Pat Kelsey Delivers Emotional Speech

ESPN.com

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/8761964/pat-kelsey-winthrop-eagles-men-basketball-coach-calls-social-change-wake-newtown-ct-shootings

Winthrop coach Pat Kelsey, seizing what he believed was a special opportunity, gave an impassioned address Tuesday in response to the recent Sandy Hook Elementary School killings.

After commenting on the Eagles’ 65-55 loss to Ohio State, Kelsey pleaded for social change in the wake of Friday’s tragedy in Newtown, Conn.

“The last thing I wanna say is I’m really, really lucky, Kelsey said. I’m gonna get on an eight-hour bus ride and I’m gonna arrive in Rock Hill, S.C., and I’m gonna walk into my house and walk upstairs. I’m gonna walk into two pink rooms, OK, with a 5-year-old and a 4-year-old laying in that pink room, with a bunch of teddy bears laying in that room.

“And I’m gonna give them the biggest hug and the biggest kiss I’ve ever given them. And there’s 20 families in Newtown, Conn., that are walking into a pink room with a bunch of teddy bears with nobody laying in those beds. And it’s tragic.”

Kelsey acknowledged that his team’s opponent put him on a national stage and that he was going to use that stage to raise awareness four days after 20 children and six adults were shot to death at Sandy Hook.

“This has to be a time for change, he said. And I know this microphone’s powerful right now, because we’re playing the (seventh)-best team in the country. I’m not going to have a microphone like this the rest of the year, maybe the rest of my life.

“I’m going to be an agent of change with the 13 young men I get to coach every day and the two little girls that I get to raise. But hopefully things start changing, because it’s really, really disappointing.”

Pat Kelsey Delivers Emotional Speech

ESPN.com

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/8761964/pat-kelsey-winthrop-eagles-men-basketball-coach-calls-social-change-wake-newtown-ct-shootings

Winthrop coach Pat Kelsey, seizing what he believed was a special opportunity, gave an impassioned address Tuesday in response to the recent Sandy Hook Elementary School killings.

After commenting on the Eagles’ 65-55 loss to Ohio State, Kelsey pleaded for social change in the wake of Friday’s tragedy in Newtown, Conn.

“The last thing I wanna say is I’m really, really lucky, Kelsey said. I’m gonna get on an eight-hour bus ride and I’m gonna arrive in Rock Hill, S.C., and I’m gonna walk into my house and walk upstairs. I’m gonna walk into two pink rooms, OK, with a 5-year-old and a 4-year-old laying in that pink room, with a bunch of teddy bears laying in that room.

“And I’m gonna give them the biggest hug and the biggest kiss I’ve ever given them. And there’s 20 families in Newtown, Conn., that are walking into a pink room with a bunch of teddy bears with nobody laying in those beds. And it’s tragic.”

Kelsey acknowledged that his team’s opponent put him on a national stage and that he was going to use that stage to raise awareness four days after 20 children and six adults were shot to death at Sandy Hook.

“This has to be a time for change, he said. And I know this microphone’s powerful right now, because we’re playing the (seventh)-best team in the country. I’m not going to have a microphone like this the rest of the year, maybe the rest of my life.

“I’m going to be an agent of change with the 13 young men I get to coach every day and the two little girls that I get to raise. But hopefully things start changing, because it’s really, really disappointing.”