Kornacki: Stories of 24 Hours with the Wolverines
3/10/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Steve Kornacki
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- It was 24 hours when every minute, every second in some instances, seemed to count for so much. The members of the University of Michigan men's basketball team got quite a scare, a challenge to recover, and a really big victory.
At approximately 2:45 p.m. on Wednesday (March 8), they were seconds, perhaps even one pivotal second, away from liftoff at Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, on their way to Washington, D.C., for the Big Ten Tournament. The brakes were abruptly applied to begin a high-speed abort of the takeoff in winds that had been gusting up to 60 mph.
But there was a problem. The plane didn't seem to be slowing down much. When would they stop? What was going on? Just what was the danger? Those questions began getting answered after the plane busted through a fence, was slowed by a road and a ditch, and finally came to a stop not far from a small lake.
While Wolverines coach John Beilein went down an egress slide and assisted others at the front of the plane, I moved down the aisle to the opening where the exit door had been removed by forward Mark Donnal. Someone shouted: "Don't take anything! GET OFF the plane!" We ran down the right wing and jumped off it. We heard: "Keep running away from the plane!"
After gathering in a grass field beyond the wreckage and staring back in wonderment at the damaged charter plane, the players and coaches walked to an airplane hangar about a half mile down the road along with the cheerleaders, pep band and other staff and family members.
Beilein calmly gathered his team in a circle at the far corner of the hangar and began his talk by raising both arms and shouting, "We're here! We're here! We're OK." He then noted that preparation for this game would be different. No run-through practice and not much more film study would be possible. He wanted them to talk among themselves about whether they preferred getting on another flight later that night or waiting until early in the morning.
"You are in such a crisis mode at that time," Beilein told me after addressing his team following Thursday's (March 9) Big Ten Tournament second-round game. "You're not emotional, but you're trying to put it all together so you can make decisions. I wanted them to know that we are where we are right now, and we're going to make the best of it because we can't do anything about it.
"As soon as we got off the plane, I put my hands in the air when I saw everyone got off and I said, 'We made it!' It was like we'd won the championship. ... When I'm in the game, you're at work. I felt we were at work yesterday. It wasn't about it being emotional. It's going to be, 'How can we get everybody off this plane?' The engine is still running. There's gas fumes coming in on everybody. When the engine finally shut down, there was this big pop. I said, 'Oh, my goodness.' But everybody was away from the plane."
Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel shook Beilein's hand after the game, looked him in the eye, and said, "Great leadership."
His players recalled the peace that Beilein brought them with their heads spinning after a harrowing experience.
"It meant a lot to us," said guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman. "He's built that kind of support system and been that backbone to us. He let us know that everything was going to be OK."
Co-captain Derrick Walton Jr. said, "It was great. Once I got to D.C. and walked into the Verizon Center, I screamed, 'D.C., we here now!' We just focused on playing now, everything was behind us. We just got one goal in mind, and that is to play until Sunday."
That is when the Big Ten championship game is played, and Michigan took its first step toward that goal.
At about 2:30 p.m. Thursday, the Wolverines, wearing practice uniforms, had defeated Illinois, 75-55, to advance to Friday's game with top-seeded Purdue, a team they beat by 12 points in their only meeting this season in Ann Arbor.
"Words can't even express it," was the first thing Beilein told his team in the locker room.
"I didn't want to say this to you," Beilein continued, "but I didn't sleep last night, and it was the first time I didn't sleep because it was not about basketball."
Beilein paused and his emotions began getting the best of him once again. Walton, who needed stitches to close a laceration to his right thigh suffered when a plane exit door was taken off, leaned forward to tug on Beilein's tie. Everyone chuckled and the tension was broken.
"We're going to work our tails off, right?" Beilein continued. "This player-led team now is incredible. ... I just loved the way we performed today, and that was one connected group out there. We didn't come here for one game, did we?"
The players nodded in unison and one shouted, "Same time tomorrow!"
They touched on other topics before Beilein called them together in a tight huddle.
"It's a time of attitude and appreciation for what's just transpired," he began with all heads bowed. "We were taking off 24 hours ago, right now! It puts a great perspective on things, and I'm just so grateful we're all here today."
Walton
Walton (19 points and five assists), Zak Irvin (18 points, seven rebounds) and Abdur-Rahkman (17 points, three steals) led the way in a game in which the Wolverines never trailed after making 11 of their first 14 shots to take a 26-11 lead on Illinois -- which had gone 4-1 down the stretch and beaten Northwestern and Michigan State.
Less than 24 hours after getting hurt during the plane exit, Walton made 4-of-10 treys, played nose-to-nose defense, and didn't appear hampered.
"I got hit by the door as it was opening," said Walton. "I had to get five stitches yesterday, but it's one of those scars that is going to have a good story behind it. So, I'm cool with it."
You couldn't tell it by the loose and confident way Michigan played, but there were many anxious, concerned moments between tipoff at the Verizon Center and driving away from Willow Run.
"Yesterday was a traumatic day for us," said Donnal, who got the quick evacuation going by removing the exit door to his immediate right.
He continued, "You never think you're going to actually have the duty of removing that door, but we were prepared and everyone was able to get out quickly and safely. ... Adrenaline kicked in."
Then there were mental hurdles.
"Some guys were kind of hesitant," said Donnal. "They didn't know if they wanted to get on the plane in the morning. But we woke up this morning and were ready to go. We realized we'd been on hundreds of flights."
The players met with Greg Harden on Wednesday night at the hotel near Briarwood Mall where the team stayed.
Harden, the long-time director of athletic counseling and currently an executive associate athletic director, has impacted everyone from Manuel to Michigan starting forward Moritz Wagner and Walton.
"Greg did a great job of listening to concerns and talking with everybody," said Manuel, who was at the game but not on Wednesday's flight. "The players know Greg and trust Greg, and that meant so much."
Walton added: "Greg's a great guy and more than just a mentor. He's a life coach. He spoke about how it's bigger than just basketball, and that was our main focus as a team. To go through something like that is traumatizing, and he put a lot of things in perspective. He knew what to talk about, and it made a great impact on us.
"It made us think and appreciate a lot of things to a higher level."
The Wolverines went to sleep, what sleep they could get, and began gathering in the hotel lobby at 6 a.m. Forty-five minutes later, the bus pulled away in the dark en route to Detroit Metropolitan Airport. The sun rose on the way down Interstate-94, and they took off on a Delta Airlines charter flight around 8 a.m. Some of the players were asleep, hoodies pulled over their eyes, before takeoff.
But there was plenty of tension beneath the quiet exteriors.
"I think the hardest part for all of us was getting back on the plane," said Irvin. "Once we landed, everybody was fine. We were excited to get back on the court, get everything back to normal."
There was little wind for the plane to contend with and no drama on this flight. They landed at Dulles International Airport in Virginia and bussed through bumper-to-bumper traffic toward their mission, passing the Jefferson Memorial and Washington Monument before reaching their downtown arena destination.
Game time was moved back 20 minutes, and Michigan's players were greeted with applause as they jogged onto the court for pregame warmups.
"Go Blue!" a fan shouted. "We're glad you made it safe."
Beilein said: "I think after the anthem, they came back in, I could tell we were going to be ready. But it was very quiet everywhere. I wasn't going to shout at them, 'What's wrong with you guys? It's a big game.' It wasn't a big game anymore. It was an important game, but being safe ... They're out there hugging their families hopefully pretty soon. It's going to be good."
• • •
James and Marcia Irvin drove to Washington, D.C., from their home near Indianapolis and were going through the National Museum of African American History and Culture when they got a call from their son, Zak.
"It was so windy that I couldn't hear him at first," said Marcia. "Finally I heard, 'Oh, Mom, I'm OK but our plane crashed.' He assured us that he was OK. Our next thought was whether Austin (Hatch) was on the plane."
Hatch, now an undergraduate student assistant coach, survived two small plane crashes with numerous massive injuries. He lost both of his parents, his stepmother and siblings in those tragedies, but he did not travel with the team on this trip.
The Irvins have known Hatch since he was a third-grader and Austin and Zak played on AAU teams in northern Indiana.
"This put everything in perspective for them," said Marcia. "They realized that tomorrow's not promised and you have to seize the opportunities.
"The bond they all have grew even stronger through all of this."
Dan Dakich said he received only this in a text from his son, Andrew, a senior guard: "OMIGOSH!"
Dakich and his wife said they were left to wonder what in the world that meant in light of knowing about the plane crash. They connected by phone soon after and felt instant relief that everyone was fine.
"But we have a new family rule on important texts," Dan said with a smile. "Don't bury the lead!"
Wagner's parents, Beate and Axel, had flown in from Berlin, Germany, for the tournament.
"It was crazy," said Wagner. "I was supposed to see them here last night and I couldn't. But I told them on the phone before anyone else could that I was OK. I could see them before the game, though, this morning, and I was very happy to see them. It meant a lot to me."
Abdur-Rahkman and Irvin
Angela Walton, Derrick's mother, was sitting a few rows behind the Irvins at the Verizon Center. She said her son called her to say "that he'd hurt his knee" before they got cut off. After finally having a lengthy conversation at about 10 p.m., she began the long drive to Washington, D.C., drove all night, and arrived at 7 a.m.
"It was nice to get here and see the boys all pull together -- especially because this is what they'd worked for," said Angela.
The fans gave the Wolverines a standing ovation as her son dribbled away the game's final seconds.
"It's been an incredible 24 hours," said Beilein, whose wife, Kathleen, decided not to fly Thursday after doing so Wednesday. "At this time 24 hours ago, we were aborting a takeoff at a couple hundred miles an hour. What these guys have been through the last 24 hours has been incredible. It's been bonding. It's been emotional for many of them. It's made them so resilient.
"They played connected today like they were connected yesterday when we got a hundred-some people off an airplane in what seemed like in two minutes. We just feel really blessed today to be in this situation, not only play, but win against a good Illinois team."
Perspectives have been adjusted.
"God is good," said Walton. "That's all I can really attest to. You couldn't script anything like this. This just makes you appreciate a lot of stuff that you take for granted.
"And it was the band, and the cheerleaders, kids, moms, and our support staff. This wasn't just about us."
It was about searching deep inside and liking what you found.
• Wolverines Rise in Face of Adversity, Advance to B1G Quarters
