Comet diehards take it in stride: ‘This ain’t life and death’ | News … – The Independent

MOREHEAD Mickey Grills doesn't how many West Carter boys basketball games he's seen, except that it's a lot.

Baxter Stevens won't let any injury keep him from watching his beloved Comets. His cousin Zach Stevens is alongside.

And Chris Perry did what he usually does just about everything short of washing the uniforms or selling sodas.

Grills, the Stevenses and Perry were among the loud crowd at Tuesday's 16th Region championship game against Elliott County West Carter's first since 1985 where they've nearly always been for decades.

You want a really, really devoted fan? Grills is your man he's missed just one West Carter basketball game since 1982 he was absent when his mother, Edith Grills, passed away in February 1995 and he's seen 310 straight football games since 1987 and counting.

Is Grills, 64, a jump-to-the-ceiling excitable fan?

Not as much as I used to be, he says. You get a little older.

Grills is part of Olive Hill High School's last class in 1971, and he saw numerous contests in the 1960s. He has no particular favorite memory.

I've just always been a Comet, Grills said. Win or lose, they're all good.

Stevens completed his 34th year compiling basketball statistics (he does the same thing for the Comets football team). He watched his uncle, the late Delmane Barker, who played basketball for Olive Hill's 1959 team.

Ask why he started crunching numbers for West Carter. He says it was a simple motive at least if you're in high school.

When I was in school, I was bored and too ugly to do anything, Stevens said. Girls wouldn't go out with me. I needed acceptance.

If there was an Ironman Award at West Carter, Bax seems a cinch winner because nothing keeps him from John Hop Brown Court or any other gym where the Comets are playing.

Not complications from diabetes, which cost him his left foot last year. Not from injuring his right foot about a month ago in the Kings Daughters Medical Center parking lot.

Tuesday, Baxter wore a large gray boot covering his right foot. As is his nature, he downplays what happened he said his big toe remained in place, while the other four moved right and were fractured.

I stepped over a speed bump and rolled my ankle, Stevens said.

By day, Baxter Stevens is a high school teacher's aide, where he works with students who have behavioral issues. He's also as large a fountain of wisdom and dispenser of advice as you'll find anywhere in Carter County.

I joke all the time, Baxter says. I tell 'em, if I knew I was gonna live this long, I would've taken better care of myself. Life's lesson's, I guess you could call it.

A minuscule controversy: are Zach and Baxter Stevens first or second cousins? Neither was completely sure, though they eventually settled on the latter.

All the kids think he's my dad, says Zach, Baxter's spotter and sometime computer operator, so we'll go with that.

Perry, the manager at Carter Caves State Resort Park, drives the bus, gives one-on-one advice, provides breakfast and whatever else needs doing. He couldn't be happier or more grateful.

West Carter's head coach Jeremy Webb, with Chris Perry, and Baxter Stevens on the Comets bench before their 16th Region Championship game in Morehead, Tuesday. KEVIN GOLDY | THE DAILY INDEPENDENT

It's not often that you find a place that will allow somebody to just come in and do what I do and not say a word to me and know that I've got the best interest of the kids at heart in everything I do, Perry said.

The Stevenses sat next to West Carter's bench on press row Tuesday. Grills was in the stands, and Perry was at the far end of the bench next to the water cooler. They watched Elliott County take a 22-11 lead after one quarter and saw the Comets pull to 34-29 at halftime.

Zach Stevens thought West Carter was in good shape because it was a two-possession contest. Baxter wasn't nervous either he kept things in perspective.

This ain't life and death, Baxter said. It's a basketball game. Elliott's one of the best team's in the state, and we're with them.

West Carter Comet's super fan Mickey Grills claps for his team during their 16th Region Championship agaisnt Elliott County. KEVIN GOLDY | THE INDEPENDENT

One of the youngest Comet fans, meanwhile, was anxious. Decked out in her maroon and white cheerleading outfit, 7-year-old Camryn Varney reached for her mom's, Sarah Varney, right arm.

I'm scared we're not gonna win, Camryn said.

It would be wrong to forget one of West Carter's most fervent fans Mayor Kenny Fankell, 57, who passed away Feb. 22.

Oh, my gosh, West Carter cheerleading coach Jeff Huffman said. He was such a huge Comet fan. He would've been here clapping his hands for both our community and our school. He knew it would be a great thing for both.

Neither of the Stevenses nor Perry showed any emotion during the game, but West Carter trainer Meredith Calhoun did late in the fourth quarter. First, she shook Baxter's wheelchair, then leaped to her feet, put her hands behind her head and threw up her hands in celebration when the Comets took a 61-60 lead.

While the trophies were being handed out after Elliott County's 77-71 overtime win, Baxter Stevens packed up his computer, cords and printer. He couldn't and didn't fault West Carter's effort.

Neither did Grills.

Life goes on, he said. They had a good season. I'll watch some baseball and wait on football.