When several former ESU volleyball players,
on social media, gave the waves that something was horrifically amiss on
Thursday, I got uneasy. I couldn’t locate much information for several hours,
but I could tell whatever the situation, it was unusually dire.
Now, I was a student at Emporia State from
2006-10. Though I wasn’t immediately attentive toward its athletic programs,
there were two I took a quick liking to: volleyball and baseball. As bad as I
probably was, I had played both, understood them and ESU had outstanding teams
to follow in both cases.
I went to numerous games, including some on
the road. Over the years I had gotten to know players, parents, grandparents
and other relatives in some cases ... I was part of the family.
So when I got a message from a former
volleyball parent around 9:30 on Thursday night, there was no longer
uncertainty.
“Did you hear about Arica Shepard?”
My heart, which was already on edge to
brace for whatever tragic news would come, sank and shattered almost
instantaneously.
Arica (Shepard) Ahlvers was a three-time
All-American, four-time All-MIAA player and currently is the only
representative of Hornet volleyball whose name resides on a banner in the
rafters at White Auditorium.
But I also considered her my friend.
And she is gone.
It had been awhile since we visited. We
caught up briefly after the ESU volleyball alumni game in 2015 and on a visit
to Allen Fieldhouse for a Hornet men’s exhibition game, I got a message to look
up and shared a distant wave, as I was courtside and she, with her family, was
almost at the very top.
During her time as the ESU Athletics
Marketing Director, there were several visits to her office that revolved
around Hornet volleyball, past and present. We discussed coaching philosophies,
player roles and skill-sets and a number of other things under the athletics
umbrella. She was still learning several of her duties, but often approached
her projects with the same fire that helped lead her as a player. From her
sophomore season through her senior year, the Hornets were 90-19, ESU’s best
three-year stretch in NCAA play. She played in 493 games, tying for the
second-highest total ever at Emporia State. Statistically, she is at or near
the top of career and single-season marks in most offensive categories
including kills, kills per set and digs.
She suffered a blood clot in her brain, a
similar fate to Blue Valley football coach Eric Driskell, who experienced a
ruptured brain aneurysm Sunday. She was at home, he was speaking to a room full
of colleagues, but ultimately the end result was the same.
The memorial service is Friday morning in
Topeka, a time I expect will not only be to celebrate her life, but remember
her parents, husband and almost 2-year-old daughter and support them with the
love she once provided those around her.
Sports often create a distraction from
‘real life,’ from politics, world news, relationships, religion, the whole lot.
But entwined in the action, the competition, are people whose lives — more than
their performances — can reel things back in and put it all into perspective.
The typical gambit of emotions that
surround the mourning process has certainly proven to be a reminder of the
mortality we all face. Enjoy the sporting community and the success stories it
provides, but also celebrate the people and what they bring to your life
outside the field of competition.
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