Holiday Miracle

Monday, December 4 is a night five young men with the Whitley County basketball team would like to play over. It was a night when the five took off in Jared Roaden’s jeep for some long awaited food after a tough basketball practice.
Roaden approached the second street railroad tracks in Williamsburg and the unthinkable happened. “I caught the tracks a little too fast, we were sliding, it would have been all right except we clipped a driveway and it sent us spinning,” he said. He lost control of the jeep and it overturned throwing Calvin Capps, Jermiah Garett and Logan Parrott out.
Unlike other published accounts, Roaden and Ben Prewitt were in their seats belts tangled in the crash.
Capps said the five were very lucky to be alive today. “Three people getting thrown and walking away, is pretty lucky I would say.”
Capps, a senior, said he was thrown out first and landed the farthest away from the jeep. Garett and Parrott, still not with the basketball team, are recuperating at home. They were flown to the University of Tennessee following the crash.
“Everybody’s fine now, walking and talking,” said Capps.
Roaden admits he was going over the speed limit but not 60-70 miles an hour like some accounts have claimed. “The speed limit is 25 and I was over that,” he said.
Capps said he went blank during the crash. “My mind kind of really went blank. All I can remember is flipping once in slow motion, I don’t remember hitting anything, I just remember waking up on the tracks.”
Prewitt said. “I remember sliding and thinking golly we are dead. There was a big ole hole coming right at us and there was no stopping then.”
“I thought we were going to be ok when we were sliding and once it hit the driveway I knew it was going to be pretty rough,” said Roaden.
Capps, Garett and Parrott were thrown from the jeep while Prewitt and Roaden were still strapped in their seat belts when the vehicle came to a stop. Three of the players are back on the basketball court but Garett and Parrott may miss the rest of the season.
Prewitt has kept in touch with his friend, Logan Parrott, despite daily practices and games. “He is pretty sore. He has staples in his shoulder and a few stitches,” said Prewitt. “Jermiah broke his collar bone and has a broken arm. He has a punctured lung and broken ribs.”
“He is in real good spirits,” said Roaden. “He came to the Williamsburg game and cheered us on. He was there wanting to see everybody,” added Capps. “I saw Logan the other night and he was doing pretty good too.”
The three are reminded daily of the accident but said it was time to get back to playing basketball.
“You just have to get your mind focused again,” said Roaden about returning to the basketball team.
“I had to get used to shooting with this tape over the stitches,” Prewitt said of the injury to his hand. “It was sore the first couple of days then it just went away.”
Capps said he is still struggling when it comes to his outside shooting. “It (shoulder injury) still gets inflamed and swollen when it gets hit,” he said. “But, I am determined to get out there and play. I have been icing it and doing all the things the doctors and trainers have told me to do. I should be back full stride any day now.”
Roaden was out of action for a couple of days but was the first to get back. “I had a couple of cuts and scrapes and that ain’t nothing. Logan and Jermiah is what really matters to me.”
All three feel blessed someone high above was with them. “He was riding with us,” said Prewitt. “Yes, he was with us the whole time,” said Capps.
The three felt like their teammates have rallied around them. “They have been super,” said Roaden.
“I think they did fine without us,” said Prewitt.
All three feels this is something that has brought the team closer together as well. “They have helped us through it all,” said Prewitt. “They have been there for us,” added Roaden.
“They have supported us all the way,” said Capps.
The three want to thank all their friends for “coming to check on us and giving us the support they have given us from the time we went to the hospital and since we have been back at school. I really appreciate and thank everybody that came out and checked on us,” said Roaden.
Tis the season for miracles. Seeing the jeep spin out of control and overturn on a railroad track…and for three of them to be thrown out the way they were…wasn’t just a matter of luck…it was a miracle.
Halleuiah for the three guardian angels that made the landing just a little easier for the three that were thrown out. And for the two that made the landing a little easier on Prewitt and Roadmen when the jeep came to a rest.