Boo John Calipari if you want.
When the Arkansas coach walks into FedExForum on Oct. 27 (8 p.m., ESPNU) to face the Memphis basketball program he led for nine triumphant seasons in the Hoops For St. Jude Tip Off Classic, boo him. Jeer. Hiss, if that’s how you feel.
So long as you’re there. Together. That’s more important to Calipari – still very aware of how polarizing, even 16 years removed from his time with the Tigers, he is in Memphis – than anything else.
It’s what he emphasized when he sat down beside Tigers coach Penny Hardaway during a Sept. 2 press conference that was held to formally announce the game. And it’s the point he tried to hammer home on Oct. 9.
Calipari was back in Memphis, alongside Hardaway again, traversing the city − with ESPN in tow − to promote the game.
“With Memphis, a lot of people only hear about one thing,” Calipari told The Commercial Appeal. “This is a major city that has issues like any other major city. But – and this goes back to before I got here (in 2000) – if there was an issue in this city, if people came together, they would solve it.”
Sure, the game itself is important to the second-year Razorbacks coach, who left Memphis for Kentucky in 2009. But what means more is that it benefits St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. That it will be played on a floor named for late FedEx founder Fred Smith – another way to memorialize the man some contend is “the most significant Memphian in history.” And that it serves as the stage for a reunion of the Tigers who helped him win 252 games.
Calipari said 36 of his former players have already committed to being at the game. Chris Boysen, senior vice president for ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, said during an interview with Grind City Media’s Gary Parrish on Oct. 7, that that’s roughly half of the total group. Boysen said Robert Dozier, Antonio Anderson and Willie Kemp plan to attend and Derrick Rose hopes to be there.
So does Calipari.
“Let me get in touch with everyone and find out why they’re not coming,” he said. “The ones who can’t make it, I’m trying to tell those guys, ‘Do a video.’ So, I’m following through on all that.”
He hopes the fans follow through, too. Not for him. But for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. For FedEx and the Smith family. For the dozens of former Tigers who lifted the program to all those wins and all those deep March Madness runs. For the current Tigers trying to make their own run. For Hardaway. For Memphis.
“Let’s make it an event, one where everybody says, ‘I’m so happy that I went,’” said Calipari.
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com, follow him @munzly on X.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: John Calipari makes plea for unity as Arkansas vs Memphis basketball nears
