MAYFIELD, Ky. — A Graves County High School Alum and star college basketball center is helping the communities ravaged by last Friday’s deadly tornadoes in western Kentucky.

What You Need To Know

  • Wisconsin's star center Chris Vogt is helping his hometown in western Kentucky in a big way

  • Vogt started a GoFundMe and raised over $150,000 for tornado victims in the region

  • Vogt is a 2017 graduate of Graves County High School

Chris Vogt spends his time as the Wisconsin Badgers' big man, but he's a western Kentucky native through and through. This weekend, he broke away from the court to return to his former high school, and he found a community nearly broken.

“We went up to Court Square and saw all the damage saw all the damage there and it was unbelievable,” Vogt said.

Brady Holmes is volunteering his time to help sort donations. (Spectrum News 1/Jonathon Gregg)

Vogt’s high school has been converted to a donation center. On Friday, Vogt, a 2017 grad, reconnected with his high school basketball Coach Josh Frick. 

“He’s using his platform. I’m proud of him for doing that," Frick said. "He’s really been an advocate for this community since the day he graduated.”

Last Saturday Vogt and his Badger teammates were in Columbus for a game against the Buckeyes. But when tornadoes tore through his hometown just hours earlier, Vogt’s heart was in Graves County.

“That’s when I kind of thought back to JJ Watt a UW Alum and everything he was able to do for the city of Houston when the Hurricane hit," Vogt said. "So obviously I don’t have the same kind of platform as him but if you do anything that’s a fraction of the size he did, that would be pretty cool.”

With the help of a team staffer, Vogt created a GoFundMe account. By Friday afternoon – nearly one week since the storms hit – it raised more than $150,000.

“Just thinking back to when I created it, I was thinking 1,000 dollars would probably help a few people a little bit. To see it’s gotten this much support and recognition is pretty cool," Vogt said.

It's monumental, considering the impact one gesture will have on an entire community.

“I’m so proud of him. It’s something that seemed so small when he first started that GoFundMe page but it turned into something big," Coach Frick said.

You can donate to Vogt's GoFundMe or the official Team Western Kentucky Tornado Relief fund to help communities impacted by the storms.