The role of sports in the wake of tragedy

The night of Aug. 31, 2007, is a special one in Enterprise history.

It was the first time the Enterprise football team, cheerleading squad and community came back to Bates Memorial Stadium since their lives were forever changed in an instant 184 days earlier.

“It was very emotional for all of us,” former Enterprise High School math teacher and cheer coach Heather Mitchell said. “That is one game I will never forget. The helicopters flew over that night. We had a helicopter flyover, and I remember the sounds of that. It brought it back.”

Those sounds brought back memories of a day now 10 years past, but impossible to forget.

Michael Bowen, Peter Dunn II, A.J. Jackson, Ryan Mohler, Katie Strunk, Mikey Tompkins, Michelle Wilson and Jamie Vidensek died March 1, 2007, inside Enterprise High School when an EF4 tornado tore through the building. Enterprise resident Edna Strickland, who is EHS guidance secretary Kathy Rakestraw’s mother, also died in the storm.

“We've always said, no doubt, Ms. Edna went as the chaperone for the eight,” Mitchell said. “You had every personality type in those eight from the shy to the mischievous to the sweet child. You just kind of had a little mix of everybody in there. I've always felt like she was there with them, which is comforting.” 

March 1, 2007, dawned like many other days in Enterprise, before the skies darkened and the tornado took its devastating toll.

The storm slashed through the City of Progress as it barreled toward Hillcrest Elementary School and the high school.

“There were some glass doors right at the end of the science building facing the road, facing Watts (Street) right there,” former EHS science teacher and baseball coach Shawn Gilmer said. “It got very, very dark, almost kind of a greenish tint out there. We just heard a noise, just a big rumble. We got everybody to cover up. It went through very quickly when it came. You knew something was happening. You could see some cars being tossed around outside. You’re just basically doing a whole lot of praying at that point that everything is going to turn out OK. Once it came through, it seemed like forever, but it was only just a few seconds and it was gone.”

Enterprise High School, which stood at 500 East Watts Street for more than half a century as the home of the Wildcats, took a direct hit.

Former  EHS athletic director and football coach Kevin Collins was on the school’s first hall at impact.

“When it came through and hit, the thing I remember is seeing our two state championship football trophies in those big cases that were right there in the front entrance of the old high school,” he said. “They got sucked all the way down first hall. We had a lot of debris that was falling up there in that area. Over my radio…I heard Rick Rainer just yelling in a very desperate voice, 'Third hall! Third hall!’”

Motivated by the former EHS principal’s tone, the coach raced down a corridor past the library and down another by the gym lobby. 

“When I turned that corner into third hall and saw that, that's just a sight nobody should see,” Collins said. “There were some personal things I witnessed I didn't talk about for a long, long time.”

The school’s science wing, where Gilmer’s students huddled, was ripped apart.

“The whole outside wall was gone,” he said. “The roof was gone off of my room, but the wall there on the hall held up on our side. We had a few blocks that had come down from the top. We had some students with cuts and (who were) banged up and things like that on our end. As we walked down the hall…the whole building had collapsed at that point.”

The baseball coach said he and students who were able began helping to pull their classmates from the rubble.

“Our kids were great,” Gilmer said. “There were some kids who came in and helped us move people out, those people who were hurt. We had some with leg and arm (injuries) who couldn’t get out themselves we had to carry out the side right there. There were some beams down across some people we had to pick up, but no life-threatening injuries right where we were.”

The search for students buried under cabinets and concrete continued, and Gilmer was unaware of the extent of the damage in other parts of the school until he emerged from the science wing.

“We walked out and around and ended up getting down to third hall down there,” he said. “The ceiling had collapsed on some of the teachers and some of the kids. Some of them were able to get out from under it, and some of them were not.”

Those who had walked from the rubble of the science wing moments before rushed to help, however they could.

“We went and tried everything,” Gilmer said. “We went down to the field house and we got weight bars, anything we thought we could pry anything up with. The fire department brought some things where they could blow up those pillows they blow up to pick things up. It was an awful experience when you got down there and realized there were folks who were trapped.”

When Collins — whose wife and children were inside Hillcrest Elementary School — reached his destination, the possible path of the storm dawned on him.

“When I turn and I see just the devastation and just the sounds I hear from the kids (who) are coming out of there, I took four or five steps to try to go and see what we could do in action,” he said. “Then it hit me. That tornado, coming from the direction it came from which was toward that airport, it probably hit Hillcrest before it hit us. It was well over an hour before I even knew if my family was alive. That's my wife and my children. You're on task so much about being able to help, but when that thought pops in your head people talk about their life flashing in front of (them). I guess that's what happened to me.”

Collins, who was later assured his family was alive, worked with others to help on EHS’ third hall until almost sunset.

“There was a bunch of people in there and we were trying to move the blocks around and get all of the debris off,” he said. “We were cut and bleeding. The smell of gas that was around was making us cough. Our eyes and skin were burning because insulation was all over us. There was a break. Mr. Rainer and I walked out to what was the old front of the school. We just had to catch our breath for a minute. We were soaking wet.”

During their break, Collins heard Rainer in conversation with a father in disbelief who asked if the men had seen his child, and the coach could think only one thought.

“It's racing through my mind, 'How do you tell a guy every hope and dream he has for his child of growing up, graduating, getting married, starting a family, a career and all of that stuff is gone?,’” he said. “How do you tell somebody that? I try to express when I speak to people about how precious it is when you've got your time with them.”

The storm brought many lessons to life in a new way for the people of Enterprise, including one Mitchell said she learned from Jackson, Mohler and Ethan Rush, who were stuntmen on her squad.

“I don't think anybody doubted those three boys' friendship,” she said. “I think probably the hardest thing to watch was Ethan after they were gone. To lose your two best friends is exceptionally hard, but the love you could tell he had for both of them was the kind of love I want my friends to have for me and the kind of love I want to have for my friends. That's when you know you've found true friends.”

The bond the trio formed on the squad inspired Rush to continue after the tragedy.

“The struggle to do something all three of them loved, for Ethan to continue to cheer, was exceptionally hard because that's something they did together,” Mitchell said. “I can remember sitting and having a discussion with Ethan and him saying, 'I have to do this. I'm the only one left. I have to do it for all three of us.’”

All of the cheerleaders, as well as Mitchell, found solace in one another.

“Those were some of the hardest days, probably of my life,” she said. “I was grieving, too, but I was trying to comfort grieving teenagers. There were practices where we got to a certain point, someone would get upset and we'd just have to sit down in the floor and cry just to release that emotion. The emotion and the sadness was justified, and I thought it was important to allow them to grieve.”

The tornado happened about two weeks into baseball season, and Gilmer felt the grieving process was important for his players as well, because they lost a teammate in Tompkins.

“When something like that happens, it changes your whole outlook,” he said. “It changed not only mine, but our players and our whole community on the way we looked at things from there on. It was very hard to get back on the field. The students who passed away, even if we had not had a player, it’s still their classmates. Having a guy who had been in the dugout with you, a great kid, somebody who’s been practicing with you, been one of your teammates and one of your players, that’s very tough.”

The deaths of the students deeply impacted Gilmer, who has a wife and children.

“You look at that and realize the huge loss those parents had,” he said. “It changes things. Coaching and teaching is definitely a profession that takes up a lot of your time. You look at it a little differently. You take every opportunity you can to spend time with your family.”

Though he has always known wins and losses pale in comparison to people and family, the coach said the way he looks at the game has changed since the tornado.

“You realize baseball, in the grand scheme of things, is not really that important,” Gilmer said. “It’s something we do that I think teaches kids a great lesson. It’s a great game, but I think more important than the wins and losses is to help to raise up good young men. Your emphasis on winning, you look at it and say, ‘In the grand scheme of things, it’s more important to build up good character and good young men.’”

After some time to grieve, Gilmer said he felt his players would benefit from time on the diamond.

“If I remember correctly, we played our first game against Houston Academy,” he said. “They were very good about it. I think it was big just to get back out on the field, give the parents, our players and students something to kind of get back to. Not that it was exactly normal, but give them a little bit of normal again where everything had been so messed up.”

The day after the tornado, Collins and the EHS football team joined many others to clean up debris from streets and houses in the area. 

When asked if any of the Enterprise football players had a need, Ken Adams — who later played for LSU — spoke up.

“He raised his hand and he said, 'Coach, I've got a tree right down the middle of my house,’” Collins said. “‘It's rained in it, and my family sure could use some help.’”

So Collins and the Wildcats began picking up pieces of their homes and their hearts.

“We started at Ken Adams' house,” he said. “I had chainsaws, axes and manpower. We were able to get that tree off, put up tarps and help clean up around their yard.”

The work the players did for their teammate was the start of something much more.

“Busy work at that time, was really important,” Collins said. “It was the start of the healing process. That's another reason I was so proud of those guys. They jumped in there, and a lot of them had needs just like Ken. He probably shouldn't have been up there with us, but he said, 'I want to be with my teammates.' We just started walking. When we came up to somebody (who) needed something, we'd have a group splinter off. We worked all day, and even into the night.”

Soon after the tornado, Enterprise students went back to school at what is now Enterprise State Community College.

The class of 2007 aimed to graduate in Bates Memorial Stadium, where EHS graduations took place prior to the storm, but the tornado also badly damaged the venue Enterprise residents call The Hole.

“When I looked at the stadium, I saw the upper deck was gone,” Collins said. “It was not going be able to stay. The scoreboard was destroyed. (I was) looking at the field that was full of glass and shards of metal.”

Just as the Wildcats came to the aid of their community after the storm, people poured in from throughout the country to lend Enterprise a helping hand.

“There was a group that came down…from up North,” Collins said. “They got on the visitor's sideline, stood shoulder to shoulder, dropped down on their knees and crawled the entire width of that field, actually twice, with little buckets to pick up the little pea gravel that was on top of the roof at the high school that had blown all over that field. People (were) just coming in, and that was kind of uplifting to me. I said, 'Hey, I think we can make this work.' Administration-wise, (they) said, 'We're going to make it work.’”

The 2007 seniors did graduate in the stadium, but school continued in the nearby community college for the next two years.

The students who returned in 2008 still felt the loss of their classmates and teammates, but they were also uplifted.

“I can remember being at camp, and the support of other teams,” Mitchell said. “There was such an outpouring of love. It felt like we weren't just there by ourselves. It wasn't like, 'We're here, and we're missing two.' There was just a real community of love that helped encourage the (cheerleaders), which we needed, and then helped them push through.” 

The cheerleaders also learned a new routine by a choreographer from Birmingham to honor their teammates.

“She was able to choreograph a routine that kind of embodied the spirit of them and paid tribute to them,” Mitchell said. “I think that was something important for the kids, to be able to feel like they were giving back.”

The families of the teammates the squad honored showed their support, which Mitchell said went a long way in helping the cheerleaders heal.

“Tim and Laura (Jackson) and the Mohlers, Kelly and Leeanne, they were such awesome cheerleaders for the cheerleaders,” she said. “They were very much a part of everything we did. They came and gave encouragement, and still continued to support the cheerleaders. I think that was encouragement for our kids to step out there and try to heal their hearts, but try to also help heal the city's hearts.” 

The football players also took it upon themselves to help heal the community and make sure it was ready for a new season.

“Football has always been a rally point at Enterprise,” Collins said. “Our (players) accepted that. They had some really difficult situations for us to make football work there over a three-and-a-half-year span.”

While EHS was at the college, it worked around college classes, which led to an unusual routine for students and student-athletes.

“I don't know if everybody knows the exact story those kids had to go through,” Collins said. “There was a group there that never had a high school they could call home.”

The football team, Collins said, had to adjust to a new schedule.

“Our deal with the junior college was we didn't start school until about almost noon,” he said. “We went until about 5 o'clock. For us to be able to get in weight training, meetings, watching film and all of that stuff, I had to bring them in in the mornings to get all of that done. We didn't get on the practice field until, a lot of times, 5:30 (p.m.). We're talking about kids who were coming up there at 8 a.m. to work out, watch film and meet. They'd come in at 8 (a.m.), and we'd start practice at 5 (p.m.).  By the time they cleared the field and got out of there, it was probably about 8 at night.”

Along with the schedule, Collins said the EHS players had to meet and practice wherever they could.

“We practiced in parking lots,” he said. “We watched film one time in a van, because it was big enough to fit a small group in there. I sit back and think about all of that. They never complained. They just said, 'This is what's got to be done.’”

The Wildcats and their families adapted to the grueling routine well.

“I never remember kids missing (practice),” Collins said. “Kids in Enterprise just love to play football, and they were going to do whatever it took. Probably more impressive, I never, not once, ever heard from a parent about us having to do that schedule. I think everybody recognized how important it was that we get back and get football going in a football-crazy place. That group of kids (who) did that, I've never seen any tougher before or after that storm hit.”

A decade has passed since the tornado. The City of Progress has rebuilt and moved forward.

Though he loves Enterprise and said he misses it daily, Collins said it is different.

“It changed,” Collins said. “I think it changed Enterprise, right there at that moment. I don't think Enterprise has been the same since then. That storm has had a lasting effect on Enterprise.”

The tragedy has also left lasting effects on those inside Enterprise High School when it struck.

“It was a tough day,” Gilmer said. “It’s one of those things, I think your outlook on life has to change. My faith was already strong, I think, but then it definitely puts it in a different light just the way you look at everyday life. You’re definitely not guaranteed another second or another day. I think it changes the way you look at things and priorities.”

The tornado changed Mitchell’s life in many ways, including the way she looks to the nine families who lost someone March 1, 2007, for the example of their strength and the way she looks at her three children.

“I think about those mamas that morning,” she said. “When they said bye to their child, said, 'I love you. See you this afternoon,' that was the last time. Every time my children walk out the door to go to school or get out of my car it's a reminder every day I'm putting them there and that this afternoon might not come, or it might come without them here. (It is) a scary thought, but it's one I need to have because I don't want to take them for granted.”

The families of the nine people who died in the tornado have continued to be a source of strength for one another and for the community.

“I remember at Mikey’s funeral, his dad,” Gilmer said. “That’s something I’ll never forget. I can’t believe the strength his dad showed when he got up and talked at Mikey’s funeral. That’s something that impressed me then, and I will think about that the rest of my life. There is somebody so strong in their faith they could get up there and do what he did, talk about Mikey and his life the way he was able to do even suffering that loss. The rest of the families are the same way.” 

Those who were in and around Enterprise during the storm also know the threat of severe weather all too well.

“It changes your whole outlook on weather,” Gilmer said. “When those sirens go off now, you still get a chill thinking about what could be coming.”

The sirens or threat of weather continue to make Mitchell wary.

“I probably overreact sometimes in regard to that, but at this stage in the game on this side of March 1, 2007, I'd much rather overreact than underreact,” she said. “I think my children have grown up with a respect and reverence for severe weather. They know when those sirens go off we put on our shoes and we get in the closet. We know the drill. It's not like I have to explain what we're doing. They know.Those of us who were in Enterprise that day, I think that will be how we will be forever. I don't think that will change, but I also think it softened our hearts to others who have gone through the same tragedies.”

 In the 10 years since the tornado Collins changed jobs, moved and then retired, but he said March 1 still lingers in his mind.

“It just wasn't over,” he said. “It wasn't over for me for years. I don't know if it will ever be over for me, or a lot of other people.”

One of those people is Mitchell, who said the day stays in her memory.

“I can see those helicopters just about nosediving into the ground, sitting down and them bringing kids out on classroom doors,” she said. “The smell of the tar that was on top of the roof, and the smell of pine where all of those pine trees broke around there. I hope I never have to go through anything like that again, ever, but I feel like going through that has made me the person I am today. I don't wish that upon anyone. I don't really have enemies, but if I did I would not wish that upon them. Time may have passed. It may be 10 years out, but I think when we are 50 years out from this when I smell those smells or hear certain things I am going to always be taken back.”

The two were recently taken back to another day, 184 days after the tornado, when the Enterprise Wildcats played their first game of the 2007 football season.

According to a Sept. 5, 2007, article in The Southeast Sun, the game — which the Wildcats won 16-13 — was delayed for 50 minutes after the first series because of lightning. 

Enterprise rallied in the fourth quarter with a 66-yard drive, which ended with a 4-yard touchdown run by Brandon Hart. It proved to be the game winner after the Wildcat defense stopped Carroll on a fourth-down play in the shadow of Enterprise High School.

“That was one of the great things about Bates (Memorial) Stadium,” Collins said. “It sat down in the hole and you could see (the school) elevated behind it. I always liked for our opponents to be able to look across there and see that school. To know that school for as long as I had and then to see it just in rubble — they were still continuing to try to tear it down and move everything off — it was just really emotional.”

While the cheerleaders stood on the sideline, Mitchell gazed upward at the scene in the distance.

“I can remember looking up at the rubble that sat just up on the hill and thinking, 'We've gone from there to here. We've made it this far,’” she said. “I remember thinking how ironic it was we were able to play football in that stadium, because it was all we had left of home.”