A small Kansas community’s girls’ tennis team devastated by one of the worst tornadoes on record was left broken, but not defeated

By Jeff Sikes

USTA Missouri Valley - Tornadoes and their incredible destruction are almost synonymous with life in Kansas, and were long before The Wizard of Oz ever made them the unofficial mascot of the state. These weather beasts are just a regular part of life in Kansas, leaving residents with that always on-guard feeling and looking over their shoulders to the skies, fearful of those dark and puffy clouds.

One year ago to the day, May 4, 2007, that edgy feeling turned into an all-too-real nightmare for the 1,500 residents of Greensburg, Kansas, a sleepy, rural town located in the southwestern part of the state. That night just after 9:30 p.m., a twister of epic magnitude, one of the largest ever recorded and 1.7 miles wide in its destructive swath, dropped down in the dark on Greensburg and literally blew away the entire city with its powerful 205-plus M.P.H. winds.

Almost nothing was left in the storm’s wake. Aerial photos of the aftermath showed the city and everything in it had been 95% destroyed, and rendered it to something that more closely resembled post-nuclear Hiroshima, Japan.

Greensburg in the National Spotlight

Greensburg garnered national headlines and sympathy in the days that ensued due to the sheer depth of devastation, as well as the 11 people who perished that night. President George W. Bush visited soon after to see the town (and returns today to mark the one-year anniversary and give the Class of 2008 commencement address). The town was declared a federal disaster area almost immediately, and relief organizations like the Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) soon became temporary tenants of the ravaged city. Professional sports teams in Kansas City and many other groups locally, statewide, nationally and across the globe even pledged assistance to help ease Greensburg’s plight.

Prior to the tornado, the town hadn’t been known for much other than being the site of the world’s largest hand-dug well. Afterward, the name “Greensburg” became the standard bearer for cataclysmic tornado damage. Still, the city’s residents began clearing the nearly 400,000,000 tons of debris the storm caused, repairing the city quietly, humbly, and as soon as they could. They vowed to not be broken.

Kim McMurry was one of the lucky ones. Like many teachers in small towns, McMurry wears many hats, and besides serving as the head girls’ tennis coach, she also coaches the GHS forensics team. night she was over 150 miles away with 27 GHS students and sponsors preparing for the 1A State Forensics Tournament in Salina, Kan. McMurry wasn’t a witness to the horror of the tornado, but she and many members of her tennis team and their families are still suffering from the lingering after effects of the storm’s destruction, which has made resuming life as they knew it a difficult process indeed.

“Every one of my tennis girls and their families lost everything that night… their homes, their cars, their clothes, their tennis stuff, you name it,” said McMurry. “It was just such a chaotic scene to come back to. When we got back in, we were all trying to figure out where streets were, things were so messed up you absolutely had no idea. Whole blocks had been moved or blown apart so there was no sense of direction. Nothing was where it was supposed to be.”

Kasha Charlton’s mother and father were both thrown from their home and broke their necks from the ferocity of the winds that night, gusts that snapped trees in half, and made power lines into toothpicks. Charlton, a senior who will graduate from GHS today, spent most of the summer of 2007 tending to her mom and dad, and assumed the head of the household since her parents were in and out of hospitals most of the summer recovering.

Upon returning to her home a couple of days after the storm, the only thing Charlton could identify was the plumbing under the sink. Like many kids in Greensburg, she had to grow up far faster and take on more responsibility than she could have ever imagined.

“I feel like I’ve actually matured a lot faster than I maybe should have,” Charlton said. “There was more stress and more stuff to adjust to in every way.”

Another graduating ’08 senior and tennis team member, Sara McVay, had a similar story. Though she was lucky none of her family was harmed, her house was completely wiped out. No pictures, no clothes, no compact discs, no favorite perfume, and least of all, tennis racquets or equipment.

“Right after (the tornado) we had to live in several different places,” said McVay. “There was a lot of moving and being in the car –just trying to survive. Everything was temporary, and even now a lot of girls are just getting back into a real home instead of a (FEMA) trailer. Everything was really very different this year. The media is around all the time now. I think everyone here just wants to resume life and try to be as normal as possible.”

Part Two of the story will be available tomorrow May 5th.

Photo Attributions – Part 1

Greensburg 2007 Team Picture:
Front Row: Kim McMurry, Makena Unruh, Kiairla Beltz, Uriah Dawson, Sara McVay, Kasha Charlton. Back Row: Charlsea Crotts, Charlotte Coggins, Maci Colclazier, Jennifer Fuhrmann, Cortney Koehn, Kristi Melton.

Greensburg Destruction (Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons): The post-tornado devastation of the city of Greensburg

Greensburg Tennis Courts: The school’s four courts were completely destroyed, forcing the school to use the city’s only other two courts for practice and team matches.