[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 25 (Monday, March 3, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1844-S1846]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO J.P. BLEVINS
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to congratulate a
truly outstanding young man on the realization of his dream. J.P.
Blevins, son of John P. and Martha Blevins, of Edmonton, KY, has been
awarded a scholarship to play basketball for the national champion
University of Kentucky Wildcats.
To date, this 17-year-old junior at Metcalfe County High School has
had an outstanding basketball career. It all began in kindergarten when
he was selected to play with third-graders during gym class. As a
seventh grader he played point guard for the varsity team in the
district final. And as a high school freshman he scored his 1,000th
point. When he was 5 years old he disciplined himself to dribble with
both hands by wearing cutoff jean shorts and then shoving his right
hand into his right pocket. The result? This season a 26 point scoring
average. These achievements were the result of many hours of discipline
and hard work and--most of all--an intense passion for the game.
Remarkably, his zeal for basketball did not cause him to neglect his
studies; he is a straight A student.
Perhaps what is most remarkable of all is that J.P. Blevins has
remained modest throughout the attention and praise lavished on him.
This is especially refreshing and encouraging in an age where many of
our athletic stars demonstrate a profound disregard for others, an
appalling arrogance, and gross self-indulgence. In a Courier-Journal
article, Blevin's father was quoted as saying: ``I really believe he
has continued to stay humble, even though this is the greatest thing
that has happened in his life.''
In Metcalfe County, and indeed, throughout the State, basketball
occupies a special place in the lives of Kentuckians. It is not just
entertainment, but rather a source of pride and glory. The community
which helped to raise Mr. Blevins is justifiably proud of their native
son. Despite numerous offers from out-of-State universities, some
having sent 4 or 5 letters a day, Blevins has decided there's just no
place like home.
According to a recent article, each night, as J.P. is falling asleep,
the last thing he sees is a blue flag emblazoned with a white ``K''
which hangs on his bedroom wall. On the white ``K'' is an autograph
from the Wildcats' coach, Rick Pitino. In his scrapbook, according to
the Courier-Journal, Blevins wrote ``Pitino's autograph to me is more
important than the President's.''
You may recall the University of Kentucky's recent NCAA championship
victory. I am sure that this fine young man will help them to secure
many further triumphs. Mr. President, I ask that a recent article from
the Courier-Journal be included in the Congressional Record.
The article follows:
[From the Courier-Journal, Jan. 25, 1997]
Big Blue Dream Comes True for Town and Talented Teen
(By Mark Woods)
Edmonton, KY.--The first autograph request came two years
ago.
J.P. Blevins, then a freshman at Metcalfe County High
School, was sitting on the bus after a basketball game at
Marion County when his coach, Tim McMurtrey, told him he had
left his shoes in the locker room.
``I knew I hadn't, so I wasn't sure what was going on,''
Blevins said.
He went into the locker room and found a man and a young
boy standing there.
The boy was crying. The father explained that his son
thought Blevins had already left.
``We're big Kentucky fans,'' the father said. ``And we hear
they're going after you. My son is dying for an autograph.
Could you sign this?''
It would be one thing if Edmonton, a rural town east of
Bowling Green a couple miles off the Cumberland Parkway, had
produced another kind of prodigy.
For instance, suppose John Paul Blevins were a violinist
who had been invited to play Carnegie Hall.
That would be noteworthy, but, let's be honest, it wouldn't
create quite the same fuss as this . . . a point guard who
has been asked to play Rupp Arena.
This is a boy who at age 5 devised a system for learning to
dribble with both hands--wear cutoff jean shorts, shove the
right hand in the back pocket, spend all summer in the
backyard dribbling with only the left hand.
This is a boy who in kindergarten was put with the third-
graders in gym class, who as a seventh-grader played point
guard for the varsity team in the district final, who as a
freshman scored his 1,000th point and who a month ago, as
only a junior, heard University of Kentucky coach Rick Pitino
saying seven magical words:
``We want you to be a Wildcat.''
What does this mean to Edmonton that 17-year-old Blevins
has said, yes, he will take a scholarship to play for UK in
1998?
Put it this way: The blue sign on Randolph Road says
Edmonton's population is 1,630; the gym at the high school
holds 2,000 and is usually near capacity for games.
Put it another way: They say the phone lines in Edmonton
could go down during a Kentucky basketball game and nobody
would know.
``The phone never rings during UK games,'' said John P.
Blevins, Metcalfe County attorney and father of the future
Wildcat player. ``Everybody is either watching or listening.
The game is on in all the restaurants. It's on in the nursing
homes. It's on in all the households.''
Put it one more way: No Metcalfe County player has ever
been offered a scholarship to play for UK.
In the early '60s, Doug Clemmons did get a basketball
scholarship. But that was at Eastern Kentucky University.
Heidi Coleman playing for Wake Forest.
And then there are the local boys who formed the country
band ``The Kentucky Headhunters'' and made it in Nashville.
But this is different.
This about making it at UK.
It isn't the Commonwealth's version of the Damon Bailey
story. It's even more wonderfully far-fetched.
Bailey, who during his junior years of high school made a
verbal commitment to play for Indiana University, came from a
small town, but he had plenty of help catching the eyes of
college coaches. He went to a larger high school. He had
media attention.
Blevins' school graduates about 11 students each year.
Trips to the state tournament are
[[Page S1845]]
once in a lifetime (1985 is the only one) and media coverage
is nearly as rare.
As you enter the place, you see a banner that seems fitting
these days. ``Our school . . . a place where HOPE begins and
DREAMS come true.''
Although Metcalfe County High has made plenty of other
dreams come true--for instance, one of J.P.'s two older
brothers, John, is a sophomore at Yale University right now--
it will be tough to top what his story means to this town.
``We're all very proud,'' said Harold Chambers, the
assistant principal and athletic director. ``I'm sure it
won't be repeated in my lifetime.''
It wouldn't be right to call this a one stoplight town.
There are two of them--both flashing red hanging over one
intersection on the corner of a town square that brings to
mind make-believe places like Mayberry and Bedford Falls.
In the middle of the square sits the courthouse, a two-
story white building. One the four streets that surround it
are the library, the bank, the funeral home, the post office,
an office for the county attorney, one for the judge, Nunn's
Drugs, Rexall's Drugs, Red Wing Shoes, Cliff and Judy's
Coffee Shop.
If it's not a sleepy little town, it certainly was nodding
off.
``About the only excitement we had around here in a while
is when someone shot my jukebox with a 9mm,'' says Cliff
Shew, owner of the coffee shop.
There are equal numbers of parking meters and liquor stores
in sight Zero. This is a dry county. But if you're looking
for a church, Metcalfe County can offer 39 options.
The county's 8,963 residents are spread out over rolling
land, 200 square miles of it. Most vote Republican. Most
farm. Most have never been in Rupp Arena for a Wildcat game.
But, if there's any doubt about whether this is UK country,
it disappears with a walk around the square.
uk dream comes true for small town and talented teen
Three doors down from Blevins' office is Murrell's clothing
store. A sign in the corner of one window says ``Tuxedo
Rental.'' The rest of the window is filled with Wildcat and
Metcalfe County Hornets souvenirs.
The store has plenty of everyday clothing. Jeans. Dress
pants. Sweaters. But the woman at the counter is purchasing
the tiny sweatshirt and sweatpants that say. ``I'm a Little
Wildcat.''
Lourene Hurt, 65, has barely finished ringing up the sale
when the phone rings.
``Someone else placing an order (for the sweats),'' she
says afterward.
Maybe Blevins' commitment has nothing to do with this. but
it certainly makes it easier to believe it's possible to go
from being a little Wildcat in Edmonton to a real one in
Lexington.
``We had a cheerleader up there a few years ago,'' Hurt
says. ``But I believe this is a first. . . . We're all real
proud.''
A couple doors down is the coffee shop. It has pool tables
in back. And in front, behind the counter, the shelves are
stocked with candy bars, Skoal and shotgun shells.
Ask a few of the regulars if they know J.P. Blevins and
they look at you like it's a silly question.
``I knew his granddaddy,'' says Bill Cooksey, 77. ``I used
to drive him in my cab.''
In one corner of the square sits a memorial erected by
Edmonton Post No. 154 of the American Legion. It lists the
names of the soldiers who lost their lives in our wars: eight
in World War I, 17 in World War II, two in Vietnam.
The people here say they share in each other's losses.
They also say they share in each other's victories.
When the big announcement came, said Carol Perkins, one of
Blevins' teachers, ``We were all teary-eyed, hugging the
coach, hugging J.P. When something good happens to one of us,
it happens to all of us.''
Straight A's. A face and haircut that look kind of like Ron
Howard in the Richie Cunningham days. And a head that
everyone insists hasn't swollen one centimeter with the news
that he will be going to Kentucky on a basketball
scholarship.
``He's not flamboyant about his talents, athletically or
academically,'' said Perkins, who had Blevins in her English
honors class last semester. ``You might think he would
saunter in and say, `Look at me.' But he's not like that at
all. He makes a point to blend.''
Not always, though. Take that time in seventh grade when
after dinner he asked a couple of the older varsity teammates
if they could give him a lift home.
Sure, they said, get in the back of the truck.
They ended up driving around town for 45 minutes, honking
the horn and yelling, ``J.P. Blevins, homecoming candidate.''
An embarrassed Blevins eventually just lay down in the
flatbed.
That incident seems to epitomize Blevins' demeanor. He
wouldn't mind being the homecoming king, the basketball star,
the valedictorian. But he's not going to be the one looking
to call too much attention to it.
Blevins never went around bragging that he had been invited
to three of UI's Midnight Madnesses. He didn't bother telling
classmates that he was getting letters from basically every
big-time college in the country. Even on the day after he
made the verbal commitment to UK he seemed like the same old
J.P.
``I have to say that's one of his most admirable traits,''
his father said. ``I really believe he has continued to stay
humble . . . even though this is the greatest thing that has
happened in his life.
``It was his dream since he was a little boy. And you
figure it's OK to let him dream, OK to let him aim high. But
no one knew it would become reality.''
How did it become a reality?
McMurtrey tried to answer that question as he watched over
an elementary school gym class patiently handling
interruptions such as one group of young girls running over
and yelling, ``Mr. Mac, Mr. Mac, those boys are making faces
at us.''
Later in the afternoon, before practice, Mr. Mac would be
driving a city bus.
This is life in the small city.
Yet, somehow McMurtrey and Edmonton managed to produce this
6-foot-2 guard with the 26-point scoring average and the
amazing ease with a basketball in his hands.
Although McMurtrey has worked with Blevins since
kindergarten, he doesn't try to take credit. Nor do Blevin's
parents. Nor his two older brothers. All of them point back
to the determination of the little boy in the cut-off shorts.
That was the start.
He wasn't even in kindergarten when his oldest sibling,
half-brother David Garmon, came home from college and told
him he should work on his left hand.
He might be giving a lecture, thinking all the balls were
put away, when he would see Blevins playing with one.
``He'd always wind up with a ball in his hands,'' McMurtrey
said. ``And even though you weren't happy he had the ball,
you couldn't get too mad.''
To understand what happened from there, perhaps it is best
to take a tour of the Blevins' two-story brick house.
His mother pulls out a scapbook-like ``autobiography'' that
J.P. had to put together as a class project in eighth grade.
On one of the first pages, there is a picture of J.P.
taking a jump shot in his ``favorite basketball shoes.'' His
first ones. A pair of red and black Air Jordans.
There's a team photo from second grade--the year he made
the two game-winning free throws.
``We couldn't get his uniform off him afterward,'' she
said. ``He slept on it.''
There aren't any shots of Blevins wearing an ``I'm a Little
Wildcat'' sweatshirt. But in the basement, surrounded by all
the basketballs he has won through the years at UK basketball
camps, is a photo of him climbing in a tree, wearing a
somewhat prophetic T-shirt.
``Hang on Joe, I'm on my way,'' it says.
Joe B. Hall, of course, didn't hang on, and Eddie Sutton
came and went.
But then Pitino arrived in time for young J.P.'s first UK
basketball camp. It was there in the summer of 1989 that The
Picture was taken.
It is on the shelf in the basement. It is in his bedroom.
It is in the autobiography. Under the photo, of J.P. at age 9
and a certain basketball coach at age 37, Blevins wrote:
``Pitino's autograph to me more important than president's.''
On the last page of that project, it reads: ``Big Blue
Dream. I can.''
By this time, he already was a starter on the varsity team.
He had begun his seventh-grade season on the freshman team,
but quickly began seeing more time with the junior varsity
team and eventually the varsity.
``We found out that he was one of our best seven, eight
players,'' McMurtrey said. ``In the district final, our point
guard, a senior, got three fouls. J.P. ended up playing 22
minutes, scoring eight points. He played very, very well.
Even at that age, people couldn't take the ball away from
him.''
``He'd go out to the court behind our house, stick his
right hand in the back pocket and dribble for 30 to 40
minutes, take a break to get a drink of water and then do it
all over,'' his father said.
When he got to kindergarten, he already was a better
ballhandler than children years older. So he was put in a
group of third-graders.
It was about this time that McMurtrey began to notice the
ever-present ball.
``We would have had to do some redecorating if he had gone
somewhere else,'' his mother says on the way to the room.
On one side of the bed, there is a poster of Rupp Arena and
a license plate that says, ``I'm 4 UK.'' Above the headboard
is a print of ``the Unforgettables.'' On the wall opposite
the foot of the bed is a poster autographed by his favorite
player--former UK star Rex Chapman.
A UK bean bag chair sits on the floor, not far from a UK
championship floor mat. And hanging on the wall next to the
bedside reading lamp is the most prized possession: a blue
flag with a white K.
Inside the K is a fading Rick Pitino signature from the
camp he attended at age 9. Blevins points at it and says,
``The last thing I see before going to bed is this flag.''
It's not hard to figure out why Blevins bleeds blue. It's a
matter of heredity. Dad can recall listening to UK games B.C.
(before Cawood). Mom--Martha, a fifth-grade teacher--can
debate which UK player had the sweetest jump shot ever (Jack
Givens is her pick).
Shortly after Christmas, he got the offer from UK.
``He had to wait a couple days to make his decision,''
McMurtrey said. ``But I think his
[[Page S1846]]
mind was made up before the phone was hung up.''
Blevins could have waited until his senior season. He could
have weighed the options a little more. But why bother? All
that practicing--sometimes sneaking into the gym with
borrowed keys, once even climbing through a window--was done
with one thing in mind:
``To play for Kentucky . . .,'' he said. ``When I put on
that blue jersey, I'll know what that means.''
____________________