FORT WORTH, Texas — Head coach Kim Barnes Arico wore a Wolverines softball jersey during No. 2-seeded Michigan women’s basketball‘s 71-52 Sweet 16 victory over No. 3 Louisville on March 28.
On the back of the jersey was the number 11. The number is a tribute to her late brother.
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When the Wolverines last made the Sweet 16 in 2022, Barnes Arico debuted her jersey. Michigan director of basketball operations Amy Mulligan later suggested that every staffer wear a jersey, too. With Michigan playing in the Sweet 16 for the first time in four years, the jerseys made a comeback. Each staff member wore one in as a show of support the team’s head coach.
“[My dad] and my brother are just with me every step of the way,” Barnes Arico said, teary eyed. “I talk to them every time the national anthem comes on. They would be proud and they’re watching — probably together.”
In 2005, Chris Barnes went out for a run and his heart stopped.
A group of bystanders rushed to his side and administered CPR until an ambulance arrived. En route to the hospital, his heart stopped again, but paramedics revived him again. Barnes ultimately lived, but spent the last 15 years of his life in a vegetative state before dying in 2019.
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“Heart health is one of the most important things for me,” Barnes Arico said. “It’s something that I wish I could do more for because I know if there was a defibrillator, I know if something was near, my brother would be alive today.”
Barnes Arico takes her kids to regular cardiovascular screenings at Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, because her family’s heart health history remains unclear.
“We don’t really know what the reason behind that happening to my brother was because we never were really able to do an autopsy when that happened because he was still alive,” Barnes Arico said.
The Wolverines will advance to their first Elite Eight since 2022, when Naz Hillmon was a star forward. The only player in Michigan history with 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds, Hillmon also champions cardiovascular awareness.
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In 2021, Hillmon’s brother, Zaharius, suffered from cardiac arrest and collapsed during halftime of a high school basketball game. David Silverstein, an athletic trainer who had been hired weeks prior, saved Zaharius’ life.
Barnes Arico was the first person Hillmon told about her brother’s medical event, which happened in the middle of Michigan’s season. Hillmon struggled to get the words out, but her coach knew exactly what she was going through.
“She was just very understanding, helpful, empathetic in doing anything that myself or my family needed,” Hillmon said.
Zaharius spent three days in a medically induced coma, then underwent heart surgery. He has recovered, but not everybody is as lucky.
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Hillmon, and her family have been vocal about the necessity of CPR training ever since Zaharius’ health scare.
Following the 2023 Athletes Unlimited basketball season, Hillmon donated her prize pool money to the Black Heart Association. Her aunt founded ZeeBee’s Heartsavers, teaching CPR classes in Cleveland.
“They’re really [big] advocates for heart health and making a difference and changing the difference in the lives of people that this happens to,” Barnes Arico said.
Barnes Arico herself has been a voice. Partnering with the American Heart Association and LSU head coach Kim Mulkey’s Hearts on the Court Collective, Barnes Arico has raised awareness about cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in women.
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“It’s definitely something that hits home for both of us, so we try to help out and spread as much awareness as we can,” Hillmon said.
When Barnes Arico left St. Johns for Michigan 14 years ago, her children helped her unpack their boxes and start anew. She went out to dinner with Michigan’s athletic director and came home to a photograph her kids had found.
It was a picture of her brother wearing a Michigan hat. Now, twice its original size, that same picture hangs above her bed each night.
The picture she says goodnight to is always there to remind her of her brother. This March, the impact of Barnes Arico’s loss was on display for the nation.
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Mia Fishman is a student in the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico wears jersey for Sweet 16 to honor late brother
