KANSAS CITY, Mo. – This is the week where love for basketball is unavoidable in downtown Kansas City. But for one couple, the love of the game led to the love of their lifetimes.
Kelly and Russ Circle love the game and the tournament for their own reasons. Twelve years ago, Russ’s friend told him about Kelly, a girl he said he might like. The two first met at a Big 12 Tournament volunteer meeting.
Kelly and Russ finish each other’s sentences when they talk about their first encounter.
Kelly says, “I had just come from a Rick Springfield concert the night before, and it was a big room and I saw my friend who had wanted me to join up with the Big 12, and I see him across the room and I yell out ‘This hand has touched Rick Springfield and I have not yet bathed! Does anyone want to shake it?’ And right as I said that…”
“I had just called the meeting to order and it was totally quiet,” Russ finished.
“Quiet. I was so embarrassed and he turned to our friend, Mark, and says,’This is the girl you wanted me to meet?'” said Kelly.
Kelly and Russ hit it off soon after that.
“You know when you live breath and die by the Big 12 for a week you bond,” Kelly explains.
The two became best friends, and months later Russ said he was in love with Kelly., who took some time to think about it, but eventually she decided she was in love with him too. They started dating, and not long passed before they were engaged. Russ and Kelly will celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary in May, all thanks to a chance meeting at the Big 12 Tournament.