They all were there to share in former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball player Larry Stewart’s big moment this past weekend – the whole Stewart clan. His father Larry and mother Ida made the 11-hour drive from Chicago’s South Side. So did his wife Angela, their daughter Lauren and twin sons Andrew and Elijah. Brother Chad also was in attendance.
And Stewart receiving the Joe Morrison Award during this year’s UTC Athletics Hall of Fame festivities was certainly an honor richly deserved, given all the years he has run the Chicago Bulls and Chicago White Sox Youth Foundation.
But family may also be the biggest reason, if not the only reason, Stewart was physically capable of being in the Scenic City after suffering a stroke in his Chicago home on Dec. 13.
“I normally watch TV by myself when I get home from work, just me and the dog watching sports downstairs,” Stewart said. “But that night we decided to have a family night. We were all watching ‘Black-ish’ (the ABC sitcom).”
Stewart said he was soon overcome by a severe headache. His left side began to grow numb. Because his wife has worked in the health care industry, she immediately called for an ambulance.