BATON ROUGE — Fats Domino and his family spent two days with Louisiana
State University's quarterback after being rescued from the floodwaters
of Hurricane Katrina, then moved on.
LSU/AP
LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell, left, shakes hands with New
Orleans music legend Fats Domino on Friday at the college’s Baton
Rouge campus.
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"I'm not sure where they are headed, but I just feel better knowing that
they are OK," an LSU news release quoted quarterback JaMarcus Russell as
saying.
The 77-year-old R&B singer and his family are friends with the family of
Russell's girlfriend, sports information director Michael Bonnette said.
"It was kind of a friend of a friend thing," Bonnette said.
Domino apparently was rescued by boat on Monday. After that, Bonnette
said, he was brought to the Superdome, where he eventually was put on a
bus to an evacuee triage center in LSU's basketball arena.
Domino, who had checked in under his given name of Antoine Domino, was
reunited there with his family. Then he, his family and a dozen other
people from New Orleans went to Russell's apartment just off the LSU
campus.
Russell was on the lookout for them and finally made contact with them
Wednesday night, Bonnette said.
The news release quoted Domino as thanking Russell and saying, "Tell the
people of New Orleans that I'm safe. I wish I was able to still be there
with them, but I hope to see them soon."
The quarterback told Bonnette that, all told, about 20 people had been
staying in the two-bedroom apartment. Russell said he had spent most of
the two days helping them with errands that included grocery trips and a
2 a.m. pharmacy run to get medicine for Domino.
Domino and the others had no set destination when they left, Bonnette
said.
"With so many people in that small apartment, I think they were just
trying to find another place," he said.
Domino had been reported missing Thursday by his longtime agent, Al
Embry, and his niece, Checquoline Davis. Domino's daughter, Karen Domino
White, said Thursday she had seen a photograph of her father taken
Monday by The Times-Picayune of New Orleans showing him being
helped off a boat by rescuers.
Bonnette said he didn't know if he could reach Russell for The
Associated Press. He said he had tried earlier, but got no answer.
"He's probably sleeping. He hasn't slept for two days, he told me,"
Bonnette said.
