Lexington, KY – Tradition is something University of Kentucky head football coach Mark Stoops knows a lot about. He and three of his brothers don headsets and patrol the sidelines each fall, just as their father did. Now he’s joining a tradition of UK-related people appearing on commemorative bottles of Maker’s Mark, the 18th year a special bottle has been released with proceeds benefiting central Kentucky projects.
This year, like the previous two, the 10,000-bottle run – timed for release with the start of Keeneland’s spring meet – will benefit the Gill Heart Institute at UK HealthCare.
After this year, the total contributions to Gill should total $500,000.
Stoops told Business Lexington his choosing to be featured on the bottle of Kentucky’s native spirit has more to do with his family ties to the cause it was supporting than to bourbon, a beverage he said he’s still getting the taste for.
In 1987 Stoop’s dad, Ron, head coach for Youngstown’s Cardinal Mooney High School, a famed Ohio high-school football program, died at 54 of a heart attack.
“He was actually coaching in a football game at the time he [had the heart attack.] The game went into double overtime, and basically as soon as the game was over, he got in an ambulance there on the field and was heading to the hospital,” Mark Stoops said.
Since then, Stoops and his brothers have followed in their dad’s footsteps. His oldest brother, Ron, Jr., is a linebackers coach and head of high school relations for Youngstown State University and a former defensive coordinator at Cardinal Mooney. His brother Bob is head coach of Oklahoma’s storied football program, where their brother Mike is defensive coordinator after serving as head coach of Arizona’s football program.
While they are all coaching like their dad, Mark Stoops said they stay on each other to make sure they are taking care of themselves to avoid incidents like their father’s and other colleagues.
In 2010, Michigan State Football Coach Mark Dantonio called a fake field goal in overtime to beat Notre Dame. The call, for better or worse, would have ended the game, which in the case of the then 54-year-old Dantonio might have proved to be a lifesaver. The Spartans scored the game-winning touchdown rather than seeking the field goal that would have forced a second overtime. After the game, Dantonio was rushed to an area hospital and treated for what was reported to be a mild heart attack. He remained hospitalized for much of that following week.
In November, then Houston Texans head coach Gary Kubiak collapsed while walking off the field at halftime of a nationally televised game. Kubiak suffered a transient ischemic attack, or mini-stroke, according to the American Heart Association. Kubiak was replaced for a game by one of his coordinators before coaching from the press box upon his immediate return.
“It’s something that we really try to be proactive and getting yearly checkups and such,” Stoops told Business Lexington. “As a matter of fact, I’ve been to the Gill Heart Institute as a preventative measure to get tested and to work with the doctors there to make sure I keep that under control.”
Asked if he makes sure his brothers are doing the same: “Yeah, we really do stay on each other about doing that at least once a year to stay current and to get checkups and all that,” he said.
“We really don’t (have the most relaxed profession in the world), especially after some of those real stressful games we call, and check up to make sure we’re taking our medicine,” he said.
While the Stoops family is steeped in football tradition, Mike Stoops knows he’s in a basketball town. His image on the commemorative Maker’s Mark bottle is of him doing the ‘Y’ in Kentucky at a UK basketball game.
“I OK’d the picture, so that was OK with me,” he said with a chuckle.
The numbered, limited-edition bottles will be available statewide Friday, the opening day of Keeneland’s meet. Retailers will set their own prices, but the bottles typically cost around $52, according to a release.
Over the 18 years that Maker’s Mark has partnered with Keeneland to produce an annual commemorative bottle, $7.1 million has been raised for various charities throughout central Kentucky.
“Keeneland is proud to be part of this extraordinary team, and to help support the vital work of the Gill Heart Institute,” Keeneland President and CEO Bill Thomason said in the release. “Coach Stoops’ strong commitment to improving cardiac care in Kentucky and the fact that we are celebrating the 60th anniversary of Maker’s Mark, combine to make this a very special commemorative bottle.”
Stoops, Maker’s Mark’s COO Rob Samuels, Maker’s Mark Chairman Emeritus Bill Samuels, Jr. and Keeneland’s Thomason will be available to sign already-purchased bottles on Friday, April 11, at Keeneland beginning at 6:30 a.m. Tickets for the signing will be distributed at Keeneland beginning at 10 p.m. on Thursday, April 10.