Two Trojans set for homecoming
Posted on Saturday, January 10, 2009
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/STEVE KEESEE Wayne Burton (right) and Chastity Reed both endured the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina before arriving at UALR.
NEW ORLEANS - The last time UALR junior forward Wayne Burton lived in New Orleans, he was just trying to find a way out.
He'll be back in the Crescent City today as UALR (10-5, 3-1 Sun Belt Conference) takes on New Orleans (7-8, 3-2) at 7 p.m. at Lakefront Arena. The game will be televised by Comcast Sports Southeast in central Arkansas and Cox Sports Television in Northwest Arkansas.
"It was scary. There was water everywhere," Burton said of being in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005.
Burton and UALR women's sophomore forward Chastity Reed are both expected to be in the starting lineup tonight, playing in front of a large number of family and friends. The UALR women (12-3, 4-0) will play New Orleans (8-7, 3-2) at 4:30 p.m.
"I'm excited. All of my family will be there," said Reed, who was named the Sun Belt Conference player of the week Monday.
Burton has started five games and is averaging 3.3 points after transferring from Western Texas College. Reed leads the UALR women at 16.6 points and 8.5 rebounds.
Burton played for Abramson High School in New Orleans. He and his family, including brother Jermydrell, who plays basketball for Southern Arkansas, decided to stay in their home as the hurricane hit. They moved upstairs as flood waters filled the house.
The Burtons' mother couldn't swim. Since both brothers are 6-8, they put their mother on an air mattress and walked through the high flood waters to seek refuge. They spent a night on a bridge near the Louisiana Superdome before ending up in Houston. A cousin led them to Carrollton, Texas, where they enrolled and finished their high school careers.
"We got out safe, so I'm thankful for that," Wayne Burton said.
Burton and Reed both grew up in New Orleans and ended up in the Dallas Metroplex before coming to UALR. Burton first stopped at Western Texas College in Snyder, Texas.
"Daniyal Robinson was the lead recruiter on him and saw him early last year. We knew we needed some depth from a frontline standpoint and we recruited him all year. Fortunately, we were able to get him late," UALR men's Coach Steve Shields said.
Reed got out of New Orleans before the storm hit, mostly by luck. She played at John McDonogh High School as a junior before transferring to Irving McArthur near Dallas as a senior. She left, along with her mother, but the rest of her family stayed behind.
They lived downtown in the Seventh Ward, near the hardest hit area of the Ninth Ward.
"I lost all of my clothes and all of my belongings. I only had like three outfits with me when I went to Texas," Reed said.
Reed's mother had a job in Texas, but they had to send money to help relatives. She also had to use Chastity's car to assist family members.
"She was pretty much all over the place trying to find family members. We were on the Internet trying to find where they were. We found most of them," Reed said.
At McArthur, Reed averaged 11.1 points and 7.1 rebounds and signed a national letter of intent with Texas-Arlington. But when that school changed coaching staffs, Reed decided to sign with UALR.
"We knew she was a great athlete, but she wasn't real polished at the time. We felt like she could come on and develop into something because she had such good athleticism," UALR women's Coach Joe Foley said. "Sure enough, she's developing into a very good athlete."
Reed got the opportunity to play in New Orleans last year, but scored only six points in 28 minutes as the UALR women lost 66-56.
"It felt good to go because I got to see my family members, but that was probably the worst game I played last year," Reed said.
Both are excited to return. "I go down there every chance I get to visit my family, but it's good to not live there right now," Reed said. "It's good to be in Arkansas. New Orleans drew only 625 fans for its rivalry game against Louisiana-Lafayette on Thursday so both players sizable cheering sections should be easily heard. "I've been waiting for this forever," Burton said.
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