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Peabody man attends first KU basketball game

Staff reporter

Marvin Warkentine of rural Peabody is a patient man.

He waited to earn his GED when he was in his late 70s. He attended his first KU football game this past fall.

And then this past week, at the age of 83, he finally got to experience his first basketball game in Allen Fieldhouse.

The avid KU basketball fan never misses a basketball game on television and has seen coaches and players come and go.

"Dick Harp and Roy Williams were good," Warkentine said. His favorite players was the duo of Nick Collison and Kurt Heinrich.

"They were just marvelous. Probably the best to play at KU," he said. "Now they just aren't as consistent."

So, how did the octogenarian wrangle tickets for the KU-Winston-Salem State match?

Granddaughter Nicole Thiessen, a sophomore at the university, knew her beloved grandfather wanted to have this experience.

"She said, 'Grandpa, do you know how hard it is to get tickets?' I didn't think it would ever happen," the proud grandfather said.

And, what do you know? It happened.

Thiessen mentioned the request to her roommate who mentioned it to her mother who obtained two tickets for them.

Thiessen arrived Dec. 18 at the Warkentine home, spent the night, and accompanied her grandparents to Peabody Senior Center for lunch. At the center, signs were made that read "83 and never been to a college game."

After lunch, the grandfather and his granddaughter headed for Lawrence.

"Wow. What a place," Warkentine said.

After watching the games all of these years on television, it was an awesome experience to see it in person.

"It (Allen Fieldhouse) was not quite what I thought," he said. "It was much larger."

So, how was it seeing the game live?

"It was amazing to watch Julian Wright stand flat-footed and man, he just jumped up there and made a basket," Warkentine said with hand gestures and a fluctuation in his voice.

And what about the crowd?

"We had great seats. We were about halfway up in the middle," he said.

When the elderly gentleman held up his sign, the lettering on the sign spelled out "NBC" in case it was being televised by NBC. Granddaughter Nichole told Warkentine to turn completely around.

"When I did, the crowd cheered and clapped like crazy. It was wonderful," he said, beaming.

The duo returned Dec. 19 to Peabody after the game, arriving home at midnight. Nicole spent the night and returned to Lawrence the next day. Warkentine had doctor's appointments the next day which required the hasty return.

Days later, Warkentine still is relishing the experience.

"It wasn't much of a contest (KU soundly defeated Winston-Salem, 94-43) but I so enjoyed it — all of the hoopla and cheerleaders."

Wife Thelma doesn't mind. She enjoys watching the games with her husband and is glad he was able to have the experience.

The couple has been married for 60 years. They have five children, five grandsons, five granddaughters, one great-grandson, and one great-granddaughter.

"We like to keep things even," Thelma said.

Nicole is the daughter of Lyle and Paula Thiessen of Topeka.

So, what's Warkentine going to do to top this one?

He's not sure but at 83 he figures there are plenty of other adventures waiting for him and says he takes it one day at a time.

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