Fear of flying does not grip Kansas University’s senior men’s basketball players.
“I always think about it when I get on a plane,” senior center Eric Chenowith said of the possibility of the plane going down as did Oklahoma State’s 10-seat charter plane last Saturday in Colorado.
“But I have an inner comfort in knowing if I die I go to heaven, so I’m not really worried about it. I’ve never been scared to fly. If it’s my time to go, it’s my time to go.”
Travel is in the news all over the country following the Oklahoma State tragedy which claimed 10 lives, including two OSU reserve players.
“I have no worries about travel,” senior guard Luke Axtell said. “My theory is I’m going to go when God wants me to go. I might as well not worry about it. It’s part of our job to fly. It’s not fun, but something we have to do.”
Senior guard Kenny Gregory also has no qualms about flying.
“This shook me up,” Gregory said. “But I’m not worried too much. Before we fly I’ll say my prayers and go from there.”
Gregory said maybe “one or two” guys on the team aren’t thrilled about flying but he doesn’t think the Jayhawks will have any problems as the season progresses.
“You have to get there somehow. The fastest way is to fly,” Gregory said. “I try to not dwell on it too much. If some guys plan on playing a long time (in pros) you’ve got to get used to traveling more often. Flying is how you get to games.”
KU coach Roy Williams has spoken to his seniors about traveling.
“When I asked our three seniors about it they said there had been one negative comment about it (flying),” Williams said of a talk he had with the seniors Wednesday after returning from a memorial service in Stillwater, Okla.
“I told them to go back and see if there were any more. I don’t like flying on real small planes myself.
“When I was an assistant at North Carolina, one trip we went on two planes. There was a bad storm that closed one airport and we had to land in another. I thought I had all the players together to tell coach Smith we wanted to ride a bus back to Chapel Hill from Charlottesville (Va.).
“The players didn’t want to chicken out in front of coach and said, ‘We don’t have to ride the bus. We’ll fly.’ I was about to kill all of ’em because I was the only one who expressed reservation about flying.
“We flew back and the weather was perfect. The flight was as smooth as can be. But going up there to the game was awful. I was sick. I was ready to walk back.
“If our kids (Jayhawks) did come back and say they didn’t want (to fly) we’d look at it and look at it hard. It wouldn’t be something where I said, Thanks for your concern and do what we were going to do all along,”‘ the coach added.
The Jayhawks fly commercially most of the time, but will take a 30-seat United Express charter to Waco, Texas a week from Monday. They’ll also fly the 30-seater to Ames for the Iowa State game on Feb. 17.
“The type of charter plane we are using, if we don’t charter it someone else will,” Williams said. “It’s their business. They are in the business of carrying people from one location to another.
“This is bigger than the small planes. There is more room. We’ve been working with those kinds of companies ever since I’ve been here. I always said I don’t want to charter an aircraft unless it’s their business.”
Williams was devastated by the OSU tragedy and glad he was able to attend Wednesday’s memorial.
“You’ve got to be able to give. You’ve got to be able to be concerned and to care,” Williams said, applauding all Big 12 schools for sending representatives. “I don’t think there’s any doubt the way the people felt yesterday. Those people are going through a tremendous tragedy. You want to help them out.
“It was one of the most difficult things I have ever been involved in,” he added. “Not just because of OSU and Eddie (Sutton). Bill and Nikki (Hancock, parents of Will Hancock who died) are personal friends. I knew Will. To see Bill Hancock come walking in carrying his little grandbaby born in November, if that doesn’t get to you then you have problems.”
Williams hopes OSU coach Sutton will be OK.
“I am worried a little about Eddie because right now he is worrying about everybody else. He is being the strength and the rock. There will be a time he realizes he has own sorrow and grieving. I’m hoping he’s been able to do some of that already,” Williams added.
