Strahan Big Crowd Pleaser

Fans line up for selfies with dancing Michael Strahan at record-breaking TEACH dinner

Before joining emcee Spencer Tillman on the River Oaks Country Club stage at the Touchdown for TEACH dinner Tuesday night, NFL Hall of Famer Michael Strahan chatted up his dinner partners in a congenial conversation that offered several entertaining insights.

The graduate of Westbury High School and Texas Southern University admitted that he remains competitive after 15 years with the New York Giants but in a different mode from when he "loved running into a grown man and throwing him down. It was like, yeah!" Today that competitive spirit comes through on the golf course, a game he loves evidenced by his membership in several golf clubs.

His visit to Houston, arranged by Francisco and Co., included family time with his parents and his daughter, a design student at Houston Community College, who was celebrating her birthday. The 44-year-old Strahan says that he gets to Houston four or five times a year, "but not when it's hot." He also has a son at the University of Texas San Antonio.

Passing on the bread and skipping dessert, the very-fit Strahan appeared not to notice when his security duo stepped in place behind his chair to halt the parade of ladies intent on grabbing selfies.

As for his Live! With Kelly and Michael sidekick Kelly Ripa, Strahan said, "It's like you have a wife for an hour and she makes you laugh. And then you go home. You can't beat that."

Yes, he's a Texans fan "but they are struggling now. I'm a big J.J. Watt fan." But his loyalty will always be with the Giants.

The interview

Strahan and Tillman spent 30 entertaining minutes on a variety of subjects and each response from the 6-foot, 5-inch former defensive end added to his persona as a good guy.

* "The harder you work, the luckier you get," he said.

* Talking about the gap between his teeth, "I don't take myself seriously. I'm not perfect. I'm just a human being . . . that curse is now a gift."

* "You control your attitude. What you're giving off is what you're going to get back."

* "Be kind to yourself. Figure out how to talk to yourself and be positive."

Although he would catch a late-night private flight back to New York, arriving home at 2:30 am and then up at 6:30 am for the ABC show, Strahan said, "I love what I do." That includes traveling cross-country every weekend for FOX NFL Sunday with last year's speaker at TEACH, Terry Bradshaw.

Strahan allowed that his positive attitude starts every morning with Bill Wither's "Lovely Day." After he sang a few lines, a recording of the song sounded and the two professional athletes jumped to their feet and began fancy footwork. Oh, what a night!

The benefit

For the second consecutive year, Carol and Mike Linn chaired the sellout event that raised a record $600,000, thanks in no small part to Fayez Sarofim, husband of TEACH co-founder Susan Sarofim, who underwrote all expenses. DeeDee and Wallis Marsh served as honorary chairs. None could have been happier with it all than TEACH executive director Kelly Krohn.

Supporters included TEACH co-founder Mary Yenik, Nancy and Terry Grier, Alex and Astley Blair, Kristina and Paul Somerville, Beth Madison, Cornelia and Meredith Long, Clayton and Shel Erikson, Sandy Barrett, Soraya and Scott McClelland, Donna and Tony Vallone, Tracy and Laurie Krohn, and Ileana and Michael Trevino.

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Click video below to catch Michael Strahan and Spencer Tillman bust some dance moves:

Shelby Kibodeaux, Michael Strahan, Bruce Padilla.

celebrities dinner fundraisers

perfectly paired

2 Michelin-rated Houston restaurants teamed up for taco-fueled fundraiser

Big Brothers Big Sisters Houston Perfect Pairing Pit Room Tatemo

Courtesy of Big Brothers Big Sisters Houston

Michael Sambrooks, Emmanuel Chavez, Humberto Celis, Alexia Ramirez, Matt Harris, and Amber Kelusky.

A chef who leads a Michelin-starred restaurant teamed up with a Michelin-rated Houston barbecue joint to raise money for a local nonprofit that helps young people reach their potential.

Held Sunday, August 30, the Perfect Pairing event united Tatemó chef-owner Emmanuel Chavez with The Pit Room’s Memorial location for an epic evening of tacos, margaritas, and community. Both restaurants are included in the Michelin Guide, with Tatemó holding one star and The Pit Room holding a Bib Gourmand desgination. Michael Sambrooks, founder of The Pit Room’s parent company Sambrooks Hospitality, credits BBBS volunteer and event chair Matt Harris for the original idea behind the event.

“The idea is to have guest chefs, do something lowkey that’s more like a fun party than a big gala,” Sambrooks says. “All the proceeds go to Big Brothers Big Sisters — 100 percent of the ticket sales. We donate all the costs of the space, food, and drinks.”

Harris proposed two styles of ribeye tacos to Chavez that have become trendy in both Texas and Mexico — gaoneras and cachetadas — both wrapped in Tatemó’s signature nixtamalized corn tortillas. The Pit Room’s staff served them to diners alongside papas fritas and smoked corn elotes. Chavez’s signature tuna tostada and huitlacoche quesadilla kicked off the meal, while jackfruit tres leches with Altima caviar ended the night on a sweet note.

“Part of the event is we want people to have fun. We don’t want it to be too fussy, but the food has to be good,” Harris says. “Talking to people in the crowd last night, a lot of people were intrigued and excited because it’s a pretty high level taco. To be able to present them tableside, it just felt right.”

“We were just there with a flat top trying to bust out tacos as fast as we could,” Chavez says. “I felt like I was on Top Chef. There were 30 minutes, you have x amount of people, go.”

Harris credits Sambrooks for providing the organization with such generous support.

“What people saw on the plate was great, but the number of moving parts that it took to make that happen was not small. None of that would be possible without Michael,” Harris says. “It’s very humbling to have someone be that generous and not just open the doors but provide service, provide product, open his relationships with vendors — it doesn’t stop.”

Sambrooks explains that he’s decided to support both Communities in School and Big Brothers Big Sisters with larger events, which allows his company to have a greater impact than if it spread its contributions around more broadly.

“Restaurants always get asked for donations. You’ve got to pick who you want to work with,” Sambrooks says.

Overall, the sold-out crowd of 120 people raised over $12,000 to support Big Brothers Big Sisters mentorship programs. Seen in the crowd were Burger Bodega chef-owner Abbas Dhanani and his wife Nida; Craft Pita chef-owner Raffi Nasr and his wife Brittney, commercial real estate developer John Andell, Leaf & Grain founder Deets Hoffman, former Masterchef contestant Cesar Cano, Houston Business Journal 40 under 40 recipient Chassidy Deckhard, and Houston Chronicle food critic Bao Ong.

Courtesy of Big Brothers Big Sisters Houston

Michael Sambrooks, Emmanuel Chavez, Humberto Celis, Alexia Ramirez, Matt Harris, and Amber Kelusky.

fundraisers chefs tacos barbecue