LITTLE ROCK — It was a Tuesday afternoon, and it was meant as a joke.
She was a new employee, working for Phyllis Brandon and High Profile, and when she wandered into the littered confines of the sports department, I asked, "You lost? What are you doing in the sports department?"
Without a moment's hesitation she fired from the lip, "What, because I went to Alabama I'm not allowed back here?"
With a flip of her obviously natural red hair, she turned and left. Minutes later, Phyllis, an Arkansas graduate and die-hard Razorbacks fan, was in my office giving me he double-l.
I apologized to Phyllis and then to Ellen Kreth and a friendship was born that has lasted more than 18 years. She's the Alabama fan I hate to love.
A week ago Saturday, on the Hogs' off day, I took a friend, Brenda Fowler, to the Pink Martini reception at Chip and Cindy Murphy's house as a fund-raiser and toast to Ellen.
She is the chairman of the Oct. 17 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in central Arkansas.
More than that, she is a survivor of breast cancer.
In fact, eight years ago when she was told she had about three months to live, she took me to lunch to tell me no matter what I heard, she was fine and going to be fine.
She was 33 years old, had a 5-month-old (Celia), a 3-year old (Gracie) and a husband who was getting established as a pilot. She's a pilot, too, and Kelly now flies internationally for Continental.
Not one tear did she shed.
"I'm going to beat this," she said.
Soon after, Dr. James Hagan did a double mastectomy and Ellen continued the chemotherapy and radiation treatments under the care of noted oncologist Jack Sternberg.
Less than 72 hours after surgery, she got a call that there was no sign of cancer.
The goal of all cancer patients is to get five years out, then 10 and so on.
When Kreth got the call, she didn't cry.
She got up, called Kelly, her mom and then her sister Fara and went back to work as a law clerk for Court of Appeals Judge Sam Bird. Yes, she's an Alabama grad and an attorney, which might explain her great sense of humor and mental toughness.
She went to law school while working full time.
While she worked at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, she learned a lot of the finer details of sports, such as betting lines.
We regularly made wagers on football and basketball games between the Razorbacks and Crimson Tide, andyour trusty scribe won them all. But she quit betting after learning that while she had given me 28 points, the actual line had been 10.
She only had to pay off one bet and that had been with no points.
The first words out of her mouth when she saw me at the Pink Martini party was: "Who is Alabama beating today and how long until we beat the Razorbacks?"
Ellen, a native of North Little Rock, retired to being a full-time mom in 2003, but she and her sister are handson owners of The Madison County Record newspaper.
She got involved with the Race for the Cure as a volunteer, started running in the event and has trained hard in hopes of winning a medal.
"I would have won one last year but I was too busy running my mouth during the race," she said. "Not this year."
She's even helped train a group of women for the race.
Part of the Pink Martini party was a silent and live auction. Well-known painter Barry Thomas, a former Razorbacks football player, had donated a painting, which Ellen picked out and stored at her house. Her girls loved the painting, but great art is rarely inexpensive.
During the live auction, Albert and Traci Braunfisch refused to be outbid for the Thomas painting and when they won, they immediately announced they were giving it to someone with great courage, Ellen Kreth, who immediately broke into tears.
Sports, Pages 19 on 09/24/2009