Park Hill sweeps meaningful tournament

By Bill Knust

In a world filled with great stories, it is only fitting Park Hill High was able to sweep the Brandon McPherson Doubles Classic at the Plaza Tennis Courts on April 30.

The doubles tournament is held in honor of former Park Hill tennis player Brandon McPherson, who died in a car accident in 2004 at the age of 16.

The Trojans won the event for the second consecutive year, and Sam Barth and Brian Hillix won the “A” bracket, while teammates Scott Florence and Paul Jensen won the “B” bracket.

Park Hill coach Ryan Kalis said this is the first group of kids to come through the program never to have played tennis with McPherson, but that has not stopped the coaches from keeping his memory alive.

“At practice two days before the tournament we handed out shirts to the team,” Kalis said. “We talked about who he was and what he still is. Since the McPhersons still live in the community for a long time, a lot of people know the family. We are starting to coach kids that have grown up knowing the family, too. It is not that hard to keep it going. People know.”

If they don’t, the McPherson family is doing everything it can to make sure they do. The tournament finished its fourth year, and teams are not going anywhere soon. In fact, the toughest part has been telling teams there is no room for them to join the eight-team field.

Brandon’s mother, Denise, said the tournament is still morphing every year to make it better.

“The first year we started it, it was a huge event,” Denise McPherson said. “We were out here about 16 hours that first year. At the end of the tournament we had evening entertainment and a coach’s match. The second year we did something similar, but over the years it has gotten to be too much, so we split the events in half.”

Now, there is a tournament during the spring and a comedy night during the summer to raise money for teaching grants and further construction on Barry Road, where Brandon’s accident occurred. It takes a lot of help to get it all done, though.

“We have a lot of community support in the form of community donations, from scouts, business people that we know, and it is just a great event,” Denise McPherson said.

While the loss of Brandon still hurts friends, family members and coaches, Kalis said it gets a little easier every year.

“It still is emotional,” Kalis said. “It is emotional for my assistants, Tim Kalis my brother, and Jack Taylor, because we all coached him. Every day you think about things and you just try and be a better coach and person because of it. … It is a tragic accident, but we are making a ton of good out of something that was really bad.”

Sports writer Bill Knust can be reached at 389-6605 or billknust@npgco.com.