Sports
Basketball secondary: Ohlone Treats Butte to Special Night
Ohlone donates $1,500 to help students, faculty affected by catastrophic Camp Fire; gives visiting Roadrunners goodie bags, dinner.
Sports took a backseat to human kindness and compassion when the Ohlone men’s basketball team hosted Butte College in a nonconference game on Nov. 20.
Ohlone presented the visiting team with goodie bags and treated the Roadrunners to dinner afterward. The college also donated $1,500 to help Butte students and faculty affected by the catastrophic Camp Fire.
An estimated 431 Butte students, along with 116 members of the faculty and staff, lost their homes in the fire, according to a report in The Mercury News.
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News crews from KRON, NBC, KPIX and ABC were on hand to cover the Ohlone-Butte game, according to Ohlone coach Steve Kline.
“It means the world, honestly,” Butte guard Noah Zoppi said of Ohlone’s warmth in a televised interview. “It just shows their tradition here; they’re just a really good school with a really good administration, and I respect that a lot. I know that our community will love that.”
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Zoppi described his community as “really strong. They have our back. We’re not just playing for ourselves or just our college, we’re playing for our community.”
Kline said Butte’s players and coaches did not lose their homes in the fire, but they knew people that did. Butte beat Ohlone 85-82, but the final score seemed trivial.
“It’s really great for our kids to be able to play, just to escape it a little bit, but those less fortunate and what they’re going through is never out of our minds,” said Butte coach Russ Critchfield, in his 21st season heading the team
Kline agreed that his philosophy has always been to keep the big picture in mind when it comes to sports.
“We’re trying to teach kids life lessons. It’s more important to do things the right way and treat people the right way than winning basketball games,” Kline says.
Kline was thrilled to receive a text message from Critchfield on Thanksgiving morning: “Happy Thanksgiving. Thanks again for the special night. We won’t forget it.”
Photo of Ohlone coach Steve Kline.
Photographer: Donald Jedlovec
