Time-Out Feature: Sampson, Staff Provided Relief When Hurricane Harvey Hit

The following article appears in the Winter 2018 edition of NABC Time-Out Magazine. To view the entire Winter 2018 issue, click here.
When University of Houston men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson and his staff met with his team early on Friday morning, August 25, 2017, he had an important message to deliver that had nothing to do with basketball.
 
Hurricane Harvey was brewing in the Gulf of Mexico and the Category 4 storm was about to hit south central Texas with 130-mph winds, a huge storm surge and torrential rain.  Sampson knew that the powerful storm was tracking directly to Houston.
 
“We had developed a plan on campus for our players to keep safe with most living in a residence hall or nearby apartments,” said Sampson. “Our focus was to be sure our players and staff would be safe during the storm.”
 
Fearing the possibility of losing electricity, Sampson’s advice included keeping plenty of gas in your car when driving and having some cash on hand. In a society so reliant on credit/debit cards, they would be useless without power.
 
Sunday night into Monday morning, Harvey began its assault on Houston.
 
“You don’t sleep much when the wind and rain is beating on the windows and the rain was sideways by early morning,” Sampson said. “We normally have a lot of flooding as Houston is surrounded by water with its bayous and lakes, but this was going to a much higher level.”
 
The National Weather Service calculated that parts of Houston received more than 50 inches of rain during the storm, making Harvey the wettest Atlantic hurricane ever measured. 
 
Inspired by an Image
 
“I was watching the local television stations and you feel so helpless watching the videos of all of the homes being destroyed and people being evacuated,” Sampson said. “Then I began to get calls and texts from coaching buddies across the country all asking how I was. Everyone was asking what they could do to help.”
 
“About the same time, I saw a clip on TV that captured my heart. Monday was supposed to be the first day of school in Houston and there was a mother wading through water at an apartment complex holding a child on each hip. People were using canoes, boats, floats — anything to escape the high water.”
 
Delivering the Message
 
Working his son, Kellen, a Houston assistant coach, Sampson knew that the quickest way to spread his message for help was through Twitter.
 
“We were writing on an envelope. I started with what if we ask coaches to send 10 t-shirts and five pairs of shoes. Kellen bumped that to 20 t-shirts and 10 pairs of shoes,” Sampson said. “My daughter, Lauren, also a Cougars’ basketball staff member, handles the Twitter account and she sent it out. I called my friends in the media – Jay Bilas, Jeff Goodman and Jon Rothstein – to assist in spreading the word.”
 
The Twitter request (@CoachSampsonUH) was sent at 2:10 p.m. CDT on Monday, August 28. From that time through 9 a.m. on September 29, more than 2.7 million people saw the tweet.
 
“I know that coaches have big hearts and I sent it everywhere – to my alma mater, UNC Pembroke, to Montana Tech and wanted to include men and women at every level from junior high on up.”
 
Sampson had no idea of what an impact would come from that tweet.
 
Keeping an Eye on Team and Staff
 
In the meantime, Sampson was also monitoring the well being of his team and staff.
 
“We had five staff members and each had 2-3 players to call every hour and we had to hear their voice.  We were getting calls from parents and needed to keep them informed,” said Sampson. “Our trainer had to be evacuated and one assistant coach was flooded out. The storm was as bad as you could think times 10.”
 
The Results
 
Close to 1,500 commitments were made via Twitter, including donations from all but one of the United States as well as Washington, D.C., and Canada.  The groups included sports and other programs from college/universities, high schools, junior and community colleges, conferences, basketball publications, basketball media members, AAU basketball and other sports programs, individuals, schools districts, elementary/middle schools, professional sports teams and organizations, businesses and individuals.
 
“We had not even figured out how to distribute what would be sent,” Sampson said. “Mail and flights were shut down for a long time and when things began getting here, we put coaching aside and our staff and coaches in all sports in the Houston athletic department, led by our AD, Hunter Yurachek, worked tirelessly to get things out into the community.”
 
Some coaches sent 500 t-shirts and 50 pairs of shoes. Nike, Under Armour and adidas sent shoes.  IT companies sent hundreds of phone chargers while a former team manager sent 500 boxes of diapers.  The local New York Life office closed the offices for two days and the entire staff volunteered.
 
“Lauren and Director of Basketball Operations Meshu Negga were receiving hundreds of boxes a day and everything had to be sorted by item and size to be distributed. We received some 300,000 t-shirts and 45-50,000 pairs of shoes,”
Sampson said.  “I was so proud of our players, too, who pitched in to help.”
 
Among the most satisfying moments for the veteran Houston head coach was seeing people in the city wearing a Central Pennsylvania lacrosse shirt or a University of Georgia cross-country shirt.
 
“Seeing that put a smile on my face because it was something that helped people after so much was lost,” said Sampson.
 
It didn’t take long for the television cameras to depart Houston to cover Hurricane Irma in Florida in the string of natural disasters that hit America in 2017.
 
It also didn’t take long for Sampson to reach out to help another coach.
 
“I called Johnny Dawkins at Central Florida to see if we could help. We still had stuff here that we could send,” Sampson said. “The only thing that matters is to help people who really need it.”