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Submitted: 1/7/14 • Approved: 1/7/14 • Last Updated: 1/10/14 • R972358-G0-S3
July 1, 1981 - Apr 29, 2004
*Obituarty
thecabin.net
DAVID MCCOLLUM
Log Cabin Staff Writer
Published Friday, April 30, 2004
University of Central Arkansas athletic officials were numbed Thursday by the second death of an athlete in five weeks.
Aaron Mackey, 22, a senior basketball player from Maumelle (Little Rock Fair), died in an apartment fire Thursday near Mayflower. In late March, Michelle Short of Mayflower, a softball player, was killed in an automobile accident in North Little Rock.
"Unbelievable, just takes your breath away," said Vance Strange, UCA athletic director. "We're just getting over one, just absorbing that one death, then this happens. Everybody here is just stunned."
Strange, who is beginning his second year as athletic director but has been involved in athletics as a player, coach or administrator for almost five decades, said the experience was unprecedented for him.
"I don't recall ever having two deaths like this back to back," he said. "It's just hard to believe it's true. Just the other day, I saw Aaron on campus, walked up and hugged his neck ... Wow. It's devastating."
Dandra Thomas of Conway, a former UCA Sugar Bear star, was killed in an automobile accident in Conway in December.
"That's a bad one year," Strange said.
Mackey transferred to UCA from Incarnate Word in San Antonio and sat out 2002-2003. He averaged four points and 1.8 rebounds per game last season but was third on the team in 3-pointers.
He was one of the players coach Rand Chappell inherited when he took the UCA job, but he was not unfamiliar with him.
"I recruited him when I was at Henderson State," said Chappell, who is beginning his second year at UCA. "I spent a lot of time getting to know him and his family, great people. I knew he was one of those guys you want in a program."
Chappell said he remembers Mackey's smile and enthusiasm the most.
"He always seemed to have a smile on his face," he said. "He loved the game of basketball and put a lot of effort into that. But he was also a guy you just liked to be around.
"You'd see him around campus and he'd quickly flash a smile and would wave. He really enjoyed life and he enjoyed other people."
Steve East, UCA's sports information director, remembered an afternoon when he was having lunch in a corner of the UCA cafeteria.
"Aaron had just finished lunch with some friends, spotted me and walked all the way across the food court and made his friends wait while he said hello to me," East said. "Not many people are going to do that. That's the type of friendly person he was."
Chappell said this is the first such situation for him.
"You see and hear things like this happening in other programs; you wonder what you'd do if it happened to you; you hope it never does," he said.
"When we got the news, we all thought, 'Surely, this can't be true. There had to be some mistake. It can't be Aaron. It just can't happen.'
"We're all shaken. All of our players and coaches are having a tough time. We're just trying to continue right now.
"I was talking to Josh Hayes, who was his Aaron's best friend. Josh told me, 'Coach, I've never lost somebody that close to me.'"
Strange said counselors will be available for all players and coaches.
"Words just can't express how we feel right now," he said. "We all are in shock, just numb all over."
Contributed on 1/7/14 by hawkinsdonna
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Record #: 972358