John Calipari’s search for coal miner at Kentucky game goes viral
Mar 28, 2019; Kansas City, MO, United States; Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari speaks during a press conference for the midwest regional of the 2019 NCAA Tournament at Sprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
John Calipari’s search for a coal miner who attended a Kentucky scrimmage went viral and has a good ending.
On Saturday, Kentucky held a Blue-White scrimmage game in Pikeville, Ky. They used the annual scrimmage as an opportunity to raise money for flood victims in Eastern Kentucky.
A photo of a coal miner who attended the game went viral, because the man had obviously come from work to watch the game with his family.
Calipari shared the photo on his social media accounts and talked about how the photo had hit home for him. He then asked for help identifying the fan so Kentucky could host the family at Rupp Arena.
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
Sure enough, the photo made its way to Mollie McGuire, who shared that it was her husband Micheal who was pictured.
“This is my amazing husband Micheal Joe Mcguire! He is an employee of Excel Mining (Alliance Coal) and works hard to provide for our family. It doesn’t matter to him how long he has worked or how hard his day is, he is always there and shows up for our babies! He is the most selfless man ever and always puts his family first! Our babies absolutely adore him and Easton our son tells people he is a coal miner like his daddy we are beyond blessed and thankful!” Mollie wrote on Facebook in response to the post.
Mollie said that Micheal had awakened at 4:45 a.m. that day to begin his work day, then raced to meet them at the arena after work.
Here is the original post that brought attention to Micheal McGuire.
