Sampson extends hand, and city, nation respond
It started with Kelvin Sampson staring in awe at the television, as a young mother carried her son through waist-high floodwater during Hurricane Harvey.
It now involves the University of Houston’s football equipment truck, intricate conversations with UPS and FedEx, promised phone chargers and donated diapers.
J.J. Watt’s charity video posts have literally gone viral, with more than $10 million in donations pledged to Harvey victims.
Les Alexander, Jim Crane and Bob McNair have opened their
huge wallets.
Sampson’s outstretched hand started with a single tweet, dreamt up on the back of an envelope that contained a bill.
Less than a week later, the Cougars’ men’s basketball coach has received more than 1,000 commitments for everything from shoes and shirts to toiletries and household items.
Big names and real-life heroes always receive the most attention when the world turns upside down. The personal grass-roots work is just as essential and powerful.
“It’s just so heartwarming and heartbreaking … the sacrifice that so many of these colleges are making,” Sampson said Thursday. “But you never lose sight of why you’re doing this. You’re doing it for one reason and one reason only: We’re going to help people.”
This is normally a quiet time for Sampson. The NFL and college football are beginning. Pro baseball is in full swing. His daily tasks can range from mundane to mission critical, but few, if any, ever make news.
“All of a sudden, you have the life-threatening devastation that we had, and it kind of puts the day-to-day in perspective,” said Sampson, who acknowledged he’s “new to this” and has never done anything like it.
Family matters
Sampson’s son, Kellen, and daughter, Lauren, helped their father shape his initial message. Then a sports community that stretches from coast to coast took it from there.
“All of our hearts go out to those in need during these devastating times. We will get everything to the right agencies to be distributed. Thank you and God Bless you all,” Sampson tweeted Monday.
This address was listed in the post: Kelvin Sampson University of Houston Basketball
Guy V Lewis Development Center
3480 Cullen Blvd Houston, TX 77204 Maybe it was Sampson putting his name above the address. Perhaps it was his well-traveled background and the fact that he mentioned junior college, D-III, NAIA and high school girls teams. Whatever it was, Sampson’s personal touch hit home.
His phone started constantly pinging, beeping so rapidly Sampson worried there was something wrong with the device.
“Then it went from wow to whoa,” he said.
A group of high schoolers in Massachusetts sent a package of T-shirts.
An IT company contacted the Coogs’ coach, saying it wasn’t in the shoes and shirts business, but would gladly mail hundreds of portable phone chargers to Houston. Sampson’s former manager at Oklahoma texted just before the coach called me Thursday, announcing he was sending $500 worth of diapers for Harvey victims.
“We’ve gone from Tshirts and shoes, and now we’re getting diapers,” Sampson said. “We’ve become their GPS.”
Owners come through
Houston’s pro sports owners reached into their deep pockets and made financial gestures we can only dream of. Campaigns led by Watt and Sampson took off by cutting through red tape and personally reaching out to the public.
“It’s like J.J. Watt issuing that challenge,” Sampson said. “Most people want to give, but they don’t know who to give to.
“Where do I send the money? Where do I send clothes?”
Five hundred student volunteers will help the Coogs sort through the donations, Sampson said, while alumni are ready to lend out trucks. The coach is coordinating with five relief agencies and is including recently damaged areas such as Port Arthur and Beaumont on his donation map.
The mother carrying her son through Harvey’s destruction won’t be forgotten.
“We’re not in the storage business,” Sampson said. “We’re in the moving business.”
brian.smith@chron.com twitter.com/chronbriansmith