As many of us watch the Razorbacks play in the SEC Tournament tonight, a number of fans remember one of the scariest nights in sports history. On the weekend of March 14th and 15th, 2008 the forecast was already grim for the Atlanta area.
Live on Raycom Television, Tim Brando was doing the play-by-play of the 63-62 overtime game where Mississippi State was leading Alabama. Suddenly, what Brando thought was a blocking foul, ended up being the whistle from the referees that stopped the game. It was then, that the Shreveport native realized what was going on.
“I knew this was a tornado,” Brando told the Lexington Herald-Leader. “Just the sound, a freight train kind of sound.”
John George, the longtime public address announcer for the Arkansas Razorbacks was working the tournament that night, as he told the same newspaper that he realized that he had to keep a widespread panic from ensuing.
“I had to remain calm,” he said, “and every two or three minutes, max, I needed to say something similar to what I just said. But not the same thing so the crowd would realize it’s not a recording. A crowd of 15,000 to 20,000 can only be fooled for a few minutes. Once they realize the people telling them what to do are not there, they begin to panic again.”
On the television broadcast, Brando and longtime sidekick Dave Baker tried to make sense of what was going on, even using the equipment they would usually use to draw plays on the screen to highlight to the crowd at home exactly what was happening as parts of the roof began to tear away.
The crowd of 20,025 managed to wait and stay safe for the remainder of the game. But many were very thankful that Alabama guard Mykal Riley had hit the three-pointer that sent the game into overtime. Most realized that had he missed and Mississippi State won, the crowd would have been pouring out of the Georgia Dome as the tornado hit.
“I really believe that three-pointer saved lives,” Alabama Head Coach Mark Gottfried told reporters later. “I really do.”
The Georgia Dome sustained some $2,200,000 in damage after the F2 tornado finally let up some six miles east. The SEC Tournament finished on the campus of Georgia Tech, where Arkansas lost to the University of Georgia in the finals.
But no one will forget that fateful Friday night, in a situation that could have been a lot worse.