How state NBA families found 'home' in a new city
How state NBA families found 'home' in a new city

By Bryan Painter

Published: July 20, 2008

There's home, and there's away.

So how do you turn one into the other — away into home?

The National Basketball Association is coming to Oklahoma City, and family members of staff and players will come as well.

Granted, families relocate all the time — business, military, education and others. But I thought this might be an opportunity for some Oklahomans to talk about how they tried to make life "away” feel like life at "home” in the NBA.

I sought insight from Regina Tisdale of Tulsa and Ann Price of Enid.

Regina Tisdale, whose husband is Wayman Tisdale, offers the perspective of an NBA player's wife. She received advice about life as an NBA family on topics including schools, a pediatrician, obstetrics, a dentist and suggestions on locations for homes. They had four children.

Price's late husband Denny was an assistant coach in the NBA, and two of her sons, Mark and Brent, played in the NBA.

"It seemed like every time one of the boys got hurt or something happened, Denny was on the road,” Ann Price said. "That's just the way it worked out. But people helped me.”

"He was doing something he'd been told not to,” Ann Price said as she shared an example of support from the community.

Son Brent Price was 6 years old. His father was an assistant for the Phoenix Suns, and the family was living in Glenwood, Ariz.

The youngest of the three Price boys had been told not to climb on top of the family station wagon. But he did and he fell on his left arm.

The seriousness was obvious to the mother as he ran in the house screaming. Denny Price was on a road trip with the Suns.

Ann needed help.

She ran to a neighbor's house. The woman held Brent as they drove to the nearest hospital.

"There was a surgeon who happened to be making rounds,” she said. "He told me he couldn't promise he could save the arm, but he got Brent into surgery.”

Ann had called the Suns to find out how to get in touch with Denny. One of the club's personnel, like the Price family, attended North Phoenix Baptist Church.

"I didn't know it, but he called the pastor, Richard Jackson,” Ann Price said. "The pastor was across Phoenix in a meeting and he left immediately. I looked up and he came walking in to sit with me during surgery.”

The surgery went well.

Regina Tisdale said that although her husband has been retired as an NBA player for more than 10 years, they still have friends they met at churches when he played.

Her example pertains to the holiday season.

"I missed the holidays when we could not come home,” she said. "After awhile your teammates become your extended family.”

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