Do you remember where you were on Thursday March 12th, 2020? The coronavirus was being tossed around on every news station, but a lot of it was still cautionary and no one really knew what was to come.
The UIL girls and boys basketball state tournaments were occurring in back-to-back weeks at the Alamodome in San Antonio. I had just wrapped up the girls tournament – things were buzzing, but for the most part everything seemed to run as normal as possible.
Then the week leading up to the boys tournament, that’s when more about COVID-19 was coming out. The Alamodome was going to enforce more sanitary stations around the concourse. On Wednesday March 11th, news broke that a couple of teams were going to opt out of the NCAA basketball tournament.
I ended up going to my friend’s house that night (Darren Lauber). I was staying over because the two of us were going to head out very early to make the trip to San Antonio where the first game was tipping off at 8:30 in the morning.
On the following day, we headed out at 4 AM.
We arrived right around the first game was starting – a Class 1A semifinal. Still, there were rumors stirring, but no one knew what was really going on. We went through the opening game. Meanwhile, I started to realize that almost every member of the UIL was no where to be found on the floor. The first thought was they were all in the back – in the conference room – talking about the next step.
The second 1A semifinal tipped off at 10.
Then the snowball began to roll. In light of multiple shutdowns such as the NCAA, the UIL had no choice but to follow. At halftime, the big screen said that the second half would finish along with the two 3A semifinal games, but the rest of the weekend’s games were going to be suspended.
It was strange.
We played 2 1/2 more games only to know that was it. Now I had to make travel arrangements. I had to call several coaches and get their thoughts on the news. I had to call the hotel and cancel the other two nights we were scheduled to stay. Of course after the first night, we left for home on Friday.
After we left the Alamodome on Thursday night, we met with Darren’s nephew and his wife for dinner and drinks. Things were still normal. Bars and restaurants were as busy as ever. We sat there watching the TV and that’s when ESPN began to break the news that other several organizations were either suspending play or canceling seasons.
I – like everyone else – thought this was a two-week thing. After a couple weeks, we will be back, that’s what I thought. Little did I know – again like everyone else – we would never come back to games that spring. A season taken away from spring athletes. Graduations altered. You could only go out if it was essential. Words like that and quarantine – words that really didn’t come into my daily, monthly or even yearly vocabulary. People were getting sick. People were dying. People were fighting each other just to get to a case of bottled water at the store or a bag of toilet paper.
People wearing masks and getting angry when a store would enforce wearing one.
Everything was different.
But Texas slowly came back. I can still remember the spring athletes and what they were feeling after a lost season – especially for those seniors. Proms canceled – graduation ceremonies moved to larger venues like TMS and Globe Life Field. Driving by someone’s house, but not getting out, to say happy birthday. Athletes outside their house for a COVID senior night.
The state, however, would be one of the firsts to come back to normal.
In early June, we started playing outdoor sports again like select softball. Some places required masks and social distancing – another phrase I wasn’t aware of until 2020. Then August came and small schools started on time while 6A and 5A teams were pushed back to September. Tournaments were canceled for the indoor scores. But by 2021 things felt like they once were before the coronavirus.
It is crazy to think how four years have flown by and COVID is in the rearview mirror.
