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Rice men’s basketball coach Scott Pera gathered his Owls for a meeting on Aug. 23.
Stevenson graduate and Rice junior guard Connor Cashaw was in that meeting. Three years ago, Cashaw picked the Houston school for the chance to play basketball while studying economics and sport management.
But his relationship with his college town was about to change.
“(Pera) said the hurricane was going to be serious,” Cashaw recalled of the team meeting two days before Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Houston. “‘You need to get water and food and find a safe place to stay.'”
By the evening of Aug. 25, Cashaw and teammate A.J. Lapray were holed up in the Houston home of J.T. Trauber, another Owls basketball player. The Trauber family has lived in Houston for years and went through the usual hurricane preparations of gathering supplies and securing a generator.
Cashaw said that Friday started as a typically clear, sunny day in Houston. But by late that night and into the next morning, the weather conditions changed dramatically.
“It all came down,” Cashaw said. “It was pitch-black outside. It was crazy.”
By the morning of Aug. 27, the rains had subsided enough for Cashaw and his teammates to venture outside. They loaded into Lapray’s truck and drove toward the Rice campus.
But the roads were flooded and impassable. Anyone trying to drive risked having their cars become submerged in the rising waters.
Cashaw, Lapray and Trauber eventually made it to a local community center. There, they saw lines of people in need of shelter and food. When they volunteered to help, the magnitude of the disaster hit hard.
“There was enough food for 1,000 people, and 5,000 were there at that one spot. It was tough to see that,” Cashaw said. “I was in shock. It was devastating.”
During the hurricane, Cashaw received texts from concerned family members and friends. He said former Patriots teammates Jalen Brunson, Parker Nichols, Ryan Rosenbaum and Matt Johnson and Stevenson boys basketball coach Pat Ambrose were among those who reached out.
Brunson, who is now a junior on the Villanova men’s basketball team, and Cashaw led the Patriots to the Class 4A state title in 2015.
Former Stevenson football and baseball standout Willie Bourbon, now a junior on the Northwestern baseball team, also reached out via Twitter.
“Sending prayers & love to @c_cash7 and family with everything going on down in Houston with Hurricane Harvey #HoustonStrong,” Bourbon wrote on his Twitter account, @williebourbon.
Cashaw also has family in the Houston area, including his grandparents James and Sandra Cashaw. Connor Cashaw said his grandparents were safe after the storm, though their home sustained water damage.
Almost immediately after seeing the devastation, Cashaw and his Owls teammates had an idea. They wanted to give back to Houston and help with relief efforts.
“The biggest thing for me was not thinking, ‘When the rain stops, we are good,'” Cashaw said. “In reality, if you see the homes, it will take years before everything is normal.”
Spearheaded by Trauber, the Owls set up two charity websites — one through the Red Cross and the other with YouCaring — to aid victims of Hurricane Harvey. As of Monday, they had raised close to $160,000.
Some semblance of routine is creeping back into Cashaw’s life. The Owls had a basketball workout on Sept. 1. Classes resumed on Sept. 5. His parents, who had relocated from Lincolnshire to Dallas, came to Houston for a visit last weekend.
Cashaw, who started all 35 Rice games as a sophomore last season, said he understands his life as a Rice student-athlete will never be the same. The hurricane and its aftermath have forever linked him to the city of Houston.
“At our first practice, we huddled up and talked about how (Harvey) has brought us closer, has unified us,” Cashaw said. “People are reaching out and their support and strength, that’s a blessing.”
Other Houston connections
A couple of other locals have athletic ties to Houston. Arlington Heights native and Buffalo Grove graduate Joanne Savage was on the Texas Southern women’s bowling team last year, though she is no longer at the school.
Houston Rockets assistant coach Jeff Bzdelik is a Prospect graduate and a former assistant coach at Northwestern. Team officials said he was out of the country at the time of Hurricane Harvey.
Jon J. Kerr is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press