‘Once a Bulldog, always a Bulldog’

The text message was concerning, but not yet unsettling.

That certainly would happen later.

Riley Dacus got the text in a family group message.

It was Monday evening, Sept. 8, and the Kingfisher High School teacher and assistant softball coach had just witnessed the Lady Jackets pick up an 8-0 home win over the OKC Broncos.

It was revealed on her phone that there was a bad wreck involving a bus at the Hazel Dell turnoff west of Minco.

It’s an area Dacus knows well.

She grew up in Minco. Graduated from there in 2016.

Her parents, grandparents and brother all still live there.

It’s her hometown. But there was no other information at the time.

“At first they didn’t know what kind of bus it was — school, charter, tour, etc., so at that point you’re just saying whatever prayer you can,” Dacus said.

Then she settled in at home to watch Monday Night Football when a news ticker at the bottom of the screen drew her attention away from the game between the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings.

The news alert said the vehicle involved in the accident near her hometown was, in fact, a school bus.

Her heart sank. “I knew there would only be three teams coming back that way on 152 - Minco, Union City or Tuttle,” Dacus said. “It just isn’t a road you take on a bus unless you’re from around there.”

Dacus immediately called her mother.

“As soon as she answered, I knew it was Minco,” she said.

It was the Minco softball team, the same program for which Dacus played about a decade ago.

“At first, you’re just in shock,” said Dacus.

••• The Minco softball team was headed home after a 1-0 loss to Riverside, which is just outside of Anadarko.

It was just minutes before 8 p.m. and the sun was setting deeply behind the eastbound bus.

According the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, the bus struck a deer, departed the road to the left and overturned one complete time.

Along with Cody Schmidt, the team’s head coach who was driving, there were more than a dozen people on the bus including coaches and players.

Some were ejected from the bus as it turned over.

All were tossed around.

All were injured in some form or another.

“My parents didn’t have any details other than they knew it was bad,” Dacus said. “It would be an absolute miracle if there were no fatalities.”

••• Dacus knew the area of the wreck well.

“Between summer ball, softball and basketball, I’ve probably taken that road 50 times on a bus,” she said.

“I was those girls at one point. I was sitting on the seat of that same bus not that long ago.”

For her, it was a double gut punch.

“As a teacher and coach, it’s your worst nightmare.

It’s something you don’t want to even think about until you’re faced with it,” she said. “It hits hard because you know in another world that could be your bus.

“As a human, it affects you even if you have no connection to it at all, but it being my hometown made it 10 times worse.”

She knew several - if not all - of the people riding on the bus.

“Some of those girls were just little elementary babies when I was in school,” she said. “I remember seeing their little faces in the cafeteria and at ball games. Some have siblings that played sports with my siblings.

“It’s something you don’t ever want to hear.”

But Dacus wasn’t hearing - or reading - any real, concrete news.

She was trying to reach out, but all that was available was based on rumor.

“The next several hours you’re just praying — whether it’s with words or tears. You’re texting everyone you can who may know something,” Dacus remembers.

“You can’t even begin to think about sleep until you hear some news. I got a hold of my friend who teaches at the school who was headed to the hospital.”

Her news wasn’t much better.

“It’s not good,” the friend texted back. “Multiple ejected. 14 injured, 5 critical.”

The rumors fed rumors and it became difficult to differentiate fact from fiction.

“You’re hearing of brain bleeds, broken backs, broken pelvises, broken necks, lacerated spleens, lacerations on most girls,” said Dacus.

Varied as the alleged injuries were, one tidbit kept popping up.

“No one was dead,” Dacus kept being told. “People were highly critical. Ambulances from all over were taking kids and coaches to the hospital, but no one was dead.

“And you’re holding on to hope that everyone will make it, because you have to.”

••• Three days after the wreck, Kingfisher traveled to Woodward for a district softball game.

The Lady Jackets lost 2-1 in extra innings in a heartbreaker.

But what had happened earlier in the week and even earlier that evening helped put it in perspective.

Prior to the contest, Woodward announced it would not be taking gate for the game.

Instead, donations would be collected and all proceeds would go toward the Minco softball team.

It was announced that fans from the two teams donated more than $2,200.

Kingfisher - and Woodward for that matter - isn’t finished contributing.

The KHS softball program announced it will hold a “Burgers for Bulldogs” when Woodward makes the return trip to Kingfisher on Sept. 25.

All donations collected from the donated burgers will also go to the Minco program.

“The outpouring of love and support from not only Kingfisher but other schools and people all over has been nothing short of overwhelming. And I know those girls and coaches and the town feel it,” Dacus said.

“On a personal note, it was really cool for me to see our school show that they care and were there for them.

“I’m a Jacket now, but we have a saying in Minco: Once a Bulldog, always a Bulldog.”

In a world strife with turmoil, Dacus said an event like the Minco bus wreck “brings out the absolute best in people.”

“I ended up crying more happy tears this last week than I did sad ones and Monday night I didn’t think that was possible,” she said.

••• The absolute miracle happened.

There was not a single fatality in the Minco softball bus wreck.

There were ejections. There were lacerations. There were broken bones.

But no deaths. Perhaps it was due to the quick actions of not only the many first responders on the scene, but the people of Minco itself.

“Throughout the week I learned that multiple people who lived out near the wreck rushed out there to help as soon as they heard the crash or heard sirens,” Dacus said. “They dropped what they were doing and just took off to help anyway they could.

“One of the first ones on the scene was a Minco High School student who is a volunteer firefighter.”

As those kinds of stories unfolded, Dacus beamed with pride, but not with surprise.

“Minco is such a special place full of special people,” she said. “It’s a place I’m proud to be from and will always call home.”

It’s not unlike Kingfisher… it’s just smaller.

“To me, it’s the epitome of the Oklahoma standard. People show up to help in whatever way they can. They rise to the occasion,” Dacus said.

“They bear your burdens and celebrate your victories. It seemed only fitting that the town that always rallies around each other had the whole state praying and rooting for them.”

And maybe a little something looking over them.

“I firmly believe that angels were covering that bus that Monday evening,” Dacus said. “There is no explanation why all those girls and coaches are here besides that.

“Minco experienced a miracle that night and we all got to witness it.”