Laurel D'Antoni and Her Book Drive

Laurel D'Antoni and Her Book Drive
by Don Grahamleone


On May 26th, 2016 we found out that Leslie Alexander & Houston Rockets hired Mike D'Antoni to be the head coach of our basketball team. What most of us probably didn't know in that moment was that we hired Laurel D'Antoni as a leader in our community that very same day.

According to my research, Laurel and Mike got married in 1986 and his coaching career began in 1990 so it stands to reason that she's been with him every step of the way as a coach. All those years have culminated into this fantastic season we’re in the middle of here in Houston. This team is just one win away from tying the D'Antonis’ best regular season in terms of wins (they won 62 in PHX). Mike is certainly a competitive person and Laurel is no different. Her competitive edge this week has her focused on books and getting them donated by the truckload.

As the wife of the head coach, Laurel leads the Rockets Women's Organization and their work is giving back to the community. How do they spearhead this giving back? Literacy. Laurel and the Rockets Women are fighting for literacy and they need your help. Every book you can donate just might make a difference in someone's life. At our next home game on Friday against Phoenix, if you bring a book it will earn you a raffle ticket. Ten books earns you 10 raffle tickets. The raffle is for a chance to win one of seven VIP Player Packages where you'd have the chance to meet one of our players. The more books you bring, the better your chances are.

(If you're going to the game, bring some books and donate them. Bring books! Used or new...it doesn't matter. Just bring them with you to the game! Great cause, great organization & great prizes!)
https://www.wherevent.com/detail/Ho...-Organization-Book-Drive-presented-by-Reliant

(Laurel D'Antoni and Andy Graham aka Don)


So here's the story of how I got to meet Laurel D'Antoni …

Let me start off by saying that Laurel is awesome and really down to Earth. If you ever get the chance to meet her, consider yourself lucky.

Last year on the last game of the year we played the Minnesota Timberwolves and during the game during one of the breaks, they interviewed Laurel D'Antoni about the book drive that the Rockets Women's Organization is leading in Houston. I thought that was incredibly cool that they were helping out with literacy. As an author myself, my job depends on people being able to read so I really thought this was awesome. Probably the same way that Batman Jones thinks it's awesome that Daryl Morey is so into theater.

The next day after this interview that Laurel gave during the game, Clutch posted an article that he wrote in a thread about this book drive. (Here if you're interested: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/index.php...assionate-about-helping-houstons-kids.281964/ ) I posted in that same thread about my mom's organization called 'Storybook Project' where incarcerated women who are in good standing get to read a book to each of their children and deliver them a personal message. This is recorded and that very same book the mom reads along with the recording, is given to her child. As you can imagine, this is another fight for literacy and an impactful possesion for children of imprisoned mothers. At the time, the organization had zero paid employees and was trying to grow. My parents were talking about it every time I saw them. They've reached quite a few people in Austin and I thought that reaching out to Laurel in Houston on this fight might be worth something. Boy was it!

Through Clutch, Laurel reached out to me and gave me her personal contact information and asked me to contact her that day. As much as I wanted to call right away and talk Rockets basketball before our playoff series with OKC, I thought better of it and passed her information to my mother. They had a long conversation on the phone and days later a pile of books was donated to Storybook Project along with some extremely kind donations made by the Rockets Women's Organization. I won't say how much, but I was wowed by it and so was the Storybook Organization.

Laurel and my mom have kept up over the last year and when my girlfriend and I traveled to Houston for the Nuggets game in February, she met with us during halftime. She is a heck of a person and she looks out for everyone involved. I told her congrats about Mike coaching the All Star team and she immediately said she was really excited for the assistant coaches that get this opportunity. I was blown away by this. Here it's an opportunity to gloat and she's excited for the other families and the other coaches getting this award. I introduced my girlfriend Darcie to Laurel (who is also an incredible woman on her own and is the leader of a home for young women in Austin) and she seemed as impressed with Darcie as everyone seems to be. She told me, "You've got a keeper." I'm telling you, Laurel is an incredibly warm person to be around and smart as a whip. Very quick on her feet. I mean with that line she dropped on Magic Johnson...she's got boatloads of wit!

But here's the bottom line. We should be proud to have a leader like this in the community who is interested in giving back and cares about the community. The winning and the style of play is great and I hope it continues but the building up of our community...I hope that never ends. Long live Houston!

If you're reading this, you're part of this community and all it takes is a book because one book can make a difference. Especially if someone reads it. In Houston with 1 in every 5 people being unable to read, this is clearly a worthy cause. The fight needs you on Friday. Get involved by bring books to the game to donate to this great organization.





TL;DR --> Bring a book to the game on friday vs Phoenix. You might meet James Harden if you do and Laurel D'Antoni is awesome.

 

1. I don't know who started it but I'll see what my source can find out about the history. I'm interested too and that line of questioning entered my mind when I was writing the thread.

(This article cracks me up. It has About Barbara Bush, About Reliant, but nothing About Rockets Women's Org: http://tbt.blogs.nba.com/rockets/news/rockets-womens-organization-and-reliant-partner-book-drive)

2. Yes, I have friends that call me Don or Don Grahamleone. I certainly don't mind, but nobody's kissing my ring or anything. Most of them that call me Don Grahamleone were around when I was watching 'The Godfather' 4 days a week. I also had a skit comedy tv show in college on the local station and I had a character called Don Grahamleone that imparted advice to other characters from time to time.

 

Here's some mustache insight, but it doesn't answer your question:

 

From what I gather, there are women's organizations with every NBA team. However, they're all less official. It appears that Laurel made the group more official and gave it a name so it's easier to get out into the community. Sounds like a good idea to me. I hope that continues no matter who is head coach in the distant future.

@hakeem94 Laurel played 'Taps' for the mustache. I know you're grieving, but be strong and date guys that already have them.



Mike's mustache had dual citizenship. #NEVER FORGET

 

Get your stack of books ready for tomorrow's game! You might end up meeting James Harden or one of our other big minute players!

 

Get your stack of books ready! If you do you'll probably meet A3za, Cool Hand Luc, Smash Gordon, Clint Capelicopter, CP3 or the Beard after the game! Then you can post pics on here and tell us all about how you helped end illiteracy.

 

Thanks to everyone that brought books to the game! Ya'll have made a difference.