‘They all bleed blue.’ What UK basketball’s trip to Pikeville meant to Eastern Kentucky.

The crowd of people in Pikeville was several rows deep, all waiting to catch a glimpse of their heroes.

A sun-splashed Saturday afternoon in the Eastern Kentucky city was highlighted by a showcase event: Kentucky men’s basketball’s annual Blue-White Game moved from Lexington’s Rupp Arena to Pikeville’s Appalachian Wireless Arena this year, a change made after devastating flooding hit Eastern Kentucky over the summer.

This led to Saturday’s scene, where downtown Pikeville was swarmed by blue and white clad fans who got the rare opportunity to see the Wildcats play in their region.

“What UK basketball means to the state and for us to be able to showcase even just the Blue and White game, for us to be able to showcase that in Pikeville ... we’ll get to brag about this for the next 20 years,” said Paul Bowles, Pikeville’s executive director of tourism and the general manager of Appalachian Wireless Arena.

“It’s a big deal for us. Everybody here, they all bleed blue.”

UK rewards Eastern Kentucky fans

While Saturday’s spectacle of the UK men’s basketball team playing in Pikeville was perhaps a generational event, the city hosts plenty of well-known occasions each year.

This includes concerts and conferences at Appalachian Wireless Arena, as well as the Hillbilly Days festival, held annually since 1977.

This routine flow of events in the city benefits businesses like Broken Throne Brewing, a microbrewery, taproom and music venue that has two locations on Pikeville’s Main Street.

Broken Throne’s taproom location is directly across from Appalachian Wireless Arena, and general manager Jamie Slone said she can note a different excitement among employees when a major event takes place in the city.

“It’s definitely a lot easier to plan for weekends when there’s stuff going on like this. It’s exciting, employees want to come to work because they think that they’re actually going to make some decent money and things like that,” Slone said. “It’s definitely a boost for my crew when things like this come into town.”

Saturday’s influx of visitors to Pikeville had plenty of entertainment options to choose from before UK’s Blue-White Game tipped off at 6 p.m.

A fan fest took place downtown starting at 3 p.m., featuring vendors and live music, in addition to businesses with a permanent presence in Pikeville’s downtown.

For Broken Throne, an appetizer special and a songwriters showcase following the game were some of the incentives used to try and bring people through the doors.

Another selling point is Broken Throne’s flagship and most popular beer: The Dumb Luck Blonde Ale.

“What I hear a lot of times from people who are coming in from out of town, or it’s maybe their first time in Pikeville, is they think that we have a really cute charming town,” Slone said. “I think Pikeville is a cute, little, quaint mountain town and I don’t think we should try to be necessarily anything more than that. I think that’s why people come here, is for the mountains and that kind of experience.”

Slone and her family are from Knott County, one of the areas hit hardest by the summer flooding, which is currently tied to the deaths of 43 people.

She recalled the stress of several months ago, as Slone’s parents and sister are among family members who still live in Knott County.

Beyond the raw economic impact that the Blue-White Game coming to Pikeville had, Slone also spoke about the intrinsic values it symbolized.

“I’m not even sure that UK as a school can fathom really how much that’s going to mean to the people in this area,” Slone said. “Just thinking of my family, they don’t follow any other sports, but they follow UK basketball. ... It’s an organization that this area is very supportive of and has spent their money to support over the years and they’re giving back in this way when this area needs it.”

Finding prosperity

Kentucky basketball’s trip to Eastern Kentucky did plenty of good.

The Cats, along with the University of Pikeville men’s basketball team, visited Jenny Wiley State Resort Park on Saturday afternoon, spending time and distributing winter clothes to people displaced from their homes by the flooding.

During Saturday night’s Blue-White Game, the UK team presented Gov. Andy Beshear with a check for $162,450 to Beshear’s Team Eastern Kentucky Flood Relief fund, money raised thanks to the more than 7,000 fans who attended the game in Pikeville.

But at the same time, one standalone weekend of attention — even if driven by the biggest sports entity in the state — is far from enough to complete Eastern Kentucky’s recovery process.

Colby Hall is the executive director of SOAR (Shaping Our Appalachian Region), a regional nonprofit that advocates for 54 Appalachian Regional Commission counties in Eastern Kentucky and promotes initiatives to improve the quality of life in these counties, including economically.

Hall is a UK grad himself, and remembers growing up cheering for Kentucky’s 1998 national championship team: Cameron Mills and Jeff Sheppard were his favorite players.

But Hall’s current job requires him to work in the long term.

“It all rotates around, trying to think about how does this region find prosperity again for its residents that are struggling the most,” said Hall, whose work includes helping the region’s economy transition away from coal-related jobs.

“Things like connectivity, broadband, that’s our number one priority. ... How do we get more folks online equipped with digital skill sets so that they can leverage the Internet for the opportunity creator that it is? Something that we’re super focused on is getting people healthier. But they all stem underneath good paying jobs, benefit-providing jobs, for more people.”

Highlighting the need for these pursuits is the fact that 36 counties in Eastern Kentucky are classified as “distressed” by the Appalachian Regional Commission based on three-year average measurements of unemployment rate, per capita market income and poverty rate compared to national averages.

But SOAR has also assisted with the immediate challenges facing the region following the summer floods, including assistance for impacted students and their families.

“Appliances, bedding, flooring, anything that gets (students) to school and then lets them go back home and have something to eat, a place to sleep, just the basic kind of pillars of normalcy,” Hall said. “We felt like that was going to be a gap. ... We felt like that was a niche thing that we could focus on.”

An extension of those efforts occurred Saturday afternoon, when class of 2023 Kentucky men’s basketball commit Reed Sheppard — an in-state star at North Laurel High School in London — presented SOAR’s Eastern Kentucky Student Support Fund with a $10,000 donation.

The donation came during a youth basketball camp hosted by Sheppard in Pikeville.

“It means a lot, being able to do this and give back to the community and be able to come out and hang out with the kids,” Sheppard said during the camp.

Hall said that with Sheppard’s check, about $125,000 has been deployed toward these efforts, mostly in the counties of Breathitt, Knott, Letcher and Perry.

Players feel close bond with fans in Eastern Kentucky

At basically every opportunity, UK head coach John Calipari has stressed that the decision to hold the Blue-White Game in Pikeville was a player-led initiative.

This comes after UK held an open practice in August at Rupp Arena that was part of a three-hour telethon to raise funds for Eastern Kentucky flood relief.

All proceeds from that event — which totaled more than $2.4 million once the telethon ended — were to go toward the American Red Cross to benefit the immediate needs of Kentuckians impacted by the floods.

Also in August, several Kentucky head coaches, including Calipari and UK women’s basketball head coach Kyra Elzy, traveled to Eastern Kentucky to distribute shoes to flood victims.

“I commend (UK) because I think they’re doing all they can to help flood-impacted communities and families,” Hall added.

So what did Saturday mean to those Wildcats who helped create another initiative to benefit Eastern Kentucky?

“After seeing how much BBN cares for us and everything, it was very important for us to be able to come out and do this for Kentucky in general,” said freshman Adou Thiero.

“The community service stuff and giving back to the community is one part of the program that we do. If anyone needs help, we are there for them,” added senior Antonio Reeves, who was the MVP of Saturday’s Blue-White Game.

Continuing to keep Eastern Kentucky front of mind will be key to the region’s recovery from the flooding and its potential prosperity in the future.

On Saturday, Kentucky basketball played a small part in that project. But it was also something that will linger long in the memory for those who experienced it.

“It’s showing that these players, this coach, this university that is first-class and is on a different level, cares about people that come from these communities and wants to give them hope,” Hall said. “(It) shows ‘We love you. We care about you. We’re thinking about you. We’re playing for you. We’re here with you. We’re going to do everything we can to help you.’”

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