A night filled with stars
Foreman, Burke, Foyt, Pastorini share spotlight with Santa Fe trio
On a night designed to honor sports stars and recognize memorable events, three young women who rallied their town in the face of violent, unimaginable tragedy arrived at the second annual Houston Sports Awards as award presenters and departed as recipients.
Annabelle O’Day, Kaitlyn Richards and Madison McCaskill, former Santa Fe High School students who founded a group called Hearts United for Kindness after the May 18, 2018, shootings that killed 10 people at the Galveston County school, were honored as humanitarians of the year by the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority.
The three Hearts United founders were among the honorees at the Hilton Americas on a night that included the induction into the Houston Sports Hall of Fame of golf-
er Jack Burke Jr., boxer George Foreman, race car driver A.J. Foyt and Oilers quarterback Dan Pastorini.
O’Day, Richards and McCaskill were invited to the annual event on the pretense of presenting the humanitarian award to Texans defensive lineman J.J. Watt. Instead, they listened to a taped announcement by Watt that the award would be theirs.
O’Day and Richards, who attend the University of Houston, and McCaskill, who attends College of the Mainland, said the humanitarian trophy would be displayed at Santa Fe High School.
“It’s one of those things you dream about as a kid when they’re announcing the awards,” McCaskill said. “We were asked to announce (the humanitarian award), and receiving the award is something we will remember forever.”
Kindness triumphs
While the three women have left for college, they were joined outside the hotel Wednesday afternoon by several dozen Santa Fe students who lined the blue carpeted area on which Houston’s athletes, coaches and administrators arrived for the awards presentation.
O’Day said Santa Fe students learned in the wake of the shootings that while people can’t control circumstances, they can control their reaction to adversity.
“Anger or sadness can’t change things, but happiness and kindness does,” she said.
The award to the Santa Fe students was among the reflective moments of a night that departed from the norm on several occasions. It began with a moment of silence in honor of Texans owner Bob McNair, who died in November, and included the lifetime achievement award presented to the family of President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush.
Pierce Bush, who accepted the award in memory of his grandparents, said the Bushes loved Houston “because Houston, just like sports, is a city that celebrates diversity. It takes all kinds of different talents to make a great team, and if you work hard and follow the rules, you’re given a fair shot in this great city.”
In addition, the sports authority’s fan of the year award was presented to the family of Joe Banowsky, a Texans fan known as “Joe Texan” who died in late November.
Other awards went to Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni, coach of the year; the Rockets-Warriors Western Conference finals, event of the year; and North Shore’s last-second win over Duncanville for the Class 6A Division I football title, moment of the year.
Also winning: KeSean Carter of The Woodlands, high school athlete of the year; University of Houston quarterback D’Eriq King, college athlete of the year; Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta, executive of the year; and four-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles, athlete of the year.
As for the Hall of Fame honorees, the senior member in terms of Houston tenure is Burke, the World Golf Hall of Fame member and 1956 Masters champion who at 96 still presides over Champions Golf Club, the course he and Jimmy Demaret opened in 1959.
“He is every inch an icon in our sport,” former PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said. “I don’t think of any club that has the championship culture that Jackie has created at Champions.”
Foyt, who shared with Mario Andretti the title of driver of the century and is the only driver to win the Indianapolis 500, Daytona 500 and the 24 Hours of LeMans, noted that he was born at St. Joseph Medical Center, a few blocks across downtown Houston from the Hilton Americas, “and the only time I will leave is when they lower the box. But I’ll be here.”
Foyt also said he was happy to be honored along with old friends and acquaintances such as Foreman and Burke.
“They’re all my friends,” he said. “That makes it special to me.” ‘It was all for Houston’
Foreman, who was introduced by former Rockets great Calvin Murphy, said that during his boxing career he won a Gold Gloves championship, a 1968 Olympic gold medal and two heavyweight crowns, “And it was all for Houston.”
“Whenever I won something, I would ask, ‘Did they write about it in Houston?’ ” Foreman said. “I tried to do everything for Houston, and to be honored like this is special to me.”
Pastorini was joined on stage by Debbie Phillips, the widow of the late Oilers coach Bum Phillips, and Phillips’ son, former Oilers assistant coach Wade Phillips, and a half-dozen members of the “Luv Ya Blue”era Oilers plus Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe Greene, a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers team that twice beat the Oilers for the AFC championship.
“I played in the greatest time with the greatest people of all time,” Pastorini said, “This award is not me. It’s us.”