Chip, left, and Krystal Dittus took their UK flag and hats with them two years ago when they climbed to the base camp on Mt. Everest
It had been about four years since I had seen Kentucky basketball fans Krystal and Chip Dittus at a Southeastern Conference Tournament. That’s where I first met the couple — who both enjoy Sunday Morning Sports on WLAP and still listen regularly in Key West, Fla.
They came to see us Sunday after I finished the radio show with Anthony White and Curtis Burch. They took us to lunch and then rode the Conch Train with us even though they both might have known more about Key West than the tour guide.
It was no surprise Krystal had on her 2020 Kentucky volleyball national championship shirt. Chip, who played club volleyball when he was at Morehead State, also has won but did not wear his since his wife did.
They are no “bandwagon” volleyball fans, either, as they have supported volleyball for a lot of years and know more about Craig Skinner’s roster for next year than I do.
But what made our get-together even better was that it was almost exactly the two-year anniversary of when the Kentucky natives went to Nepal and hiked to the Mt. Everest base camp. They took a UK flag with them on the climb along with a new UK baseball hat that they eventually gave to one of their porters who helped transport their gear on the climb.
It was fun listening to them recall some of the details of their climb, including Krystal having trouble with altitude sickness while Chip was able to eat all he wanted with no trouble, including yak grilled cheese sandwiches he said were delicious.
Krystal and Chip are both scuba divers — one reason they moved from northern Kentucky to Key West. Both are UK fans but Krystal is a bit more excitable during UK events, including volleyball.
Krystal often joked to me that neighbors here sometimes wondered what was going on when they heard her screams when UK was playing basketball. However, like many UK fans, they got to the point last season where they did not watch games. They followed the Cats but not the way they always have before.
However, have no doubts about next volleyball season. They’ll be watching every match they can and probably wearing those national championship shirts a lot.
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Here is the link to the story I wrote in July of 2019 about their Mt. Everest journey:
https://www.amnews.com/2019/07/08/uk-fans-showed-loyalty-to-cats-at-mt-everest-base-camp/
