“You could not get her to stop talking about him,” said Peretta, who has a close friendship with Kellie’s brother, Zachary. “She thought he was a great person, a great basketball player and really thought he was an appropriate leader for the team and just really liked watching him play basketball.
“I’ve kind of known him and said, ‘Hey Josh, do you have anything (to give them)? It doesn’t have to be something big. It can be something small, like a T-shirt. You were her favorite basketball player.’
“He was like, ‘No, Teresa, this is so much bigger than just giving them something little. I’m going to get one of my jerseys sent from home.’ ”
The suburban Chicago native had his red road jersey from last season Fed-Exed to Dayton and not only signed his name, but inscribed the corners of it with a heartfelt message:
“We will miss you
You’ll never be forgotten
You’ll always be a part of us,
Josh Parker.”
When she picked up the jersey, Perretta could barely choke out the words to express her gratitude.
“It was taking everything in me not to break down and cry and hug him and squeeze him because, really, the way she talked about him, I know she was just smiling from ear to ear,” Perretta said.
When Kellie Schulke was buried, she was dressed in a Flyer sweatshirt and sweat pants, and draped across her body in the casket was that autographed No. 12 jersey.
“It’s an honor to know how you can touch somebody’s life just playing basketball every day,” Parker said. “I never met her, and just to know how she was toward me — and for the family to have enough respect for me to put my jersey in her casket, I’m just speechless.
“I know she was looking down on me. ... Whatever I could do to make her smile upstairs, that was big for me to be able to do that.”
Longtime fans
The Schulkes had season tickets starting in the 1950s when the Flyers played at the Fieldhouse. They finally had to give them up when they faced financial hardships after Kellie’s father, Michael Schulke (pronounced SHULL-kee), became ill, had brain surgery and died at 57 in 2008. But friends would still supply them with tickets. And Perretta always seemed to have extras to pass along.
Kellie never missed a chance to go. And the single mother of two sons — Mekhi, 7, and Jace, 4 — would get curious looks from boyfriends over her passion for the Flyers.
“She could tell you every year and every player on the team, their stats, what they did the last game — anything and everything,” said Zachary, who is 16 months her junior and considered Kellie his best friend. “So many guys would be so surprised a girl knew that much about basketball. She’d say, ‘It’s not basketball. It’s UD basketball.’ ”
Older sister Michelle added: “She’d say, ‘Back in December when we took that four-point loss to Joe Blow, all we had to do was make that bucket and hit those free throws. I’d say, ‘Are you kidding me?’ She knew everything there was to know.”
Her mother, Patricia Schulke, recalled Kellie’s indignation when a boyfriend dared to bring up another college team. “She said, ‘Nothing comes before UD basketball.’ ”
She picked up her love for the Flyers from her parents, who attended games at the Fieldhouse with their parents.
“The thing that has always kept our family together — and we’ll call each other all around the United States — is UD basketball,” Zachary said. “It sounds stupid to people, but it’s such a big thing in the Schulke family’s life. She made sure, after my father passed away, that it would always, always stay that way.”
The only thing that meant more to the Wayne High School graduate was her boys.
Love for sons
“She was silly, vibrant, passionate, full of life and an amazing mother,” Zachary said. “Everything revolved around (the kids).”
Patricia, a 33-year employee at Miami Valley Hospital, agreed Kellie had her priorities straight. She was studying business at Sinclair Community College with plans to transfer to UD.
“She had a lot of friends, but once she had her children, that was it. She didn’t go out and act like a fool,” said Patricia, who sat next to a poster-sized picture of Kellie that had been displayed at the funeral and now stands in the living room of her Pepper Drive home. “She was a good mom. And she loved going to school herself.
“I had never seen her so happy than in the last couple months. Right before she left that night, she did all of her school work for the whole week.”
The night after attending UD’s win over La Salle on Jan. 14, Kellie went to a friend’s house to console her over a breakup, bringing along younger son Jace. She stayed overnight, and Zachary received a call at 2:05 p.m. the next day saying Kellie was dead.
“I could hear the paramedics in the background. She was already cold,” said Zachary, his eyes red with tears and his voice quivering at times. “We don’t know what happened.”
The Schulkes learned a quiet evening at the home of Kellie’s friend had turned into a party as more people showed up. The family is hoping an autopsy report sheds some light, but they won’t know the results for another few weeks.
“Kellie was not a partier,” Zachary said. “She would drink, but she wasn’t a partier. And if she was to do something, she never would do something with her kid (there).”
Kellie’s dreams for her sons were that one, if not both, would someday suit up for the Flyers. And if so, she hoped they could turn out like Josh Parker.
The family was touched the player thought enough of Kellie to donate a signed jersey. Once Zachary heard about it, he said, “I balled for probably an hour.”
He said losing his father was difficult, but Kellie’s death has been more traumatic.
“The hardest thing about it is the two boys, especially Jace. He keeps asking, ‘When is Mommy coming back?’ ” he said.
Family members console themselves with the belief that Kellie is reunited with her father and the two are able to revel again in their mutual love.
Not just basketball.
UD basketball.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2125 or dharris@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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