Out of the blue came the phone call from former University of Kentucky basketball coach Billy Gillispie.
“Ed, you’re going to get a kidney,” Gillispie said to retired Oviedo basketball coach Ed Kershner during his unexpected call several weeks ago.
Kershner, who has been fighting renal failure since before he retired from coaching in 2017 as the winningest coach in Florida high school history, was stunned. He recalls shaking hands and saying hello just once to Gillispie at a national convention for basketball coaches.
But beyond their mutual passion for the sport that shaped their lives, Kershner and Gillispie have something much more onerous in common.