Rick Carlisle Kicks Off Dallas All Sports Banquet on Steinway Piano

The Dallas All Sports Banquet started by Rick Carlisle, the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks, playing the National Anthem on a Steinway concert grand piano.

The Dallas All Sports Association hosted their annual Sports Celebrity Awards Banquet on September 22nd at the Fairmont Hotel in downtown Dallas. This year's banquet was kicked of by Rick Carlisle, head coach of the Dallas Mavericks, playing the National Anthem on a Steinway Concert Grand Piano. Rick's playing of the National Anthem was spectacular and everyone was thoroughly impressed with Mr. Carlisle's talent on the piano.

What some may not know is that Rick Carlisle is a proud owner of a Steinway concert grand model 'D' and an avid Steinway enthusiast. Last night, I had the pleasure of being seated next to Mr. Carlisle's wife, Donna. Donna mentioned that Rick enjoys stopping in on Steinway piano dealers during his travels to play the concert grands, including the Concert & Artist room at Steinway Hall - Dallas but, his favorite place to "test drive" Steinways is the historic basement at Steinway Hall New York.

Steinway Hall - Dallas learned of Rick's passion for the Steinway piano when he first moved to Dallas to coach the Dallas Mavericks. He had his Steinway concert grand shipped by Keyboard Carriage, the nationwide piano moving company, to our Dallas piano store. When we received the Carlisle's Steinway Model 'D', our service department inspected, tuned, and polished his piano before delivering it to their home.

One of the highlights from the event happened prior to the actual event. On Monday, Steinway Hall - Dallas received an email blast from the Dallas Sports Associate as a reminder about the event. Below is a portion of the email blast:

....This years event kicks off with Mavericks Head Coach Rick Carlisle playing the National Anthem on his favorite piano a "Steinway". DASA is a non......

An endorsement like this from an individual who is so well-respected throughout the Dallas community is priceless. There is no doubt that Rick Carlisle is a talented basketball coach but is a very skilled and entertaining pianist as well. In addition to opening the Dallas All Sports Banquet by playing the National Anthem Rick Carlisle received the Big D Award.

Other Award Recipients Included:
Emmit Smith End Zone Award: Deion Sanders
The Legends Award: George "Iceman" Gervin
Motor Sports Award: NASCAR racer Tony Stewart
High School Athletes of the Year: Chris Young of Cedar Hill and Emily Atkins of Crandall
Field Scovell Award: USA Track
Tom Landry Award: Highland Park football coach Randy Allen
Lamar Hunt Award: Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana.

Overall this was a spectacular evening highlighted by Rick Carlisle's beautiful rendition of the National Anthem on a Steinway concert grand. Thank you to Rick Carlisle and the Dallas Mavericks for the opportunity to be involved in this historical event.

To read more about Rick Carlisle's life at the piano Click Here.

About Dallas All Sports Association
DASA was founded by Field Scovell in 1965. Mr. Scovell was a very successful local Dallas Business man that thought sports brought out the best in youth. He wanted to make the city of Dallas a better place for local kids that needed help provided educational money. The Dallas All Sports Association has been delivering local kids scholarships since that time. For more information please go to www.dallasallsports.com

Casey D. Saliba
www.steinwaypianos.com