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Katrina Gives 49ers Perspective
by Doug Krikorian, Long Beach Press-Telegram
August 31, 2006
They both are sophomores at Long Beach State, and are filled with the
gladness of their tender age, as they radiate exuberance and smile easily
and tease each other about what unfolded when their teams faced each other
in hig h school.
"We beat you," says Naomi Washington, a 6-3 outside hitter on
Brian Gimmillaro's 49er volleyball club who attended Warren Easton High
in New Orleans.
Her roommate, Quincy Verdin, shakes her head in dissent.
"No way ... we were cheated out of the victory," maintains Verdin,
a 5-11 outside hitter who attended Central Catholic High in Morgan City,
a 40-minute drive from New Orleans.
They argue for a brief time, two close friends engaging in light-hearted
repartee.
But a few moments earlier after finishing a couple of hours of an afternoon
practice at the Walter Pyramid, they are bereft of smiles and are in a
serious mood as they reflect on the catastrophic storm called Katrina
that struck their hometowns a year ago.
"We were pretty lucky in Morgan City because the levee held,"
says Verdin. "Our house still is standing, and my parents (Clyde
and Debbie Verdin) still are living there. There was a lot of damage,
a lot of fallen trees, but we fortunately escaped what happened in New
Orleans."
Naomi Washington's family - her parents, Clifton and Patricia Washington,
plus nine sisters and four brothers - wasn't so fortunate.
"We lived in the 9th Ward, and all five of the family houses were
destroyed," says Washington. "It was terrible. We all lived
about two blocks away from one of the levees that collapsed, and we're
just lucky no one in the family was killed. The house I grew up in is
gone.
"I've been back to New Orleans once, but they wouldn't even let you
into the area where I lived. It's all like a bad nightmare.
Especially when it first happened, and I couldn't reach anyone in the
family for days. It was awful."
"All the cell phones in the area were out," says Verdin. "And
most of the land lines were out, too. For a long time, you just didn't
know anything about your family, and that made it very hard."
"My mother didn't know how to get hold of me, and mistakenly called
Long Beach City College in an attempt to reach me," says Washington
with a soft smile. "Finally, we were able to make contact. I was
just relieved everyone was alive."
Washington's family for a time was held up in the Superdome, and one shudders
to think of what it endured if you go by the horror stories that emerged
from that over-crowded, over-heated facility.
"I was told my oldest bro ther cried, and he never cries," says
Washington. "It had to be a very unpleasant experience."
The impact of Katrina has been far more dramatic on Naomi Washington than
it has been on Quincy Verdin.
Verdin's family still is in Morgan City.
A good portion of Washington's family now lives in Houston - her parents
bought a home there - but one of her sisters now is in Georgia and a brother
is in North Carolina.
"My family, which was always together, is now separated," says
Washington wistfully. "I do have a brother who drives a truck who's
back living in New Orleans. My parents have grown to like Houston.
But, still, it's strange, because New Orleans is our hometown, and none
of my family except for a brother lives there any longer."
And Naomi Washington herself doesn't plan to return.
"I like it out here in Southern California," she says. "I'll
always go back to New Orleans to visit, but I doubt I'll ever live there
again."
But Quincy Verdin says she one day will return to Morgan City.
"I can see myself going back," she says. "I like it there.
It's my home, and I know I'm going to eventually miss it."
Washington believes the federal government was remiss in failing to fortify
the levees that broke and resulted in the massive flooding that destroyed
so much of New Orleans.
"We were always denied the money that it w ould have taken to build
the levees up," she says.
But she also says there was a widespread indifference that pervaded in
the community before the horrifying hurricane struck the city.
"Every year I can remember, we were warned to be prepared for a Category
5 hurricane, and every year it never came," she says. "I think
people just came to think that it would never happen. But it did. And
what a terrible tragedy."
The two ladies will be in Lincoln, Neb. , this weekend playing matches
against Middle Tennessee State, St. Mary's and No. 1 ranked Nebraska.
"It'll be fun going on a trip and seeing middle America," says
Washington, who redshirted a year ago.
"Love to travel," says Verdin, whose surgically repaired left
knee is wrapped.
After the interview ends, after the ladies chat a moment with 49er basketball
star Kejuan Johnson, Brian Gimmillaro talks glowingly about his two Louisiana
players.
"Both great young people who are fun to be around and well-liked
by their teammates," he says. "Quincy is very strong, and might
be the hardest-hitting volleyball player in the country. And Naomi has
the potential to become one of the best volleyball players in the country.
Both are going to play major roles in our program for the next few years.
And I don't think adversity on the court will be unsettling to them, considering
what they experienced from Katrina."
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