Vipers to Auction Game Worn Hornets Jerseys for Charity After Saturday’s Game

Proceeds Will Benefit Valley Alliance of Mentors for Opportunities and Scholarships Fund

December 31, 2008

HIDALGO, TEXAS - The NBA D-League Rio Grande Valley Vipers announced today promotional plans for the team’s Friday and Saturday night home games against the Albuquerque Thunderbirds at Dodge Arena. Both games will start at 7:00 p.m. with doors opening at 6:00.

On Friday, the first 2,000 fans will receive a rally towel courtesy of Tierra Santa Golf Course before Red Panda, an acrobat juggling unicyclist, who has been the featured show in NBA arenas around the country, entertains the crowd at halftime.

On Saturday, the Vipers play the second-half of a back-to-back with the Thunderbirds in an NBA affiliate night game in which the Vipers will sport New Orleans Hornets uniforms and the crowd will be entertained by the Hornets’ mascot, Hugo the Hornet, and the team’s dance squad, the Honeybees. The uniforms will be auctioned off after the game with the proceeds going to the Valley Alliance of Mentors for Opportunities and Scholarships (VAMOS) fund. The first 1,000 fans will receive t-shirts courtesy of San Juan Pharmacy.

VAMOS was founded in 1996 in response to an urgent need to improve educational opportunities for Hispanics in the Rio Grande Valley. The mission of the organization is to assist Hispanic students of Hidalgo, Starr and Cameron County in completing a post-secondary education.

VAMOS awards four-year scholarships ranging from $8,000 to $20,000 to Hispanic high school seniors who are legal permanent residents of the aforementioned counties, rank in the top 25% of their high school graduating class, have plans to enroll full-time in a degree-seeking program at a four-year U.S. accredited institution for the upcoming year, and apply for Federal Financial Aid.

"VAMOS serves as an unprecedented opportunity for Hispanics in the Rio Grande Valley to secure resources and options that will prepare them and empower them to close the academic achievement gap. VAMOS reaches out to our youth at risk and provides them an opportunity. We witness an incredible vitality, desire, ambition and determination in the hearts and minds of Hispanics that live in our community. These are traits that make VAMOS strive to find more partnerships and opportunities that will reduce the barriers that impede successful educational attainment and disrupt the cycle of poverty. We are very grateful for the RGV Vipers and appreciate the support not only to VAMOS, but the community in general," said Heather Margain, the Executive Director of VAMOS.

At both games, fans will have a chance to win basketballs autographed by basketball Hall of Famers George Gervin and Rick Barry and kids will receive thundersticks courtesy of Lone Star National Bank.

The Rio Grande Valley Vipers are a professional basketball team in the NBA Development League (NBA D-League). The NBA Development League, founded in 2001, is the NBA’s official minor league and features 16 teams with direct affiliations to NBA teams. The league has produced 15 percent of the players on 2007-08 end-of-season NBA rosters and continues to develop current NBA coaches and referees. In fostering the league’s connection to the community, its teams, players and staff promote youth basketball, support local needs and interests, and assist in educational development through NBA D-League Cares programs. The NBA D-League also advances the game of basketball as the research and development arm of the NBA. Throughout this season fans can watch all NBA D-League games on NBA Futurecast, the free live Web-streaming initiative found at nba.com/futurecast. The Vipers NBA affiliates are the Houston Rockets, and the New Orleans Hornets.