By John Denton
Feb. 6, 2017
HOUSTON – Born in New Orleans and about as Cajun as they come, D.J. Augustin and his family had a tradition they lived by when a hurricane headed toward the Crescent City: They’d load up the car, drive somewhere not too far away, treat the trip like a family vacation and return home soon afterward.
That tradition, one that a family man like Augustin cherished so much because it brought him closer to the ones he loved the most, changed forever on August 28, 2005. As it turns out, that was the last day that Augustin would ever call New Orleans home.
With Hurricane Katrina, a Category 5 storm, bearing down on the Gulf Coast region some 11 1/2 years ago, Augustin’s family heeded the evacuation warnings, left their house in the Gentilly area of New Orleans’ Seventh Ward and headed to nearby Houston. Augustin, an 18-year-old high school basketball star at the time, thought nothing of the evacuation what with his family leaving earlier in the month for another hurricane that did little-to-no damage on New Orleans.
Little did he know it at the time when he left, but Augustin would never live in New Orleans again and he’d be forced to put the pieces of his life back together in Houston.
``For Katrina, we were all like, `Just take what you need and we’ll come right back,’’’ remembered Augustin, now 29 years old. ``This was the time that we should have taken everything. It was sad, man. So sad.’’
Augustin’s story didn’t have a sad ending because his adopted hometown of Houston – one he eventually settled into after a 24-hour journey there and a month of bouncing around various hotels – welcomed him with open arms.
When Augustin’s Orlando Magic face the Rockets in Houston, he’ll be playing in the same arena – The Toyota Center – where he graduated from Hightower High School as one of the most decorated basketball players in Texas.
Those who stayed in New Orleans, of course, weren’t so fortunate as Hurricane Katrina proved to be one of the deadliest and most destructive storms in United States history. At least 1,245 people died in a storm that did $108 billion in damage – most of it in New Orleans where levees couldn’t hold back the surge of water.
Safe in Houston following a 24-hour drive that usually took only four hours, Augustin, father Darryl Sr., mother Vanessa and older sisters Mia and Greer, looked on in horror as TV footage detailed the catastrophic damage in New Orleans. Augustin, who had led Brother Martin High School to two state titles as a sophomore and junior, felt helpless because there was no way of knowing if friends and family made it out alive or survived.
``Watching it on the news, we didn’t know what was truly going on. Cell phones weren’t working and we couldn’t get back into the city because they wouldn’t let anybody back in. It was just like a waiting game, and we were forced to watch it on the news like everybody else,’’ Augustin recalled. ``A lot of those people (stranded in New Orleans) were friends and family that stayed and we didn’t know if they made it out. Watching it on the news and seeing your city underwater, that’s tough to see. It was hard to deal with for a long time.’’
Another thing that was hard to deal with, Augustin said, was what he and his family saw when they were finally allowed to return to New Orleans. Darryl Sr. went back first, some two weeks after the storm, and reported the bad news to the family about their destroyed home. Two-and-a-half weeks later, Augustin returned to New Orleans himself and couldn’t believe what he saw.
``Our house was flooded to the roof,’’ he said, still shocked to this day. ``We had a chance to go back for ourselves and get some closure. The water line was at the top of the ceiling, but that’s where it set and we don’t know how high it was before that. It settled to that level and set there for a long time.
``All my trophies from when I grew up playing basketball were lost and the biggest thing that I lost was that my mom had recorded all of my games from when I was 4 years old to high school games,’’ Augustin recalled. ``They were on the little tapes you’d put inside the VHS and they were all under my bed in a shoebox. I lost every bit of it.’’
AT HOME IN HOUSTON
Their hometown leveled by the devastation and their home unlivable because of the water and wind damage, the Augustins decided to start life anew in Houston. They didn’t have much following the hurricane, but they at least had each other, D.J. stressed. And Augustin had his grandfather – who stubbornly decided to stick it out in New Orleans during the storm – after he was bussed from New Orleans to Houston following a scary stay in the Louisiana Superdome.
While thousands of New Orleans refugees poured into Houston and were temporarily housed at the Astrodome and what was formerly known as Reliant Stadium – the site of Sunday’s thrilling Super Bowl LI – the Augustin family lived out of various hotels for approximately a month. The abrupt about-face of Augustin’s life did quite the number on his psyche.
``It was tough living out of a hotel with a family five,’’ he said. ``First, your normal routine and schedule were interrupted, but then I was sharing a bed with my two older sisters. And I was having to go to a new school.
``So it was really tough on all of us, but we stayed together as a family,’’ he said. ``Actually I think it made us closer.’’
One thing that softened the blow of having his world turned upside down, Augustin said, was how welcoming the people of Houston were to those who trying to start their lives anew in Texas. The Augustin family eventually settled in the suburb of Missouri City – 18 miles to the southwest of downtown Houston – where he attended Hightower High. In what had to feel like a cruel twist of fate, Hightower’s nickname was – of all things – the Hurricanes.
The 6-foot, 183-pound point guard played well enough there to earn all-state and All-American honors – something that helped him get a full scholarship to the University of Texas where he’d later team with Kevin Durant. For years, there was a theory going around New Orleans that bothered Augustin. It went something like this: He picked Texas over LSU because the hurricane drove him and his family out of his home state. Instead, Augustin said, it was because of the love the people of Texas showed him and his family in their greatest hour of need.
``Everybody in Houston embraced me, everybody at Hightower High School embraced me,’’ Augustin said. ``They kind of just took us in and helped us out anyway that they could. It was such a great thing what the city of Houston did for us.’’
Augustin loved Houston so much that he still makes his offseason home there today. So, too, does his mother and father and one of his sisters. And, as fate would have it, Augustin’s childhood friend from the Seventh Ward, Jacoby Jones, lives right around the corner from him in Houston. Jones played in the NFL for nine seasons, winning a championship with the Baltimore Ravens and becoming the first player in Super Bowl history with a receiving touchdown and a return TD in the same game.
`THEY’VE EMBRACED ME HERE’
Having played for eight NBA teams and been traded three times, Augustin has had lots of cities to call home since being selected in the first round of the 2008 NBA Draft.
Married and a father of four, Augustin was delighted last July when he was heavily courted by the Magic to play in Orlando. Augustin expressed to the Magic his desire to put down some roots and stick in one place for a long period.
Not only did the Magic give Augustin the long-term contract that he was seeking, but they also provided him a solid role on the team. The Magic have mostly been disappointing this season – though they sit just four games back of a final playoff slot coming into Monday – but Augustin has played well while averaging 8.6 points and 3.1 assists a game and shooting 36 percent from 3-point range.
``It means a lot to me that they’ve been true to their word,’’ Augustin said. ``I’m big on family, commitment and people being loyal. That (loyal) is what the Magic have been to me. I’m the same way and when somebody is (loyal) to me I give them my all – whether it’s on the court or off. They’ve embraced me here, kind of like Houston did when I moved from New Orleans.’’
Orlando’s point guard position has a distinct Cajun feel what with Elfrid Payton – a native of New Orleans suburb, Gretna – serving as the starter and Augustin being the backup. Even though he is seven years younger, Payton has known about Augustin’s basketball exploits for years and the two regularly talk about times back in New Orleans.
``I knew about him even though he was from across the river from me. He was very good and they were winning state championships at this Catholic school. He was very good and everybody knew about D.J. from a basketball standpoint,’’ Payton said. ``It’s kind of cool having another New Orleans guy and D.J. is somebody you can always talk to. It’s funny that sometimes he’ll say something, and I’ll laugh because being from New Orleans there’s a language there that nobody else has. Or, vice versa, I’ll say something and he’ll laugh because it’s probably something that he hasn’t heard for years since he left New Orleans.’’
Houston is Augustin’s home now, just as New Orleans was before Hurricane Katrina changed his life forever. He is hopeful that Orlando is his home for the foreseeable future, but experience has taught him that anything can happen at the Feb. 23 trade deadline in the NBA.
``It’s a business, you never know what could happen and nothing is guaranteed or promised in this league. But I definitely don’t want to go anywhere,’’ Augustin said. ``I love it here (in Orlando), I love the city, I love the fans and my teammates. I want to be here for the entire time that I signed – and hopefully even longer than that. But in this business, you never know and you’ve got to be prepared for whatever comes.’’
Sometimes a hurricane comes along, uproots your life, and drives you out of your hometown. Sometimes – despite all that upheaval and chaos – things work out for the best in a new hometown. Orlando is Augustin’s NBA hometown today, much like Houston became his home after being pushed out of New Orleans years ago, and he hopes that’s the case for years to come.
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