Teams donate to storm relief
Houston sports teams have responded to the catastrophic flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey by moving or postponing games, and some team owners and athletes stepped up with donations to support flood relief.
The Houston Cougars postponed their football game at Texas San Antonio on Saturday. Officials said they will explore options for rescheduling the game.
The Astros were forced to play their series against the Texas Rangers at the home of the Tampa Bay Rays and the Texans will play their “home” preseason game on the road against the Dallas Cowboys instead.
Meanwhile, the Houston Rockets and owner Leslie Alexander upped their donation to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts to $10 million. Alexander pledged $4 million to Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner’s Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund on Monday before announcing that he’d donate $10 million to help flood victims.
Other donations from teams and athletes:
Astros owner Jim Crane and the Astros’ foundation pledged $4 million; the proceeds from Houston’s preseason game against the Cowboys will be donated to the United Way of Greater Houston Relief Fund; Major League Baseball joined with the players association to donate $1 million to relief; the Astros said that all ticket, concession and parking fees from their series against the Rangers will be donated to relief efforts; the Rangers and their ownership and foundation pledged $1 million; the Houston Texans and owner Bob McNair donated $1 million to the United Way of Greater Houston Flood Relief Fund. The NFL Foundation said it would match that donation, and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and his family pledged to match all funds donated to the American Red Cross in support of Harvey flood relief up to $1 million; the NBA joined with the players association to give $1 million to charities helping in the area.
Texans star J.J. Watt started a fundraising page online that has raised more than $4 million since Sunday.
The fund was given a boost by a $1-million donation from Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk. Watt’s original goal was $500,000, but he’s now aiming to raise $5 million.
Angels outfielder Mike Trout is donating $27,000 to the Red Cross.
The New York Giants have waived third-year defensive end Owa Odighizuwa a day after the NFL suspended him for the first four games of the regular season for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. Odighizuwa was the Giants’ third-round draft choice in 2015, out of UCLA . ... Cornerback Gareon Conley, the Oakland Raiders’ first-round draft pick this year, was taken off the physically unable to perform list. He injured his shin during minicamp on June 13.
The Galaxy have hired Dominic Kinnear, a two-time MLS champion as a head coach, as an assistant to manager Sigi Schmid. Kinnear, 50, fired by the San Jose Earthquakes this season, also coached with the Houston Dynamo in a 14-year career in which he won 166 games, thirdhighest in MLS history behind Schmid and former Galaxy coach Bruce Arena. Kinnear fills the spot on the Galaxy staff left vacant when Schmid, hired last month, elected not to retain Ante Razov, the team’s top assistant under former coach Curt Onalfo. — Kevin Baxter
Hall of Fame college basketball coach Rollie Massimino has entered hospice care near his home in West Palm Beach, Fla., the Sun Sentinel reported.
Massimino, 82, has coached basketball for more than 60 years, the last 11 seasons at Keiser University, a small college in West Palm Beach. In 1985, Massimino led Villanova to one of the biggest NCAA tournament upsets of all time, winning the national title as an eighth-seeded team by knocking off top-seeded Georgetown.
The University of Arizona said it will honor former Wildcats basketball coach Lute Olson with a statue on campus.