Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Sidney at 60 - Still Making Things Happen

This post originally appeared in the Blotch section of the Fort Worth Weekly's website. To consume it there : https://www.fwweekly.com/2017/09/27/sports-rush-sidney-turns-sixty-in-style/



Sidney Moncrief became a basketball legend helping the Arkansas Razorbacks to the 1978 Final Four and leading a Milwaukee Bucks team that was one of the NBA’s best during the 1980s. Moncrief could change a game in any number ways. He could hit the big shot. He rebounded as well or better than any guard who ever played. And the two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year could have an impact when his team didn’t have the ball, too.

In retirement, he has had careers in business, in coaching, and in philanthropic pursuits. Moncrief had the latter on his mind as he celebrated his 60th birthday this past week. He created a series of events in his hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas revolving around the charity he and his wife, Takisha, have named Moncrief GameChanger. Friday, they held a gala fundraiser that doubled as a birthday party. The event at the Arkansas Arts Center included live and silent auctions and featured appearances by former teammates and coaches like Ron Brewer, Marvin Delph, Del Harris, and Junior Bridgeman.

The next day, they held a career readiness seminar for high school and college students at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center. You’ll see images of the facility in the video interview that is the centerpiece of this post. It houses a museum of Arkansas’s African-American history and its dark wood interior provided a welcoming backdrop. Business professionals gave the young people tips on preparing for the workforce through various presentations and breakout sessions.

That afternoon, the Moncriefs and several local coaching legends joined a couple of Sidney’s brothers to put on a shooting clinic at Philander Smith College. They shared advice on basketball and life.
The Moncriefs will do more career readiness forums in Little Rock in October and December and plan to bring the program to North Texas as soon as possible.


Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns, television programs, and related creative projects for sports entities through Rush Olson Creative & Sports, Mint Farm Films, and FourNine Productions.

RushOlson.com
Linkedin.com/company/rush-olson-creative-&-sports
Facebook.com/RushOlsonCreativeandSports

Thursday, September 21, 2017

On the Court For A Good Cause

This post originally appeared in the Blotch section of the Fort Worth Weekly's website. To consume it there : https://www.fwweekly.com/2017/09/19/sports-rush-court-sports-for-a-good-cause/

Donald Young, 28, won a tennis tournament Saturday. He and doubles partner Justin Whitman triumphed in the final and received trophies. Young has played on the ATP Tour since 2004 and won 115 professional matches, but this performance earned him no ranking points. So why did one of the top American players – a man who’s been ranked as high as 38th in the world – come to Dallas to play this event? He did it for basketball and a good cause.



Saturday at SMU, the Dirk Nowitzki Foundation held its second annual Pro Celebrity Tennis Classic. The fundraiser began with a dinner event and auction the evening before and continued with the open-to-the-public tennis tourney Sunday. A group of celebrities  included non-tennis professional athletes like J.J. Barea and Mike Modano; former tour players like Mark Knowles, Andy Roddick, and Benjamin Becker; and, for good measure, actor Owen Wilson (who has a decent forehand). A dozen amateurs made sizable donations to the foundation for the privilege of playing with and against those luminaries. Each amateur and pro accumulated wristbands as they won tie-breakers with different partners, with two of each with the most bands meeting in the final. Young and Whitman defeated Barea and Jim McKinney in that last match.

In this video interview, Young talks about the whys and hows of playing in such a setting, and also touches on what the U.S. women’s showing at the recent U.S Open (four Americans reached the semi-finals) means for the sport in this country.


Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns, television programs, and related creative projects for sports entities through Rush Olson Creative & Sports, Mint Farm Films, and FourNine Productions.

RushOlson.com
Linkedin.com/company/rush-olson-creative-&-sports
Facebook.com/RushOlsonCreativeandSports

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Seth Curry on Golf, Hoops, and Entrepreneurship for Kids

This post originally appeared in the Blotch section of the Fort Worth Weekly's website. To consume it there : https://www.fwweekly.com/2017/09/13/sports-rush-seth-curry-on-hoops-golf-and-entrepreneurship/

In the last couple of seasons, Seth Curry has started to make an impact on the NBA and the Mavericks will count on him as a contributor when they begin play next month. Dallas signed the guard before the 2016-17 season after he had some solid games the previous year with Sacramento. One reason Curry improved as a King was coaching he received from assistant coach Nancy Lieberman. Tuesday, he visited her and other celebrities at her charity golf tournament. Proceeds from the Nancy Lieberman Charities Celebrity Golf Classic go toward scholarships, and Curry also started an education-related initiative to help young people learn about business and entrepreneurship.



In this video interview, we asked him about golf, including his brother Steph’s foray onto the Web.com Tour this summer. Check out the video of Seth’s golf swing – he looked pretty smooth. We also talked about his new charitable program.

Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns, television programs, and related creative projects for sports entities through Rush Olson Creative & Sports, Mint Farm Films, and FourNine Productions.

RushOlson.com
Linkedin.com/company/rush-olson-creative-&-sports
Facebook.com/RushOlsonCreativeandSports

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Ron Thulin on the Dallas Wings

This post originally appeared in the Blotch section of the Fort Worth Weekly's website. To consume it there : https://www.fwweekly.com/2017/09/05/sports-rush-state-of-the-wings-with-ron-thulin/

The Dallas Wings have made the postseason in their second year playing in Arlington. Ron Thulin has called their games for both of those seasons on Fox Sports Southwest and the play-by-play man is excited about the team’s prospects for the upcoming WNBA playoffs, and also the future.

In this video interview, Ron and I discussed the team’s youth, depth, and the possibility of acquiring Australian Olympian Liz Cambage.






The Wings will play the Washington Mystics in D.C. Wednesday, with television coverage by ESPN2. If they win that game, they’ll move on to play another single-elimination contest at either New York or Connecticut. Minnesota or Los Angeles await in a best-of-five series after that.




Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns, television programs, and related creative projects for sports entities through Rush Olson Creative & Sports, Mint Farm Films, and FourNine Productions.

RushOlson.com
Linkedin.com/company/rush-olson-creative-&-sports
Facebook.com/RushOlsonCreativeandSports