By MALCOLM BUTLER, Lincoln Parish Journal
LOVE AND SERVE
Those are three words that members of the Louisiana Tech Lady Techster basketball team hear daily.
It’s a mantra head coach Brooke Stoehr encourages her student athletes to live by.
Whether it’s volunteering their time around the Lincoln Parish community or interacting with one another, love and serve is part of the culture of the program.
Stoehr is big on her players giving back.
However, this past weekend, on the final stage of their return from a two-game road trip that saw the team win at Missouri State Thursday and at FIU Saturday, the Tech travel party endured a trip for the ages.
It was the final leg of the return that took 24 hours to get home from New Orleans.
And an opportunity for the Lady Techsters to grow as a group and to be on the other end of what they preach.
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LOVE AND SERVE
After defeating FIU Saturday afternoon in Miami, Tech boarded a flight and landed in New Orleans Saturday night.
They were met by a Mayo Tours bus piloted by veteran driver, Tim Henderson. After spending the night in a hotel in the Big Easy, the Lady Techsters prepared to head north to Ruston.
With news of the winter storm that had blanketed north Louisiana, the decision didn’t come lightly, and it didn’t come without intel from authorities.
“Before we even made the trip, we had communicated with state police that morning at 7 a.m.,” said Stoehr. “Our driver, Tim, had talked to his people and other drivers. The decision we made was well informed from the information we had from reliable sources. We felt good about it.”
That feeling lasted for the first four hours of the trip. The trip was uneventful up through Mississippi and then back into Louisiana, via the bridge over the Mississippi River on I-20.
That’s when the good feeling began to turn.
“We had no issues until we got to Well Road,” said Stoehr. “We never checked up even through Monroe, even over the bridge, until we got to Well Road. And then the only reason we stopped was because traffic was backed up because of the trucks.”
When you travel as much as college athletes do, inevitably you will experience delays, whether in airports or on buses.
However, there are delays … and then there are delays. And over the next few hours, it was simply a delay.
But then a few hours turned into many, many more.
“We were communicating with our administration the entire time,” said Stoehr. “We were communicating with people who had connections to the sheriff’s office and to the state police, trying to get any type of information we could.
“They would get one thing fixed and then there would be another accident or a truck stall out in front of us. A lot of it was the trucks were trying to go up and hill and they would stall out. And then it ended up being truckers sleeping in their vehicles because they had been sitting there for so long.”
It was just the beginning of an 18-hour delay that lasted through the night and into Monday morning.
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LOVE AND SERVE
Tim Henderson has been driving Mayo Tour buses for five years. And although he has been a part of plenty of trips, including others with the Lady Techster team, Tim said this one was unique.
“I have never quite had an experience like that,” said Tim.
And according to Stoehr, Tim was the perfect man for the job on this trip.
“Tim was incredible,” said Stoehr. “He is just steady and calm. He was so reassuring during the entire time. Extremely selfless. He is the consummate professional.
“Above all else, he was going to keep us safe. I think he understands that we all have families. He has a family. He wasn’t going to put us in danger. We told him at any point, if you don’t feel safe, let us know.”
As the day turned into night and traffic remained at a standstill and temperatures plummeted into the teens, Tim said he had one focus.
“I was trying to reassure everyone that we are going to be okay,” said Tim. “We are going to be delayed, but we are in touch with the state police as well as other local officials.
“I wanted to keep assuring them that we had plenty of fuel because the bus would run for at least two days on the fuel we had. We had heat. We had Wi-Fi. We had snacks. We were telling jokes to make everybody a little more comfortable and loosen them up.”
Junior guard Lexi Weaver praised Tim’s efforts.
“Mr. Tim … he was the best,” said Weaver. “I can’t even imagine what it was like for him being behind the wheel. He had to make some difficult decisions. He was in control of all our lives. He was just incredible.
“When you talk about loving and serving, it’s easy to overlook the bus driver. But Mr. Tim really illustrated those values to us.”
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LOVE AND SERVE
Student athletes are adept at entertaining themselves on bus trips.
And in this day and age of technology, there is plenty to do.
According to Weaver, as the hours dragged on, she and her teammates found plenty of ways to pass the time … at least some of it.
Charades. Phase 10. Coup. Sing alongs. Legos. TV. Homework. Music. And of course, naps.
That was good … for a while.
“We tried to lighten the mood even in such a difficult time,” said Weaver. “I say difficult. We had Wi-Fi. We had snacks. We had water. We had a bathroom. It could have been much worse.”
Great perspective from a 20-year-old college student.
Despite the adversity, Stoehr said she couldn’t be prouder of how her team responded.
“I thought the girls were incredible,” said Stoehr. “We had been gone since Wednesday. It was a long trip to begin with, going from Missouri State to FIU. We had two incredible road wins. That always helps morale.
“I just think it speaks to who they are as a group. They really value each other. They are committed to each other. They are just fun to be around.”
Even though, there were times when Cabin Fever began to set in on the group.
“It was a difficult 24 hours,” said Weaver. “We would go back and forth from everybody being up and walking around and laughing to slowly losing it as time went on.”
It was during one of those times late Sunday night – about 10 hours into the delay – that Weaver turned to one of the team’s leadership books.
“This year’s team came up with their own vision of what they wanted this team to be about this summer when we went through our book together, ‘The 7 Commitments of a Great Team’,” said Stoehr. “That vision was a confident family who’s consistently tenacious and resilient in pursuit of a championship.”
According to Stoehr, the players were paired up, and each pair has a day of the week and commitment.
Weaver, along with freshman Hillary Dawson, have “Commit to Valuing Each Other.”
“Every day someone will give a quote or show a video of something related to that commitment,” said Weaver. “It was Hillary and my day, so I thought it was a good time to give a quote.”
So, at 11 p.m. with her teammates fighting for their sanity, Weaver took the bus’s microphone and read aloud the following quote.
“Great teams aren’t defined by the easy wins, but how they treat each other when things get hard. When we truly value one another, we choose trust over blame. Encouragement over silence. And commitment over quitting. Hard times don’t break good teams, they build them. And when we stand together, every challenge becomes something we can get through as one.”
It was the perfect message at the perfect time.
“It gave our group a little bit of juice and a little bit of hope, and it was a reminder that we are safe,” said Stoehr. “We are stranded and we can’t move and that’s very frustrating, but it is just an inconvenience.
“I was proud. I thought they were mature in how they managed it.”
Weaver felt the message was needed.
“I thought it was a good quote in a tough time to pull everyone together,” she said. “It was 11 o’clock and we had been stuck in the same place for seven or eight hours. It was a good time to pull everybody together.”
It was just another impressive moment.
“Those kids rock,” said Tim. “They were very resilient, very understanding. They encouraged each other. It was amazing to witness.”
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LOVE AND SERVE
Although the team ate breakfast in New Orleans before it departed, the snacks on the bus just weren’t doing it.
Hunger had set in.
“We had our snacks and our cooler that has Gatorade and waters,” said Stoehr. “We had that prepared and ready just in case a situation occurred. We stopped at a convenience store in Jackson, (Mississippi) to stock up on a few things. We thought we were fine and would be home in a few hours.”
By nightfall, stomachs were grumbling.
“Everybody was hungry,” said Weaver. “We hadn’t really eaten a meal since before we got on the bus that morning. Everybody’s patience was running thin.”
Stoehr was texting with her friend, Christy Sorensen. She knew Sorensen had lost power in West Monroe and was checking on her earlier during the afternoon, very early in the delay.
Around 9:30 p.m., she texted her back.
“I just said, ‘Hey, we are still out here stranded,’” said Stoehr. “I told her, ‘We are fine. We just could use some real food.’”
“I was like, ‘Wait a minute. You are still on I-20?’” said Sorensen. “I was like, ‘I’m on it.’
“I knew how stressed Brooke was because she treats those kids like they are her family because they are. I knew she was at her wits’ end.”
Sorensen is the general manager at Newk’s Eatery in Ruston. She said she immediately started game planning. Although she couldn’t get to Ruston, she knew who to call.
“My boss always tells me I have a way of getting people to do what I want,” said Sorensen. “And I try to use that for good.”
Sorensen posted a message on Facebook, asking for help in delivering food. While she awaited responses, she called one of her managers, Chris Hall, who is a LA Tech student who lives close to Newk’s Eatery.
It didn’t take long for the plan to take shape.
Chris and his brother, Nick, along with another Newk’s employee, Kaden King, walked up to the restaurant to begin preparing the food.
And by 11:45 p.m., they had “30 to 40” pizzas, fruit, and cake boxed up and ready to roll.
“Pizza was the easiest thing to do,” said Sorensen. “They were instructed to feed themselves and Brent and his guys too. I said make whatever it takes to feed everyone.”
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LOVE AND SERVE
Ruston resident Brent Causey responded to Sorensen’s Facebook message.
“Christy explained the situation and asked for help,” said Causey, who had been out that day assisting others. “We started texting back and forth about what they needed. Is it fuel, blankets, food? What do they need?”
When Sorensen explained to Causey that the food was being prepared, he started working on his end of things.
He was more than willing to do Door Dash – ATV-style.
“I got a couple of guys together who were willing to help me do this,” said Causey, who was joined on the late-night adventure by Justin Post and Zach Mays. “We were trying to figure out how to get there. This was Sunday night and everything was shut down.”
Nothing like a little challenge.
“We loaded up chain saws and tools, and we trailered my Polaris Ranger to Newk’s (Eatery) and picked up the food around 11:45 p.m.,” said Causey, who said he got back home around 3:30 a.m. “We drove Hwy 80 to the gas station located on the Cheniere Exit (in West Monroe).
“We unloaded (the ATV) and food. We drove it over I-20 and got on the interstate going east with traffic. We then crossed over the median and came back west and found the bus.”
According to Stoehr and Weaver, they have never been so happy to see food at 1:30 in the morning.
“I was in tears,” said Stoehr. “Some of our players were in tears. It was emotional. What an act of humanity. They didn’t have to do that. It’s cold. It’s 1:30 in the morning. They don’t know us. They did it out of the goodness of their heart. It’s a great reminder of humanity.
“We talk about love and serve in our program and what that looks like. It was a great example of that, and we were just so grateful. They brought the food on the bus and we hugged them, and then they hopped back on the side by side and took off.”
What an illustration of helping others.
“We couldn’t be more grateful,” said Weaver. “It was something those people didn’t have to do. It shows the togetherness and the community that we have. We are so grateful. It was below freezing outside, and they didn’t have to come at 1 o’clock in the morning.
“And the people who cooked the food for us … it was just so selfless of them. We couldn’t be more grateful.”
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LOVE AND SERVE
Around 8 a.m. Monday, Tim Henderson was able to put his foot on the accelerator and start back down I-20 towards Ruston after an 18-hour delay.
And at 9:45 a.m., the Lady Techsters rolled into the ice-covered parking lot of the Thomas Assembly Center – a total of 1,443 minutes (24 hours, 3 minutes) from New Orleans to Ruston.
Stoehr said she couldn’t be prouder of her entire staff, especially director of operations Mikayla Baillie.
“I want to give our staff a lot of credit,” said Stoehr. “I thought Mikayla did an incredible job in such a difficult situation of planning ahead, constantly changing, having to adjust. She was phenomenal. She stayed poised and calm. I think our players really fed off that. We must model that even when we are dying inside and feeling hopeless.”
No, it wasn’t life or death.
But it was true adversity, something that every college athlete and athletic team faces during a season.
“Adversity comes on the court and off the court,” said Weaver. “I think building from adversity pulled us closer together instead of pulling us apart is the biggest thing we can take from it.”
Tech is currently in first place in the Conference USA standings, but there is plenty of basketball yet to play.
And no one knows better than the head coach that adversity will come in different forms and at different times, not only the rest of the season, but in life.
“We are always talking to our team about adversity is a given,” said Stoehr. “We don’t know when it will hit. If it will be on the court, in the classroom or in our personal lives, but we will all face it at some point or another. The most important thing is the people you have around you to help you through it.
“We are so blessed by the wonderful community of Ruston and the great people that live here. They have a willingness to love and serve our players and program in such a big way. It’s one of the many things that makes Louisiana Tech and Ruston such a special place to live and be a part of.”
A true example of … LOVE AND SERVE.
Contact Malcolm at lpjnewsla@gmail.com
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