UK basketball great Anthony Davis pledges $350,000 for Eastern Kentucky flood relief
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Flooding in Eastern Kentucky
“Catastrophic” flash flooding hit parts of Eastern Kentucky July 28, 2022.
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Not long after Tuesday night’s Kentucky Flood Relief telethon had ended and Rupp Arena had emptied, John Calipari announced that there had been an additional donation.
Former Kentucky basketball star Anthony Davis pledged to give $350,000 toward the relief efforts, according to Calipari, who announced the donation in a Twitter post.
The UK coach echoed what he had said the previous day — that he didn’t want to ask any of his former players for help since they had just given to the victims of the Western Kentucky tornadoes nine months ago, instead pledging to give more of his own money, along with leaning on other wealthy donors.
Calipari said it was Davis who reached out to him Tuesday night.
“After watching all of the devastation and — knowing what our players did tonight — he has offered to give $350,000 to the Kentucky Flood Relief,” Calipari tweeted. “That’s servant leadership in action, that’s staying connected to this program and this state. Love you, Ant.”
Davis was a college basketball sensation in his one season at Kentucky, leading the Wildcats to the 2012 national championship before being selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft.
The 29-year-old plays for the Los Angeles Lakers and is entering his 11th season in the NBA, previously being named an All-Star eight times and making the All-NBA first team on four occasions.
The UK men’s basketball team hosted a telethon and open practice earlier Tuesday at Rupp Arena, ultimately raising more than $2.4 million for the Eastern Kentucky flood relief effort. Calipari has stressed this week that the idea for the telethon was “player-driven” and that his team had sacrificed their own name, image and likeness profits to raise money toward the effort.
There have been 37 confirmed deaths from the flooding, as of Tuesday, with rescue and recovery efforts still ongoing in the region.
This story was originally published August 2, 2022 at 11:30 PM.
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