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Oklahoma City tornadoes too close to home for Tennessee’s Josh Richardson

SEC Basketball Tournament - Quarterfinals-Tennessee-Alabama

NASHVILLE, TN - MARCH 15: Josh Richardson #1 of the Tennessee Volunteers shoots the ball in the game against the Alabama Crimson Tide during the quarterfinals of the SEC Baketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena on March 15, 2013 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

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Like everyone else, I’ve spent the past two weeks glued to the coverage of the deadly tornado outbreaks in the Oklahoma City area.

It’s heartbreaking and terrifying to watch from a distance, so I can only imagine what Edmond, OK, native and Tennessee forward Josh Richardson is going through.

Edmond is located just a couple of miles north of OKC. Moore, where a mile-wide twister gouged a 17-mile path on destruction on May 20th, borders OKC on the southern side, just a half an hour away from Edmond.

Richardson was home in Oklahoma during that storm.

Brendan Quinn of Go Vols Extra has the story:

Richardson, having had his wisdom teeth pulled, was relegated to a bed. A television served as his window. Moore is a half hour south of Edmond.

“It was crazy seeing what was happening on TV,” Richardson said. “I was just lying in bed all day, hoping it didn’t come my way.”

It never did. Richardson went the following day to visit a friend in South Oklahoma City, which borders Moore to the west. He arrived before the relief effort expanded beyond the most impacted areas.

“I drove through it and saw some stuff,” he said. “It was really bad. The first thing I saw when we exited off — there used to be a building there, but it was just in shambles. It was a giant pile of rubble. Then there were some houses that were just gone.

“It’s weird. It’s sad. You don’t get used to seeing places that you’ve known before, that are just gone.”


Having just lived through that tragedy, it’s tough to comprehend what was going through Richardson’s mind on Friday night, as another set of storms battered Oklahoma City, killing at least 13. Luckily, Richardson’s family and friends made it through unscathed once again.

You can find Rob on twitter @RobDauster.