HOUSTON- Mayor Sylvester Turner is encouraging Houston residents to wear red on Monday and Wednesday as the Rockets play the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Western Conference Finals.
Before the Mayor made his announcement, KHOU11 Reporter Melissa Correa used Twitter to reach out to Houston's police chief. Correa tweeted a photo of a group of Houston police officers who were working Toyota Center when the Rokets won game 5 against the Utah Jazz. She wrote, "Houston police looking sharp tonight. But you know what would be better? If they were wearing a little #Rockets red."
HPD Chief Art Acevedo responded to Correa minutes later, "We will authorize wearing the @HoustonRockets uniform cap during finals for a World Championship like we did during the World Series. Actually, let's not wait, effective tomorrow we will authorize the Rockets game cap through the playoffs, but it has to be the dark cap like this."
His tweet included a black 47 Brand cap with a red Rockets "R."
Between fans and 3,000 police officers, the caps are running low at the 31 Academy Sports & Outdoor stores that sell the caps.
A day after Correa and Acevedo shared the exchange on Twitter, Academy Sports & Outdoors reached out to KHOU 11, offering to donate the caps to the H.P.D. officers that patrol Toyota Center on game days.
And, six hours before the Rockets play the Warriors, in Monday night's game one of the Western Conference Finals, Academy hand-delivered 80 caps for those officers.
"Local law enforcement does so much for our community. We just wanted to give back," said Shane Carlisle with Academy Sports & Outdoors. "So once we heard that we partnered with 47-Brand and got hats for all the on-duty officers tonight, so we can Run As One."
"For the officers, it's great for them," said Captain Lee Conn who oversees the officers who patrol downtown Houston. "This is all about them. They’re out here doing all the hard work."
"It’s going to be fun! I mean, we like to show our support," said Lt. Frank Fernandez. "We’re part of the community. Rockets are part of the community."