John Calipari connects with viral coal miner father to offer VIP experience following Blue-White game

John Calipari’s offseason of good works just keeps going. This past weekend, the Kentucky Men’s Basketball team went east, heading to Pikeville for this year’s Blue/White scrimmage in an effort to raise more money for the eastern half of the state after devastating flooding this summer. As part of the whole experience, one coal miner who barely made the game in time wound up having a life-changing photo snapped of him during the game.

UK head coach John Calipari came across the picture, which went viral across the state, and sent this message over twitter along with the picture of the man, Micheal McGuire:

My family’s American dream started in a Clarksburg, WV coal mine, so this picture hits home.

From what I’ve been told, after his shift, he raced to be with his son & watch our team. Don’t know who this is, but I have tickets for him & his family at Rupp to be treated as VIPs!! pic.twitter.com/a5BJXUnK2v

— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) October 24, 2022

With Calipari coming from a coal mining family not far away in West Virginia, seeing the snapshot of the miner plastered in soot hit home. And he wanted to acknowledge this fella from eastern Kentucky who represents both the region and type of person the team is trying to help out with its flood relief efforts.

Apparently, that image of McGuire isn’t uncommon, according to his wife, Mollie. “It’s nothing for us to go out to eat or him to come to our son’s tee-ball games or family events covered in coal dust,” she told Kyle Tucker of The Athletic.

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Of course, Coach Cal eventually found Micheal and Mollie, who answered Cal’s call on Monday while her husband was finishing up his Monday shift in the mines. Once back at surface level, McGuire was flooded with calls and texts while he himself was befuddled by all the madness.

Once he got home, Cal spoke to the McGuire’s and offered them a full weekend of fun with the Kentucky basketball team for one game this year. According to The Athletic’s Kyle Tucker, “Calipari told them to pick a home game and they’ll be his guests for a dinner, pregame shootaround, meet-and-greet with his players and courtside seats at Rupp Arena.”

McGuire was overwhelmed by everything, especially by Cal’s story, because he never knew the UK head coach had mining blood in his family too. “He’s just like one of us,” according to McGuire.

Mollie also added that when she spoke to Calipari, he explained his own connection to coal mining. That his grandfather was one. And though he never got to really meet him, Coach Cal always cherished the family connection to mining.

That’s why seeing this dirtied-up miner at UK’s charity scrimmage really brought out the emotions.