“We’re going to try to do this…” Calipari said, as he started to explain the logis-tics of snapping photos with thousands of fans.

Some guys in the crowd interrupted “Repeat! Re-peat!” to cheers and laughter from their fellow fans.

“Can you please let me en-joy this for like, two weeks?” Calipari said in response.

The Big Blue Nation brought along cameras and notepads, basketballs and hats for autographs, but Cali-pari declined to give out his signature. It didn’t seem to dampen the mood.

“I was right beside him. Literally,” said a fifth-grader from Clay Elementary School in Webster County as he left the photo line.

His friend was under-whelmed by his buddy’s brush with fame.

“Oh yeah, well he touched me on the shoulder.”

The kids were from one of several school groups that at-tended Friday’s event. Class-es from Second Street School walked together to the Old Capitol lawn, some sporting UK symbols on their cheeks or Anthony Davis-style uni-brows drawn with a blue marker.

“How did you guys get out of school?” Calipari asked at one point, as he began to no-tice all the kids in the crowd. “If they ask you students, you say the governor asked for you to be at this meeting to-day.”

LRC coworkers Linda Barnes, Suzanne Wilkins and Barbara Booze said it was worth braving the crowds to get a glimpse of the trophy, Calipari and his wife, Ellen.

“It was exciting, but we were afraid we wouldn’t get here and get close, and we were afraid we wouldn’t get our picture,” Barnes said.

Wilkins said the women worked until after midnight yesterday as the legislature worked late to wrap up its last day of the regular ses-sion. She said they got about four hours of sleep last night, but are “dedicated fans” and couldn’t miss the rally.

“This gives everybody in the state a chance to see this trophy and get a picture with him,” Booze said as they headed back to work.

“I’ve never seen a coach do this, ever before. He is re-ally compassionate and car-ing coach – he’s just for the people and wants the players and the people to be able to enjoy it.”

Nick Janca, Alex Prado and Zane Stone, all 16-year-old sophomore members of the Franklin County High School band, said they were invited just Thursday to per-form at the event.

They said they had to learn the UK fight song “in about five minutes” but were excited to play it in front of so many people. Afterward they got their picture taken with Calipari, instruments still in hand.

“We’re grateful that our band got to go,” Prado said. “We wish Western Hills would have been here with us, but we’re grateful we got to come.”

Gov. Steve Beshear, first la-dy Jane Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jerry Abramson met Calipari at the Old Capitol.

Beshear congratulated Calipari for being “the best coach in the nation” and leading a team that “worked unselfishly to bring the tro-phy back to Kentucky.”

“In most places, basket-

THE STATE JOURNAL n FR ANKFORT, KENTUCK Y n ApRiL 15, 2012 n PAGE A9

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ball is a sport,” Beshear said. “In Kentucky, I think it’s a re-ligion – but it fits well with our other religion, amen.”

Businesses along Broad-way got into the spirit of the event too.

Capital Cellars employ-ees grilled Kentucky-themed burgers and brats, and Poor Richard’s Books advertised a special edition of Sports Il-lustrated about the Wildcats’ win.

Dressed in blue, the Franklin County High School band performs during the University of Kentucky men’s basketball national championship trophy tour stop.

With unibrows drawn across their foreheads, Kennadie Pritchett, 10, and Kennadi Woods, 9, wait for Coach John Calipari to arrive at the Old Capitol.

Second Street School fourth-graders Damon Marshall, George Perry, Zoe Ante-nucci and Adri-ana Steele stand by Coach John Calipari to have their picture taken during his stop in Frankfort at the Old Capitol Friday. The trophy tour continued to Elizabethtown and Western Kentucky Friday. The trophy made appearances at Verizon stores in Lexington and Louisville Saturday.

HAnnAH REEL/HREEL@STATE-JOURnAL.COM

Fans laugh and cheer as Coach John Calipari speaks during his stop in Frankfort at the Old Capitol.

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