Football:Hurricane hits home for UNT

[MeanGreen61]

Football: Hurricane hits home for UNT

Members of athletic department set to return to Louisiana

10:23 AM CDT on Friday, October 28, 2005

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

Chris Seroka spent the night of Aug. 30 stuffing everything he could think of into his car.

Hurricane Katrina had ripped through Louisiana just hours before and North Texas’ strength and conditioning coach had yet to hear from his parents or any of his other relatives in the area.

“I bought a bunch of water, canned food and everything else that I thought you would need in a hurricane situation,” Seroka said. “Just before I left for Louisiana, my phone rang. It was my sister, who said everything was fine. That was a big time relief.”

Seroka is just one of a few UNT athletic department employees and athletes who spent several anxious hours waiting to hear from relatives and friends after the hurricane hit. Some of those officials and players will make their first trip to Louisiana since the storm tore through the area this weekend when the Mean Green face LSU at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La. The game was originally scheduled for Sept. 3, but was postponed by Katrina, which swept through Louisiana on Aug. 29.

UNT equipment manager Mike Gallup’s parents live in Slidell near New Orleans. Associate athletic director Brian Bethea grew up in St. Bernard Parish, one of the areas hardest hit by the storm.

UNT defensive lineman Isaac Thomas played his senior season at Mansfield Summit, but spent the first few years of his high school career at Lee High School in Baton Rouge.

Seroka and Gallup both left for Baton Rouge early to transport equipment to the game and will stop to visit relatives in the area. Bethea was planning on going to Louisiana, but won’t be able to visit to New Orleans because he is flying in with the team on the day of the game.

Seroka and Gallup were among the athletic department officials who spent several anxious hours waiting to hear from friends and family. Rick Villarreal worked at Southern Miss prior to taking over as UNT’s athletic director and has hired several athletic department officials from areas that have been hit by hurricanes this fall.

Seroka dealt with the uncertainty by watching The Weather Channel and later CNN until hearing from his relatives fairly quickly. Gallup was not as fortunate. He had to wait a week before his parents sent word through a friend who fled to Houston that they survived.

“It was a tough few days,” Gallup said. “I still had a job to do here, but it was very tense until I found out that they were OK.”

After making contact with their friends and family, UNT’s officials turned their attention to assisting in the relief efforts.

“Just seeing pictures of the damage is tough,” Bethea said. “I have gotten several pictures of our house from my parents. It looks like somebody put all of the furniture in a blender, threw it all over and poured mud all over it. Our parish president said the area won’t ever be the same.”

Most of the homes in the area where Bethea’s parents lived will be bulldozed.

Gallup’s parents were able to return to their house after the storm, but the damage was extensive after three feet of water flooded the area. All the carpet and sheet rock from the walls were washed away. Only four of the 30 pine tress in the backyard remain standing.

Gallup’s parents have been sleeping on an air mattress since moving back to Slidell. Seroka’s parents stayed with him to escape the aftermath of the storm.

UNT’s athletic department responded to the tragedy that hit so close to home by mobilizing all of its student athletes to help with a fundraising effort. UNT raised $22,000 worth of cash and supplies for hurricane victims.

The Mean Green’s players and coaches believe playing a game in Baton Rouge is just another way they can assist the people of New Orleans.

“Anything to help those people who have been displaced from New Orleans and give them a sense of normalcy will be good,” Seroka said. “It will get their minds off of it. After it’s not on the news every day, people tend to forget about it, but the lingering effects of the storm will be tremendous.”

Those effects have put the game in perspective for the entire UNT athletic department, including those who still have relatives in the area.

“When something like this happens, it makes you think that there are more important things than football,” Gallup said. “Going back to Louisiana will remind us of that.”

BRETT VTIO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com .