On preps: A good deed, right back at you

What goes around comes around. Or in the case of Hurricane Katrina, a high school in New Orleans, the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul and a guy who attended both, what flows down the Mississippi flows back upriver. It's a tale that's fitting for this holiday season.

The back story

Karnell James graduated from St. Augustine High School in New Orleans in 1993. He was a basketball star -- a two-time Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference MVP, in fact -- at St. Thomas before graduating in 1997. He was a bachelor living in Houston when the hurricane struck in 2005. His parents, siblings, nephews, nieces and cousins fled New Orleans; eight people moved into James' home.

Tommies to the rescue

Word got out among James' former St. Thomas teammates that his family needed help. John Tauer, now an assistant basketball coach for the Tommies, sent an e-mail to 15 guys who also played with James. They forwarded the e-mail to others, who forwarded it to others, and before long Tommies from the 1970s and 1980s, former women's players at St. Thomas and relatives of former players were chipping in.

James received $7,500, which helped feed everybody and keep them on their feet until they could return to normal lives.

A school in ruins

The hurricane was not kind to St. Augustine, a historically black high school for boys. Water filled the first floor, including classrooms, the band room and a new weight room that had been provided by St. Augustine grads who had gone on to the NFL. The alumni at "St. Aug" include NFL players Tyrone Hughes, Nat Dorsey and Cortez Hankton, Dallas Mavericks coach Avery Johnson, NBA players Kerry Kittles and Donald Royal and actor Carl Weathers.

St. Augustine was closed during the 2005-06 school year as families were scattered around the country. Classes resumed in 2006-07, but normalcy remains an elusive concept.

The St. Aug basketball team returned to the court last season, finishing with a record of 17-18 and reaching the quarterfinals of the state tournament.

A line in the sand

The hurricane was a life-changing experience for James. Seeing his high school devastated, and his college come to his family's rescue, opened his eyes to new possibilities.

"It's always been a dream of mine to have my school come up to St. Thomas," said James, who works as an information technology administrator in Houston. "And after Katrina, it became one of those events that sort of makes you draw a line in the sand and say, 'I'm going to start accomplishing things that I've always wanted to accomplish.' And one was to see that my high school team got a chance to take a trip to the Twin Cities."

St. Thomas holds an annual holiday basketball event, the Catholic Spirit tournament. When James was a Tommy, St. Augustine had a pipeline to St. Thomas that included athletes and other students. That pipeline has dried up.

James' dreams centered on two things: finding a way for the St. Aug Purple Knights to play in the Catholic Spirit tournament, and possibly re-energizing the pipeline.

Remembering how the Tommies had come to the aid of his family, James decided to pay it forward. The Purple Knights will arrive in the Twin Cities on Wednesday and return to New Orleans on Monday. Their airfare has been provided by James and his fiancée, Melinda Lawyer. The cost is $6,500, or almost as much as all those Tommies provided for James' family.

"When it's time to give back, it's time to give back," he said.

He's hoping other St. Thomas alums will help cover some of the Purple Knights' hotel rooms and meals. He has arranged a gathering of St. Aug and St. Thomas people during the team's visit.

"Obviously the school is trying to recover from closing down for a year," James said. "They're a little strapped financially, but at the same time I wanted to make sure the kids didn't suffer and still had a chance to get out."

The anticipation

During a recent phone conversation, St. Augustine coach Clifford Barthé asked about the weather in Minnesota.

"That is the thing [the players] are all talking about right now," he said. "They're anticipating coming up there and playing against some very good teams, but they're all kind of looking forward to the winter experience. After the snow, they're all talking about the Mall of America."

The Purple Knights, who have a 14-3 record, will open the tournament against Holy Angels at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. They will play either Woodbury or St. Paul Johnson on Friday and have one more game Saturday.

James will attend the tournament and visit with friends from St. Aug and St. Thomas. Then he will return to Houston. But that's not end of the story.

"Melinda and I made a goal to start checking items off our 'dream' list," he said.

One of James' dreams was to become a basketball coach. To that end, he is working as a volunteer assistant coach at a high school in Houston; St. Thomas High School, in fact.

The next item on the list? A wedding. James and Lawyer will be married in January.

Happy holidays.

John Millea • jmillea@startribune.com