Texans Foundation VP HANNAH MCNAIR, wife of Texans CEO & Chair CAL, was inducted into the Texas Women’s HOF on Friday. She is among several women being inducted and is being recognized for her impact and work in the Houston community. Also being recognized is Astros SVP/Community Affairs and Astros Foundation Exec Dir PAULA HARRIS (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 3/15).
SURPRISE, SURPRISE: As part of the team’s “Mic’d at the Market” video series, 76ers G BUDDY HIELD took a surprise trip to Reading Terminal Market on Friday, working behind the counter at Beiler’s Doughnuts and making a few other stops, including at Dienner’s Bar-B-Que Chicken (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 3/15).
CELEBRATING SUCCESS: Former Pistons players CHAUNCEY BILLUPS, BEN WALLACE, RICHARD HAMILTON, TAYSHAUN PRINCE, DARVIN HAM, LINDSEY HUNTER, ELDEN CAMPBELL, MIKE JAMES, MEHMET OKUR, and TREMAINE FOWLKES were in attendance Sunday for the team's celebration of the 20th anniversary of their 2004 championship team. Each player was introduced by longtime team public address announcer JOHN MASON. Key members of the Pistons' front office, including associate GM GEORGE DAVID, along with SCOTT PERRY, JOHN HAMMOND, ARNIE KANDER and former trainer MIKE ABDENOUR were also in attendance. Former coach LARRY BROWN and GM JOE DUMARS were not in attendance, but they sent video messages to support the occasion (DETROIT NEWS, 3/17).
NAMES: Former Bears QB ANDY DALTON sold his six-bedroom, 5,347-square-foot Nantucket-style house in Lake Bluff for $3.2M. Dalton paid $2.47M in May 2021 for the Lake Bluff home (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 3/16)....Former MLBer DARRYL STRAWBERRY suffered a heart attack last week. Strawberry has been spending over 200 days on the road visiting churches, prisons and schools for his ministry, but doctors have told him he is going to have to cut that down (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/16)....Pelicans G CJ MCCOLLUM unveiled his Dream Center inside the Boys & Girls Club in Gretna over the weekend, the third Dream Center McCollum has launched. Baldwin and Co. Books donated more than 1,000 books to make sure the library was sufficiently stocked. The GAYLE & TOM BENSON Charitable Foundation secured much of the hardware, including the laptops and tablets, while Meta donated virtual reality headsets and Bose gave high-quality headphones (New Orleans ADVOCATE, 3/17)....The Jazz worked with TURN Community Services and Ken Garff Automotive to bring over 100 adults with disabilities from TURN’s Utah County day programs to the Delta Center for a day of crafts, dancing, basketball and community bonding (DESERET NEWS, 3/16)....BAILEY, a two-year old mini Bernedoodle, is the Mavericks emotional support animal -- the only one known to exist among NBA teams. Coach JASON KIDD and other Mavericks higher-ups approved the decision to get Bailey, and team assistant athletic trainer HEATHER MAU takes care of her full-time. Bailey attends all practices, home games, shoot arounds and treatments with Mau. The 49ers appear to be the only other professional sports organization doing something similar with ZOE, a French bulldog who belongs to 49ers Dir of Player Engagement AUSTIN MOSS (CBSSPORTS.com, 3/17).
