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    Houston Final Four News

    New Houston Final Four logo revealed and it's a trophy surprise that heralds more major sports events for city

    Chris Baldwin
    Dec 17, 2014 | 5:18 pm

    Reid Gettys is a successful litigation attorney in Houston, but even in the courtroom he cannot escape the other court of his past. Like the time a judge in South Texas calls a recess, tells Gettys to approach the bench and asks, "Why stall?"

    Gettys is suddenly scrambling, pointing out to the judge that he's only called three witnesses and it's a complex case with a number of moving parts, but the judge waves him off. "No. Why stall?"

    "I look at him like, 'North Carolina State?' " Gettys says, shaking his head. "And he's like, 'Yeah.' "

    The stall in question is University of Houston coaching legend Guy V. Lewis' still controversial decision to hold back his Phi Slama Jama team and try to use clock in arguably the most famous Final Four championship game of all time. North Carolina State ends up winning at the buzzer of course, launching the legend of Jimmy Valvano. And Gettys — Phi Slama Jama's underrated 6-foot-7 point guard — is still getting asked questions about how it could have happened.

    "We have the ability to host big-time events like no other. We knock it out of the ballpark."

    Gettys brings up the judge's stall recess right before the 2016 Houston Final Four logo is officially revealed on this afternoon as a way of illustrating how long lasting and impactful Final Four moments are.

    The logos themselves are often forgettable. This new one highlights the NCAA Championship Trophy, making it look like something of a rocket ship, and utilizes the red, white and blue colors and shape of the Texas flag. Its coolest feature is the prominent Lone Star in the night sky. But no logo lives on as long as the impact from a Final Four.

    No one has to tell anyone associated with the 2011 Houston Final Four that. In many ways, that 2011 Final Four propelled Houston back into the big-time sports event stratosphere, setting the Bayou City up as a premier go-to stop for the sports world's most important showcases. There was a long gap between the 2004 Super Bowl and the 2011 Final Four, but after the Final Four success, the major sports events are coming fast and furious.

    The 2013 NBA All-Star Game. The 2016 Final Four. The 2017 Super Bowl.

    "We have the ability to host big-time events like no other," boasts Gettys, a native Houstonian with two degrees from UH. "We knock it out of the ballpark."

    Houston Final Four Changes

    The way the 2011 Final Four utilized venues outside the stadium like Discovery Green, creating a real gathering point with major concert acts in the park, has become the blueprint for every major Houston sports event that's followed. And for many in other cities around the country. There is much more focus on the non-game events, much more emphasis on getting an entire city involved and excited rather than just catering to sports fans now.

    On this day, the man who led the overwhelming logistical effort that made the 2011 Houston Final Four so successful and praised, stands off to the side as prominent NCAA officials are interviewed. Doug Hall, the president of CEO of the 2016 Final Four Local Organizing Committee, has never been one to seek attention.

    The 2016 Final Four will make it two Final Fours in three years for Texas (Jerry World hosted in 2014) and six since 1998.

    He'd rather let the event do the talking.

    Hall hopes that the Final Four having been here just three ago — as opposed to the 40-year gap between the 1971 Final Four at the Astrodome and its 2011 return — will increase excitement rather than give it anything close to an old hat feel. With the idea being that locals know how much off-the-court fun comes with a Final Four these days.

    Hall tells CultureMap that the 2016 Final Four will not use the Main Street area as a new catalyst spot like the 2017 Super Bowl plans. There is discussion about whether Bracket Town — the Final Four fan fest — should move from George R. Brown to the NRG Park area right by the stadium though.

    One thing the NCAA will not be doing is leaving Texas anytime soon. The 2016 Final Four will make it two Final Fours in three years for the Lone Star State (Jerry World hosted in 2014) and six Texas Final Fours since 1998.

    "It's clear Texas is much more than a football state," 2016 NCAA Tournament selection committee chair Joe Castiglione says.

    It is also clear that Houston's standing as a go-to major events host is secure.

    "I think we're already on the map," Hall says. "At the same time, people have to remember we can't get these every single year. There are a lot of cities vying for them."

    Hall is standing on the sparkling court of the M.D. Anderson YMCA in Northwest Houston as he talks. This spot was picked for the logo reveal because it was the 68th local court redone as part of the NCAA's community outreach with the 2011 Final Four.

    No one one needs to remind anyone here how long Final Four memories last. All it takes is a quick word with a former Coog or one of the little kids passing out new Final Four logo cookies at the YMCA.

    Houston's 2011 Final Four logo was even more of a space homage.

    Final Four floor logo
      
    Photo by United Services
    Houston's 2011 Final Four logo was even more of a space homage.
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    remembering big george

    Legendary Houston boxer and Olympic champion George Foreman has died at 76

    Associated Press
    Mar 22, 2025 | 8:39 am
    Big George Foreman Atlanta Screening
    Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for Sony Pictures Releasing
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    George Foreman became the heavyweight champion of the world in his 20s, only to lose his belt to Muhammad Ali in perhaps the most memorable fight in boxing history.

    A full 20 years later in 1994, the 45-year-old Foreman became the oldest man to win the heavyweight championship, throwing one perfect combination to steal Michael Moorer’s title in an epic upset.

    Few fighters ever had more big moments than Big George Foreman — and even after he finally left the ring, he was only getting started.

    The fearsome heavyweight, who lost the “Rumble in the Jungle” to Ali before his inspiring second act as a surprising champion and a successful businessman, died Friday night. Foreman was 76.

    Foreman’s family announced his death on social media, not saying how or where he died.

    “A devout preacher, a devoted husband, a loving father and a proud grand- and great-grandfather, he lived a life marked by unwavering faith, humility and purpose,” his family wrote. “A humanitarian, an Olympian and two-time heavyweight champion of the world, he was deeply respected. A force for good, a man of discipline, conviction, and a protector of his legacy, fighting tirelessly to preserve his good name— for his family.”

    A native Texan, Foreman began his boxing career as an Olympic gold medalist who inspired fear and awe as he climbed to the peak of the heavyweight division by stopping Joe Frazier in 1973. His formidable aura evaporated only a year later when Ali pulled off one of the most audacious victories in boxing history in Zaire, baiting and taunting Foreman into losing his belt.

    Foreman left the sport a few years later, but returned after a 10-year absence and a self-described religious awakening.

    The middle-aged fighter then pulled off one of the most spectacular knockouts in boxing history, flooring Moorer — 19 years his junior — with a surgical right hand and claiming Moorer’s two heavyweight belts. Foreman’s 20 years is easily the longest gap between heavyweight title reigns.

    “His contribution to boxing and beyond will never be forgotten,” former heavyweight champion of the world, Mike Tyson, said on X, formerly Twitter, as he expressed his condolences.

    Foreman’s transformation into an inspirational figure was complete, and he fought only four more times — finishing 76-5 with 68 knockouts — before moving onto his next career as a genial businessman, pitchman and occasional actor.

    Outside the ring, he was best known as the face of the George Foreman Grill, which launched in the same year as his victory over Moorer. The simple cooking machine sold more than 100 million units and made him much wealthier than his sport ever did.

    “George was a great friend to not only myself, but to my entire family,” Top Rank president Bob Arum said. “We’ve lost a family member and are absolutely devastated.”

    In the first chapter of his boxing career, Foreman was nothing like the smiling grandfather who hawked his grills on television to great success.

    Foreman dabbled in petty crime while growing up in Houston’s Fifth Ward, but changed his life through boxing. He made the U.S. Olympic team in 1968 and won gold in Mexico City as a teenager, stopping a 29-year-old opponent in a star-making performance.

    Foreman rose to the pinnacle of the pro game over the next five years, but was also perceived as an aloof, unfriendly athlete, both through his demeanor and through the skewed racial lenses of the time.

    Jim Lampley, the veteran boxing broadcaster who worked alongside Foreman for many years at HBO, told The Associated Press on Friday night that Foreman’s initial demeanor was an attempt by his camp to emulate Sonny Liston, the glowering heavyweight champ of the 1960s.

    “At some point somewhere along the way, he realized that wasn’t him,” Lampley said.

    Foreman stopped Frazier in an upset in Jamaica in January 1973 to win the belt, with his knockout inspiring Howard Cosell’s iconic call: “Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!”

    Foreman defended his belt against Ken Norton before accepting the fight with Ali in the now-immortal bout staged in Africa by promoter Don King. Ali put on a tactical masterclass against Foreman, showing off the “rope-a-dope” strategy that frustrated and infuriated the champion. Foreman was eventually knocked down for the first time in his career, and the fight was stopped in the eighth round.

    Foreman told the BBC in 2014 that he took the fight almost out of charity to Ali, who he suspected to be broke.

    “I said I was going to go out there and kill him, and people said, ‘Please, don’t say you’re going to kill Muhammad,’” Foreman said. “So I said, ‘OK, I’ll just beat him down to the ground.’ That’s how easy I thought the fight would be.”

    Exhausted and disillusioned, Foreman stopped fighting in 1977 and largely spent the next decade preaching and working with kids in Houston after his religious awakening. He returned to boxing in 1987 in his late 30s with a plan to defy time through frequent ring appearances, and he racked up a lengthy series of victories before losing to Evander Holyfield in a surprisingly competitive title fight in 1991.

    Three years later, Foreman got in the ring with Moorer in Las Vegas, more for his celebrity than for his perceived ability to beat Moorer. The champion appeared to win the first nine rounds rather comfortably, with Foreman unable to land his slower punches. But Foreman came alive in the 10th, hurting Moorer before slipping in the short right hand that sent Moorer to the canvas in earth-shaking fashion.

    Lampley, who was calling the fight, named his upcoming autobiography — which includes a prologue about Foreman — after his famous call of that moment: “It Happened!”

    Foreman quit the ring for good in 1997, although he occasionally discussed a comeback. He settled into a life as a boxing analyst for HBO and as a pitchman for the grills that grew his fame and fortune. Much of the world soon knew Foreman as both a lovable friend and a ferocious fighter.

    “He started performing as this pitchman, this product pitchman with the big, ever-present giant grin on his face,” Lampley recalled. “When I was working with him, people would say, ‘George is a big clown.’ And I would say, ‘Well, you can call him a clown, but he’s actually a genius. He may be the greatest genius I’ve ever met.’ And people would say, ‘Well, genius, what do you mean?’ I’d say, ‘Well, check the bank account. If that isn’t proof enough, I don’t know what is.’ So, he was a genius. He was a human genius.”

    Foreman briefly starred in a sitcom called “George” in the 1990s, and he even appeared on the reality singing competition “The Masked Singer” in 2022. A biographical movie based on his life was released in 2023.

    Foreman had 12 children, including five sons who are all famously named George Edward Foreman.

    “Legendary boxing champion, life-changing preacher, husband, father, grand- and great-grandfather and the best friend you could have,” WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman wrote on social media. “His memory is now eternal, may Big George rest in peace.”

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