BATON ROUGE – The sold-out Shaquille O’Neal-Coach Johnny Jones golf tournament to benefit flood relief got off to a great start early Thursday morning as LSU basketball players and staff members along with members of the neighborhood unloaded a large 18-wheeler at Greater Beulah Baptist Church on Polk Street in Baton Rouge.
The 18-wheeler was crammed with boxes of various weights and sizes from “Feed the Children” to be distributed later Thursday afternoon to the people in the hard-hit neighborhood.
Brandon Sampson, Skylar Mays and Wayde Sims, all from Baton Rouge, were part of the unloading group along with freshman Duop Reath, Kieran Hayward and Craig Victor II.
“I feel like it’s always good to come out and do something to help people who are less fortunate after something like the flood,” Sampson, who is a Baton Rouge native, said. “It’s a good feeling coming out here to help out.”
“We are really excited about having the opportunity to have a positive impact on our community and help a lot of people after one of the most historical floods ever,” Coach Jones said during a quick break from the unloading. “Just to have Shaquille bringing in this truck and be able to have our guys out here to help unload; then (Friday) you have a lot of teams that specifically joined the tournament to have an opportunity to be a part of something we deemed as very special and a way to really help a lot of people that are certainly in need right now.”
Former coach; long-time member of the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes and director of the Shaquille O’Neal Life Skills Program, Mike Mallet, is the pastor at Beulah Baptist and he was very excited about what the golf tournament and this truck was bringing to his neighborhood.
“Let me just say I think it’s a great gesture on the part of the men’s basketball team being here and Coach Jones,” Reverend Mallet said. “We thank Shaquille as well, because whether you realize it or not, this place was devastated tremendously. It was a bad situation. What we are trying to do is give back now and help those persons in need. Everything is set; so that which we have we are going to share with the people.”
Friday’s golf event, a tradition on the eve of the first Southeastern Conference home game for O’Neal, is sold out in the morning and afternoon sessions at Carter Plantation. Besides O’Neal and Coach Jones, the event is expected to be a star-studded affair as former LSU golfers now on the PGA Tour, major champion David Toms and tour winner Smylie Kaufman after expected to take part along with potentially some other coaches and former players. It is also possible that some members of the 2006 NCAA Final Four team may drop by as they are in town for a reunion at the football game.
The morning flight goes at 8 a.m. and the afternoon flight at 1:30 p.m. The tournament is presented by Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital. Check-in begins at 7 a.m. for the morning round and noon for the afternoon round.
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