LUBBOCK — Chris Beard doesn’t stop at his team’s bench the way he normally does when his 22nd-ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders basketball team walks onto the court for its Saturday matinee matchup with Texas.
Instead, the head coach walks right past the bench to a woman in a black pantsuit and red shirt seated in the second row, directly behind the team. He holds out both hands, hugging her, clinging onto her while he whispers a few words. Only then does he walk back to take his seat next to the team.
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The woman is Regina Oliver, the mother of former Red Raider standout Andre Emmett, who was murdered in his hometown of Dallas last September by two men in an attempted robbery outside his home. Emmett was shot as he tried to flee and later died. He was 37 years old.
A little more than five months after his death, Emmett’s mom, aunt, sister, cousin, a host of friends and relatives, and – most important – his two young daughters, Zara and Kennedy, descended upon Lubbock for “Dre Day,” a day dedicated to honoring his memory and celebrating his life and legacy at Tech, which includes being an inaugural member of the program’s ring of honor.
“Today was bigger than basketball for us. It was a day to honor him and his family, and I’m sure Andre watched today from heaven, and I’m sure he approved of what we did for him,” says an emotional Beard, who served as an assistant coach at Tech for three of Dre’s four seasons in Lubbock. “I had the honor and pleasure of having a personal relationship with Andre. We all know he was one of the best players to ever play in the Big 12 and at Texas Tech. But those of us who knew him personally knew he was also a great person, a great father to his two children and he’s always been a great son to his mother.
“He was always willing to help us as we built the program. Whenever he came to Lubbock, it was a special time.”
And Saturday is no exception. United Supermarkets Arena is filled to capacity, with students, boosters and other supporters sporting red Tech T-shirts with Emmett’s jersey No. 14 on the front and his last name blazoned across the back. There’s also a large, round black sticker trimmed in red, with the name DRE in white capital letters and the familiar double-T logo underneath.
The players all wear long-sleeved black warmup jerseys with Emmett across the back, and the cover of the game-day program features three photos of Dre from his Tech days, with his name splashed across the top in large white letters.
Emmett’s family was presented with a framed jersey and photos.
All to honor a kid from Dallas who made Lubbock his second home and who never forgot the city no matter how high he climbed.
“He was just an awesome person with a great heart,” says Curtis Marshall, a former Tech basketball player who played alongside Dre during Mashall’s junior year. He came from New Mexico to honor his former teammate.
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“When we talked last year, he was saying he wanted to come back to Lubbock and start some different things and initiatives,” adds Marshall. “He was always for the kids, and that’s why I admire him.
“It’s a special day, and it’s really hard just still thinking about how he’s not here. It’s a loss not just to Lubbock but a loss to the world.”
Neither Dre nor Lubbock knew what was in store when he was recruited out of Dallas Carter High in 2000 to play at Tech. He earned his way into the starting lineup as a freshman, averaging just under eight points a game. But it was in his sophom*ore year, when the legendary Bob Knight replaced James Dickey as coach, when Emmett truly broke out, upping his scoring average to almost 19 points per game. The love affair between Dre and Tech was on.
“He just really embraced everything about Lubbock. Everywhere he went he put a smile on people’s face; he was always full of joy,” says Tech graduate assistant coach Ronald Ross, a former teammate of Dre’s.
Emmett would have one of the most impactful careers in program history. There were the individual honors: unanimous first-team All-Big-12 honors in both his junior and senior year, consensus All-America honors as a senior and, most important, becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer with 2,256 career points. There was the team success that came with guiding the Red Raiders to two NCAA Tournament appearances. There was the spectacle of the winning the 2004 College Slam Dunk Contest by jumping over a group of kids, then uttering his now-famous line: “Dre loves the kids.” It was the sort of career that bonds a player to a place. Years after Emmett last suited up for the Red Raiders, Ross, who played professionally overseas for 13 years, says Emmett was still synonymous with the program around the world.
“I played in Italy, France, Germany – when I brought up Texas Tech, (people would) be like, oh, yeah, Andre Emmett went there,” Ross says with a laugh. “Everywhere you went, when you talked about Texas Tech basketball, when you talked about Lubbock, Andre’s name was there and had a stamp on it.”
Family members gathered to honor Emmett’s memory.
It’s halftime, and the celebration continues. The arena’s collective gaze is glued upward to the Jumbotron for a video tribute. Oliver, holding her granddaughter Kennedy, points to the screen. “Daddy,” the little girl mouths. She’s dressed in black jeans, black and white Nikes and a white Tech T-shirt with her dad’s name on the back. Her sister, Zara, wears the same thing.
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Once the video is over, the public address announcer shares a few additional words about Dre before his mom, sister, children and friends walk onto the court to accept a gift: a framed black Tech jersey with Emmett’s name and number, and a photo of Andre in his jersey, a photo of Dre and his mom, and a photo of the double-T Tech logo.
The fans stand and applaud. Oliver, now clutching Kennedy in one arm and Zara in the other, holds her head back, struggling to fight the tears. Then, she lets it fall forward. Kennedy sees her grandmother crying and pats her gently on the shoulder, a toddler’s gesture of comfort. Then, like any other 2-year-old who sees people clapping, she starts clapping, too — oblivious to the fact that the applause, the noise, the tears are all for her dad.
Oliver puts both girls down, and they are led away by friends while she and her daughter Darra — Emmett’s older sister — embrace alone on the court, struggling with their own tears and waves of emotion. Later, after the pair are greeted by Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman, a fellow Dallas native, on the way back to their seats, Darra, still wiping her eyes, reminisces about her brother
“When he graduated (high school), he immediately went to college and started traveling, and we didn’t have a lot of time together — (those years were) the last close memory I had of him,” she says. “That is why I had to be here today. Seeing his face up there (on the Jumbotron), I just remember that that is how he would come home and smile at me.
“That is why this is so dear to me.”
In addition to his family, several of Dre’s close friends have made the trip to Lubbock. Each of them remembers the man far more than the athlete.
“First and foremost, I think his legacy is that he was an amazing dad before anything,” says Maegan Tyrone. “That is the thing he cared most about out of all the accolades he obtained. I think his daughters are what he would want people to remember most about him.”
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Dre will also be remembered for the lives he touched.
“As you can tell, there’s so much love in the room from people who didn’t even know Dre. That just kind of shows what kind of person he was,” Tyrone adds. “He made an impact on your life whether you personally met him or you didn’t.”
Says her sister, Allison, “If you knew Dre or if you didn’t know Dre, he made an impact with his passing. He had a special relationship with every person that he came across. To me, all I can think is, what a good person he was.”
Mikey Marshall, Emmett’s former teammate, entered Tech at the same time as Dre. He says he has struggled with the death of his friend. “Someone that you played with … it’s more than a game; you build unity, a sense of family,” Marshall says. “We had so much in common, and that makes it a little tougher. It’s not just losing a teammate, but losing a brother and a family member.”
Curtis Marshall (no relation to Mikey) calls it “an honor to be able to play with him and see the passion that he had. I wanted to mirror my game after him. One thing he’s always been able to do, and that’s get what he wanted on the court.
“We just had a bond and a brotherhood when we were here; just playing together on and off the court. Out of all the teammates, he probably was the one I hung out with the most.”
The Red Raiders wore warmup shirts that honored Emmett.
Texas Tech and the City of Lubbock are not done honoring Andre Emmett. The basketball program is memorializing Dre throughout the season with a patch on their jerseys, and the university has partnered with Nancy Lieberman Charities to help raise $25,000 for the installation of a dream court in Emmett’s name for children in the area. Lieberman is a coach in the Big 3, the three-on-three league Emmett had been playing for.
“He was all about helping kids and youth; he had his own foundation in Dallas and Lubbock was important to him too,” Beard says. “It was kind of his home away from home. He spent four years here … so we think it’s a great way to honor him and his family and help the kids in Lubbock, which I know Andre would want to do.”
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Maegan Tyrone believes the dream court is a beautiful tribute that will keep Dre’s legacy alive for future generations.
“It will continue to live on for people who come after to know who he was and for those who may not have been able to see him play personally,” she says. “They will still be able to know that there was this amazing human being who did so much through his foundation, and even before, he was doing so much for so many people, and that is what I think people should remember most about him.”
The final buzzer has sounded. Tech is stunned with a 10-point loss to the unranked Longhorns. The arena slowly begins to empty out. But a small group lingers – Dre’s family and friends. They take pictures, talk with fans and boosters and wait for the postgame pressers to end.
About 30 minutes after the game, Ross leads the family to the locker room, where Beard again greets and hugs Dre’s mom. This time, he apologizes “for not getting a win for her.” Everyone laughs, and family members thank him for a wonderful tribute to Dre.
Ross escorts Oliver into the locker room, which is now mostly empty. He shows the proud mom where her only son’s locker used to be, revealing that he actually hogged two spaces and was always spread out. More laughter.
Pictures are taken, hugs are exchanged, promises to keep in touch are made and a last round of thank yous rings out before everyone leaves the arena. Dre Day is officially over.
Rodman, a Dallas native, showed up to honor Emmett.
“Today meant everything to me. My family and supportive friends made it all good,” says Oliver, adding that she wishes Dre’s grandmother could have made the trip. “Also to have my granddaughters in the building made my day complete.
“Texas Tech outdid themselves,” she says before adding with a smile, “Red Raider fam for life!”
Dre would probably agree.
(Photos: Dorothy Gentry / The Athletic)
