lit. He stayed. He took pictures and signed things for people.
“And he made it very clear: I stand with the Jewish community — at an incredibly painful time.”
It’s a night Litvin never will forget. The same, he said, went for numerous Jewish students at the university. A moment, frozen in time, when the most well-known person in the Bluegrass State publicly proved his support.
Litvin’s appreciation for Calipari’s actions only grew with time.
A little more than a year later, a student forwarded Litvin emails obtained via an open-records request. Among the emails were those from UK professors who had vehemently opposed Calipari’s participation in the menorah lighting.
“I was aware there was some people uncomfortable with it; I wasn’t aware how overt the pushback was,” Litvin said. “… (The emails) really bothered me.”
In the years that followed the Hanukkah event, Litvin and Calipari worked many of the same events. Telethons. Raising money for statewide relief efforts following the tornadoes that hit western Kentucky in 2021 and the flooding in eastern Kentucky the year after.
“So it wasn’t just that when there was an issue, he dropped everything and did it in time,” Litvin said. “He put his own personal money where his mouth was. … He said, ‘This is something you should donate to.’ And then he himself led the way.”
To best describe Calipari, Litvin turned to the Yiddish language. Calipari, Litvin said, is a “mensch.” Not only does “mensch” simply translate to “man,” Litvin explained.
It’s the ideal man. The archetype all should aspire to.
“He’s upright. He’s caring,” Litvin said. “He’s not able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. But he cares. He’s what you want a man to be.”
Calipari is a devoted Catholic. He attends Mass every morning he can. His faith is essential to him. As he once recounted in his book, “Players First: Coaching From the Inside Out,” penned more than a decade ago.
“It’s how I start my day and it’s my moment of peace, almost meditation,” he wrote.
Father Jim Sichko witnessed Calipari practicing what he preached. Regularly. Though they never worked directly together, Sichko remembered Calipari taking his players to eastern Kentucky to hand out shoes after the flooding. Any time a natural disaster struck, Sichko saw the coach lending a helping hand, in ways big and small.
“I’m called to do those types of things,” said Sichko, a papal missionary of mercy for Pope Francis, “but Calipari felt called to do them as well.”
Calipari’s giving nature also hit closer to home for Sichko. When his sister visited Kentucky for her 60th birthday, Sichko contacted Calipari. Sichko hoped his sister and her friends would be allowed to attend a Wildcats practice.
“Calipari arranged for them to attend the practice. He arranged for them to have a private tour,” Sichko said. “And then spontaneously, he was coming out of the practice, and he met with her and greeted her.”
Not that Calipari’s hospitality surprised Sichko.
“What always amazed me with coach Cal is that whether you love him or hate him, whether you think he’s great or not, I will say this: He always made time (when people) needed him the most,” Sichko said. “He always took the time to do that.”
Yet his repeated, public profession of his faith is Calipari’s most commendable trait in Sichko’s mind. In an area where Catholics are few and far between — according to the Diocese of Lexington‘s website, just 3% of the population (roughly 40,600 out of nearly 1.5 million, per 2021 statistics) identifies as Catholic — having the most high-profile figure in the state go to bat for his beliefs was an answered prayer.
“It’s this: Not only do you talk about it but you live it,” Sichko said. “… I see it as an evangelization effort that he is also willing not to shy away from that. For him to be able to say that and be proud of that and not hide from it speaks a lot.”
More than two years after Calipari’s social media post changed their lives, Mollie McGuire said it’s occasionally difficult for the family to grasp. At times, she said, “it feels like it was yesterday.” At others, it hits them how long ago it truly was, tracking the passage of time by their daughter, Lynlee. During that Blue-White game, she was still an infant. Now, she’s 3 years old.
Her older brother, Easton, is 5. He still isn’t old enough to understand his father’s brush with fame. What he does recall, Mollie said, is how Calipari and his players put their busy schedules on hold. Oscar Tshiebwe, Kentucky’s best (and most recognizable) player, passed and dribbled the ball with Easton. Calipari took him around the locker room, serving as Easton’s personal tour guide.
“Easton had just (taken) up basketball at that point,” Mollie said. “And so watching those guys interact with Easton was a big thing for us, them taking the time to get down on his level and give him that experience.”
When the family has traveled outside the Bluegrass State, strangers have stopped them, asking Micheal if he’s “that famous coal miner.” Not prone to monologues, the unassuming Micheal shrugs off the attention, saying it’s “not really embarrassing” to have that label.
“It’s one of those things where, he’s one of hundreds (of coal miners) around here, just in Pikeville, that does the same job every day, you know?” Mollie said. “And it just happened to be him that was there at that game.”
All thanks to Calipari’s gesture. One they’ll always treasure.
“We knew that he did a lot of things for outreach, community events and all of that with sports. Like, we were aware of all this stuff that he was doing,” Mollie said, “but we didn’t realize, on a personal level, the extent that he went to for people.”
As close as the McGuires’ relationship with Calipari is, the couple doesn’t have any plans to attend an Arkansas game soon. Life gets in the way. Their kids are continuing to grow up. Mollie has returned to school in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree. And Micheal, recently laid off, is looking for a new job.
Unquestionably, the McGuires are unabashed supporters of Calipari. When he brings the Razorbacks into Rupp Arena at 9 p.m. Feb. 1 — the capper to a pivotal, noteworthy week for Kentucky, which travels to take on Tennessee on Jan. 28 — the McGuires’ rooting interest is clear.
But their hearts are conflicted.
“We’re definitely cheering for UK that game. We would like to see ’em come away with the win,” Mollie said. “But, at the same time, we hate to see him take a loss as well. It’s a bittersweet kind of thing.”
Admittedly “not the biggest basketball fan,” Litvin confessed he didn’t even know the Wildcats’ record since Mark Pope assumed the reins of the program from Calipari. Litvin always wants the best for UK.
“But I also want the best for Cal at his new position,” he said. “I guess I can say that I won’t be disappointed no matter how the game ends. It’s a win (for me) either way.”
Sichko couldn’t say the same. His heart is wholly with the Wildcats. He believes UK will win. Then added he’s so confident, he’d “guarantee” the Wildcats will hand their former leader a loss.
Of course, he doesn’t want the result to obscure the bigger picture.
“I root 100% for UK, but I also will root 100% (for) UK fans being very respectful that day,” he said. “Because I think we — regardless of whether you like him or not, whether you’re glad he’s gone or not — owe a sense of respect to an individual that really did give a lot of time and a lot of influence to the commonwealth.”
A coach’s win-loss record, Litvin acknowledged, is “very important.” There are few places — if any — that matters more than Kentucky, college basketball’s all-time wins leader. To be certain, Calipari left on a sour note, failing to advance out of the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament in his final five seasons at the helm. Perhaps one day, he’ll return to Rupp Arena and once more bask in the glow of an adoring crowd, similar to what Rick Pitino experienced at Big Blue Madness three months ago.
In Litvin’s eyes, Calipari deserves nothing less.
“Sports play an important part in our culture, but I think that the entire point of sports is to find your heroes,” he said. “And I think that, sports aside, coach Cal was a hero in many ways. And it’s important to me that’s part of his story. They’re not cartoon characters on the screen.
“They are real people, and who they are matters.”
Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
After a successful stint as the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats from 2009 to 2021, John Calipari is set to make his return to Rupp Arena. Calipari, who led the Wildcats to numerous SEC titles and Final Four appearances during his tenure, left the program to take on a new challenge as the head coach of the NBA’s Orlando Magic.
Now, after three seasons with the Magic, Calipari is ready to return to the college ranks and pick up where he left off with the Wildcats. Fans are buzzing with excitement at the prospect of having their beloved coach back on the sidelines at Rupp Arena, where he has become a legendary figure in Kentucky basketball history.
With Calipari’s track record of success and his ability to recruit top talent, the Wildcats are poised to once again be a force to be reckoned with in the college basketball world. As the countdown to his return begins, fans can’t wait to see what Calipari has in store for the Wildcats in the upcoming season. Stay tuned for more updates on John Calipari’s return to Rupp Arena.
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