LAUREL D’ANTONI
Coach’s wife quickly making impact in the community.
When the Rockets brought in Mike D’Antoni, he brought the philosophies and style that worked in Phoenix with him. That was what they wanted. That was the deal.
That was not, however, all of it.
Laurel D’Antoni brought the cause she had championed when in Phoenix.
With Rockets owner Leslie Alexander wanting his team’s coach and his family to be a part of the Houston community — a priority he expressed in his first meeting with Mike D’Antoni — the coach’s wife of 40 years happily saw an invitation to form a Houston Rockets Women’s Foundation and then have the group create an ambitious book drive to fight Houston illiteracy.
“We did it three years in a row for the Phoenix Suns and had incredible amount of success,” Laurel D’Antoni said. “The first year we brought in 6,000, then 8,000 then then third year, 10,000 books. People care about literacy. People care if kids don’t have books to read.
“Fans can come to the game and have the opportunity to meet a player and get an autographed jersey. Just clean out your house and bring every book you can bring. Every book you can bring, you get a raffle ticket.”
Drop boxes for books will be at each Toyota Center entrance before the first playoff game. After the game, six raffle winners will meet either James Harden, Pat Beverley, Ryan Anderson, Trevor Ariza, Eric Gordon or Clint Capela and receive an autographed jersey.
Books received will be distributed to needy children identified with 30 local organizations by the Bush family with the remaining books going to the Houston Public Library System.
“We’re partnering with the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation,” D’Antoni said. “They have done significant research. A study in 2013 said one out of every four third-grade kids are not able to read to level. And we know if third graders are not able to read to level, they are more likely to not graduate from high school. We know one in five people in Houston is functionally illiterate. That’s scary. We know three in five kindergartners lack reading readiness skills.
“We know people that aren’t reading, that aren’t literate can get into trouble. We know the cycle of poverty is linked to reading. We need to get kids books. The other thing that really scared me is that research shows that an average of 13 ageappropriate books are in the homes of middle- and upperincome families and only one book for every 300 low-income families. That gave us a natural platform.”
The drive is expected to bring an enormous influx of books, but also to raise awareness of the cause, said Dr. Julie Baker Finck, the president of the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation. Reliant will also have drop-off locations.
“It’s fantastic to leverage the visibility of a playoff game, but also the awareness a playoff
Laurel D’Antoni, the wife of Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni, has thrown herself into community service, starting with a literacy campaign. Michelle Watson / CatchLight Group
game can generate for a particular cause in a community is almost invaluable,” Finck said. “We’re really thrilled to be able to partner with the Rockets women’s organization.”
“The Barbara Bush Literacy Foundation has a women’s auxiliary as well, called the Ladies for Literacy Guild. Our organizations are uniting to raise awareness for the important cause of literacy. We’re just absolutely thrilled.”
The Houston Rockets Women’s Association, formed this season, includes 33 wives or girlfriends of players, coaches, training staff and basketball operations staff. D’Antoni said she formed the group to help establish players and the families in the community, but also to assist with local causes.
“We all want to be a champion for what’s right,” she said. “I don’t like basketball — I love basketball. But it’s not more important than some of these other things. We have a responsibility to make our community better. It’s like our team. Our chemistry is off the charts. We have great families. They know it’s important to do things in the community.
“It’s like the perfect marriage. I never expected with our initial book drive a sponsor like Reliant jumping on board with a new group and have an organization as vetted and existing as the Barbara Bush Literacy Foundation partner with us. We’re ecstatic.”