Jan. 28, 1999. Mid-court, McKale Center: 蜜柚直播 is about to beat No. 2 Stanford on Jason Terry鈥檚 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.
鈥淪orry,鈥欌 Neethling says with a quick glance.鈥滸otta go.鈥欌
The next morning鈥檚 lead photograph in the Daily Star shows Terry engulfed by hundreds of celebrating UA fans, lifting him off his feet.
鈥淚t was a beautiful sight,鈥欌 said UA forward Eugene Edgerson, now a 蜜柚直播 policeman. 鈥淚 never thought I鈥檇 see all of the fans come onto the court. It was special.鈥欌
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No one got hurt.
Jan. 20, 2002. Mid-court, McKale Center. 蜜柚直播 overcomes a 20-point UCLA lead to beat the Bruins 96-86. At the final buzzer, CBS鈥 Billy Packer is knocked away from his broadcast position when hundreds of UA fans jump over press row onto the court.
The next day鈥檚 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.
鈥淐hills went down my back,鈥欌 Walton said.
Again, no one got hurt.
Times changed.
Feb. 6, 2004. 蜜柚直播 High School gymnasium. On the last play of the game, THS鈥 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鈥檚 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 蜜柚直播 High students who tackled him after the last basket of Kay鈥檚 basketball career.
Now, 20 years later, the 38-year-old Kay splits time between Brazil and 蜜柚直播. In two weeks he will marry his fiance, a geologist from Brazil.
Kay watched last week鈥檚 Duke-Wake Forest basketball game in which Wake Forest fans stormed the court after beating the Blue Devils, knocking Duke鈥檚 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鈥檚 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.
鈥淭wenty years have passed and I鈥檓 still disabled,鈥欌 he says with emotion. 鈥淓very time I see people rush the court, it鈥檚 ridiculous. It鈥檚 bull. The college kids act like this is a rite of passage for them. It鈥檚 BS. Are they going to wait until someone gets hurt the way I did? My body will be constantly affected until I die.鈥欌
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.
鈥淭hey celebrate it,鈥欌 he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 sad because they have the influence to to help change it.鈥欌
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 蜜柚直播 road losses ended with court-stormings. And it wasn鈥檛 just at ASU, but widely spread, involving Oregon, Colorado (twice), USC, Cal, UNLV and Oregon State.
Former 蜜柚直播 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 蜜柚直播, triggers a rush-the-court reaction at almost every road stop.
鈥淭hose who storm the court should be held responsible, but they are always let off the hook,鈥欌 says Kay. 鈥淭hey 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鈥檙e happy to pay the conference those fines.鈥欌
The most eventful court-storming in Pac-12 history was probably 蜜柚直播鈥檚 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.
蜜柚直播 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 鈥渨e hope this gets to be something they get used to.鈥欌
Will it take another Kay-like catastrophic injury to stop court-stormings?.
蜜柚直播 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 鈥淢cMiracle鈥欌 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.
蜜柚直播鈥檚 most memorable court-rushing at McKale was 蜜柚直播鈥檚 upset over No. 3 UCLA in 1979. The Daily Star鈥檚 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 鈥渉elp recruiting.鈥欌
Now, 45 years later, it鈥檚 not clear if a court-storming helps recruiting, or if it鈥檚 a massive litigation issue ready to burst.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 make any sense,鈥欌 says Joe Kay. 鈥淚 was hoping this would all change 10 or 15 years ago, and it鈥檚 still the same old story. Does someone else have to get hurt the way I did before there鈥檚 a change?鈥欌
Contact sports columnist Greg Hansen at GHansenAZStar@gmail.com. On X(Twitter): @ghansen711