A stalwart in the stands

Early edition

By JOE SMITH
Published January 4, 2007

CLEARWATER — Tammy Carden found her usual spot, a few rows behind the Pinellas Park boys basketball bench.

The spunky Georgia native with sandy blond hair screamed in a voice tinged with  a southern drawl.

“Come  awwn, Cam! …Get the ball inside! …That’s goaltending!”

It was nine hours before the mother of four would have breast reconstruction surgery, a third and,  she hoped, final phase of her double mastectomy  in July.

Tammy’s reason for  choosing the preventative surgery was the same as why she was cheering in the Clearwater High gym that December evening: her family, most of which was on the court.

Her husband, Allen, has helped Pinellas Park make a complete turnaround in just three years. The Patriots, who won just four games three years ago, are 11-3 and among the top teams in Pinellas County.

The couple’s oldest sons, Cam, 17, and Cory, 15, start in the backcourt. Eleven-year-old Cody films games from a perch up high. Daughter Colby, 7, cheers with Tammy, the team’s No. 1 fan and inspiration.

“When we win, we all win,” Cam said. “That’s the best part about it.”
Georgia roots

Tammy, 42, calls the Cardens’ one-story home in Safety Harbor “our playground.”

A ceramic golfer welcomes visitors into the “sports room,” where signed jerseys of Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Chipper Jones are framed above an L-shaped leather couch.

Nearby is a life-sized cutout of Michael Vick (Tammy’s favorite) that overlooks a practice putting green.

 Tammy, dressed in her usual Pinellas Park Patriots visor and basketball camp T-shirt, looked around the room  Saturday and laughed.

“Every family has their own thing, something that brings them together,” Tammy says. “For us, it’s sports. It’s basketball.”

 Her boys were preparing for their game against St. Petersburg in the Hooters Tournament. It was just the second Tammy would miss, but it was for good reason: she was packing everyone’s bags for a holiday trip that night to Dalton, Ga., to visit their extended family.

 The self-proclaimed Carpet Capital of the World is where Tammy and Allen met,  sports stars from rival high schools. Tammy, a three-time region tennis champ, and Allen, all-state in baseball and basketball, weren’t a case of love at first sight.

Allen often dropped by the mall, visiting Tammy at Athletic Attic, where she worked. The Tennessee Temple University basketball star with the charming southern drawl would leave Tammy his number, asking her to come to one of his games.

“He drove me crazy,” Tammy remembers.

In April 1985, Tammy gave in. She met Allen for lunch at Village Inn, a local pizza parlor. Four months later, they married.

Tammy knew what was she was getting into, marrying a basketball junkie who would become a lifer in the coaching business.

Allen  started coaching at his alma mater, Northwest Whitfield, where his baseball (he was drafted by Atlanta Braves after high school) and basketball jersey are retired. After 14 years, Carden left to rebuild Lassiter High’s program, leading it to the Sweet 16 of the Georgia Class 5A  tournament in 2004.

That summer, Tammy brought the family to Safety Harbor, where she accepted a job with Marriott hotels. It’s here where they’ll continue to raise their four children, all May births.

“It’s all about August,” she said, laughing. “It’s our anniversary, my birthday and the only month we’re off from basketball. It’s a good month.”

Family. It’s a theme Carden preaches almost as much as the triple threat. The old-school coach, in his trademark red sweater vest, fosters a spirit of togetherness with his players, who often sleep over and hang out with his sons.

There’s the sharp-shooting Cam, a junior who averages 16 points, and 5-foot-8 freshman point guard Cory,  whose back-cut and bounce-pass style of game is straight out of Hoosiers.

 And there’s Cody, the videographer, whom Cory says “may be the most important part of our team.”
Inspiration

Allen Carden strolled into Great Clips at Clearwater Mall Saturday, his bushy hair drawing a few chuckles.

“Long time, no see,” a stylist quipped .

“Well,” Carden said, “there’s a reason for that.”

 The 43-year-old hadn’t cut his hair during the Patriots’ recent eight-game win streak. The team’s last loss before Friday, coincidentally, came the day before Tammy’s operation.

That night, after a close loss to Clearwater, Allen plugged the game film Cody had recorded into the 13-inch TV in the “sports room.”

The Cardens are film hounds. They’ll watch, rewatch and grade film until the wee hours.

Allen did just that before Tammy’s surgery, staying up until
 1:15, then getting up at 4 to be at the hospital by 5. Cory and Cam went, too, skipping the early periods of school.  “It was tough,” Cam said. “We’d take her back and forth to the hospital. But we knew she’d get through it.

We’d do it together.” Tammy is confident about her recovery; she beat melanoma four years ago. With her mother and two aunts having battled breast cancer, “I had a 100 percent chance of getting it, too,” Tammy said.

Despite the ordeal, she said the operation was “worth it.’’

 “I wanted to see my kids graduate,” she said. “I wanted to be a grandmother.’’

Joe Smith can be reached at joesmith@sptimes.com or at (727)893-8129.

[Last modified January 4, 2007, 22:45:53]