
The day Coach Thieke rescued me at Memphis
Back in the spring of 1987 — I think it was the spring of 1987, could be 1988 — I was covering Memphis State baseball for the university’s school newspaper, The Daily Helmsman, and needed to write a preview of the Tigers’ upcoming season. All I needed were a few minutes with Bobby Kilpatrick, the Tigers’ longtime head coach, who surely I could grab before practice one day that week.