GALLATIN, Tenn. -- Farrell Zissette experienced his share of close calls and near misses during his 22 years as Blackville-Hilda girls' basketball coach.

On the afternoon of April 7, however, the six-time state champion and S.C. Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Famer survived his ultimate "nail-biter."

Along with 700 students at Station Camp High School, where he's served as the athletics director since 2002, the man affectionately known as "Coach Z" hid for cover as a violent tornado stampeded through the Sumner County suburb located 24 miles from Nashville.

In only seconds, the spinning whirlwind of fury, carrying winds over 200 miles per hour (or F3-F4) scattered tons of debris, household items and even parts once attached to a baseball field throughout a 10-mile stretch in Gallatin.

The tornado was one of as many as three which took place simultaneously in Sumner County and killed nine people and injured as many as 60. It also cost close to one million dollars in damage to Station Camp, which was completed three years ago, although there were no casualties.

"We were lucky, we were blessed," Zissette said. "I don't know what the proper word to use is. God was apparently watching out for a bunch of dumb teachers and kids."

'It's here!'

For days, school officials monitored weather reports indicating a potential major storm. Once Sumner County was placed under a tornado warning, Zissette said the school conducted two tornado alert drills called "Code Blue," the first taking place at approximately 2:15 p.m. Central Standard Time.

About 20 minutes later, Zissette and head track and field coach Allen Schoenbralcher walked toward the gymnasium to insure the back door was secure. As Zissette performed his duty, he went outside to greet a parent who rushed to the school to pick up their child.

After taking just two steps outside, Zissette glanced across the parking lot and his life flashed right before him.

"We're out standing outside and (Schoenbralcher) goes 'It's here!'" Zissette said. "I go (in a disbelieving tone) 'Nah' because where I was I couldn't see anything. And then I stepped out there and ... it was probably 100 yards away from us. A black cloud probably 100 yards wide with a tornado in the middle of it coming right to the school."

With its piercing, searing winds approaching, Zissette had one thought in mind.

"Run like the devil!" he said. "Find cover. He was in front of me and I was behind him and we went in and we slid down into position and I yelled to those kids 'Get down now!' All of a sudden, you hear that old saying 'It sounds like a train?' They're telling the truth."

Miraculously, Zissette and the students were spared the brunt of the tornado's ferocity. The storm brought debris which damaged portion of the gymnasium roof and broke two main water lines underneath the school, but the students remained safe knelt down in front of their lockers in the windowless hallways fearing for their lives.

"The kids were down on their knees, their heads tucked with their cell phones in their hands, yelling and telling their mom and them," Zissette said. "You're not supposed to have phones in the school, but they had them hid and they were popping out and they were saying 'Mom, I miss you! I love you! If anything happens, just know that I love you and Dad.' They're crying and saying the Lord's Prayer. I'm praying too and it was just a miracle I think."

'We don't know where it is'

I

nstead of heading straight toward the school, the tornado changed course toward the athletic complex, starting with the $500,000 athletic fieldhouse whose roof was shredded beyond recognition.

The baseball field saw both dugouts and the scoreboard and fieldhouse rendered to near-smithereens, the press box looking as if it was chopped apart by an ax-wielding lumberjack.

The chain link fencing around the baseball field was uprooted from the ground by the twisting winds and sent spiraling to an unknown location -- much like the goal for the soccer field.

"We don't know where it is," Zissette said. "They had a six-foot fence all the way around the baseball field. It's somewhere in the county."

The football scoreboard was also destroyed, with the south-end goalpost sent crashing to the ground.

Up next in the tornado's path of destruction was Volunteer State, a two-year community college located three miles from Station Camp. Zissette said it sustained three damaged buildings and the parking lot resembled a "junkyard" with numerous stacked, overturned vehicles.

Also found near the Volunteer State property was a backstop from the Station Camp baseball field which was hanging from a telephone pole.

Undiscriminating in its havoc, the tornado touched base in an upscale subdivision in Gallatin. It ripped through several multimillion-dollar homes, including the 220-year-old residence of Oak Ridge Boys' singer William Lee Golden.

"It was sitting on top of his house, that cloud, and with that white-looking funnel in the middle of it, coming right you," Zissette said. "You go like 'Oh, my God'."

'A bomb going off'

Eventually, the tornado died out near the Castalian Springs area where Zissette and his wife, Vicki, have resided since leaving Blackville in 2002. With power lines down and the cell phones tied up, Zissette was unable to contact his wife for more than three hours and even went as far as to call close friend and Blackville-Hilda AD Mike Beasley for assistance.

A cousin in Alabama finally got in touch with Zissette's wife and he was allowed to leave Station Camp approximately six hours after the tornado. En route home on Longhollow Road, Zissette got a closer look at the path of the storm and the wreckage, which he compared to a "bomb going off."

'Tornadoes are the most devastating part'

In the days following the storm, the extent of the devastation began to come to light.

"They had a kid that couldn't have been more than 19 years old was talking on 'Survival Stories'," Zissette said. "Where it had set down on top of his house, he and his mom were huddled inside and it sucked her out the door and she yells out 'I love you!' She's sucked up into it and then seconds later, he's sucked up into it and they find both of them, and she's dead and he's alive. That's the last thing he remembers about his mamma.

"One guy, they showed him he was in a car that's down by the airport. It picked up his car and they estimated it was thrown 500 feet and he survived. So, there's devastation."

Even more stunning for Zissette was the sight of one store that was left untouched and open for business and another within a few feet away leveled to the ground.

Despite the massive damage, Zissette said the spring sports teams have continued their seasons uninterrupted thanks in part to the availability of two well-sized recreation parks in Gallatin and Hendersonville. He expects the school's athletic complex to be repaired by the start of next school year, although this close brush has him contemplating retirement after this year.

Zissette said after three decades of coaching, he would like an opportunity for leisure and not having to spend Christmas breaks preparing for tournaments.

"I'm thinking about just teaching and moving to a smaller school and just enjoying it -- taking time for myself," he said.

Along with a different perspective, what Zissette witnessed nine days ago also affirmed in his mind why tornadoes are considered "the most violent storms on Earth."

"I told people that I moved up here because I swapped hurricanes for tornadoes," he said. "I think right now the tornadoes are the most devastating part because you get no warning and then when it does, you only have a matter of minutes. Whereas the hurricane, you have an opportunity to get out.

"I've seen many up close out West, but I don't want to see another one -- not that close."

T&D Senior Sports Writer Thomas Grant Jr. can be reached by e-mail at tgrant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5547.

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