SAN FRANCISCO — On a rainy Wednesday, January 4, 350 exuberant Bay Area Armenians gathered together to cheer on the Golden State Warriors during an action—packed Armenian Community Night at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
Immediately following a wild-buzzer beater game, Golden State Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr and Detroit Pistons Assistant Coach Rex Kalamian came together for a lively courtside chat with the community members.
Wearing a customized Armenian Community Night t-shirt that all guests received, Kerr thanked everyone for their support, sharing that his connection with Armenia runs deep.
“It seems not a week goes by when I don’t have an Armenian thank me for what my grandparents did 100 years ago and it’s truly humbling,” Kerr reflected. “I try to think of them at 21, 22 years old. Imagine that, and traveling to Turkey and Armenia, running an orphanage, and helping to save young children… It’s one of the things I’m most proud of in my family.”
Steve Kerr’s grandparents, Stanley and Elsa Kerr, were instrumental in saving thousands of orphans in Marash from 1919-1922 and getting them safely to Beirut, where they then helped to build and run a Near East Relief orphanage for Armenian boys at Nahr Ibrahim. Thereafter, they remained in Beirut for most of their lives, educating generations of students, many of them orphans, at the American University of Beirut.
Los Angeles filmmaker Ani Hovannisian, who is currently working on a documentary that follows the giant footsteps of three generations of Kerrs and their century-long legacy of service to humanity, moderated the post-game panel.
