NBA All-Stars and a big freeze defined Houston in February 1989

Scene at Astrodome during the 1989 NBA All Star Game, Feb. 12, 1989. Scene at Astrodome during the 1989 NBA All Star Game, Feb. 12, 1989. Photo: Steve Campbell, Houston Chronicle Photo: Steve Campbell, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 95 Caption Close NBA All-Stars and a big freeze defined Houston in February 1989 1 / 95 Back to Gallery

Fun fact: No NBA All-Star Game was ever played at the Summit.

Even I tripped up on that one once. Thirty years ago this month, the game was actually played at the Astrodome before a record crowd of about 44,000. However, the slam dunk and three-point contests were at the arena now home to Lakewood Church.

That weekend saw an appearance by Morganna (again). Kenny "Sky" Walker would win the slam dunk title. Dale Ellis of the SuperSonics won the three-point crown. No Bird and no Magic would appear in the big game this time around.

WHAT ABOUT JANUARY? Peak '80s reached as 1989 gets underway

But as W.H. Stickney Jr. reported on Feb. 13, 1989, it did give sports fans a chance to see two big-name Houston athletes reunite:

As a 6-year-old growing up on Houston's southeast side, Clyde Drexler watched on TV the duel between the University of Houston and UCLA but never dreamed he, too, might play in the Astrodome.

But Drexler lived that dream Sunday. And he lived the simultaneous thrill of being reunited with former UH teammate Akeem Olajuwon before the hometown crowd.

Twenty-four hours earlier, however, Drexler had lived a nightmare. He had finished second in the annual Slam-Dunk contest to New York's Kenny "Sky" Walker.

"Yesterday," Drexler said Sunday, after he and the West downed the East 143-134 in the Dome, "I got into the finals (of the dunking contest) and I couldn't do it.

"I felt I let the city down, but I gave it my best shot. That's really all you can do. But today we won. It was just a treat being back in the city, playing again with Akeem Olajuwon, seeing old friends and family.

"It was just a treat to be home. And I'm happy to be a part of it."

Drexler would reunite with Olajuwon again by joining the Rockets in 1995, just in time for the Rockets to win their second NBA title.

On HoustonChronicle.com: How Houston streets got their names

* With record-setting temperatures in the 20s and caught in an icy grip, the last thing you want to see in Monday's paper is this opening paragraph:

It won't be getting any better before Wednesday.

Freezing precipitation closed area schools and shut down the North Freeway near Spring. About 38,000 homes went without power during the ice storm.

But people need to eat, and Domino's didn't fail to deliver.

Here's what one manager told the Chronicle's Thom Marshall in its Feb. 8 editions:

"Our business is up 300 percent because of the ice," said Michael Bilyeu, manager of the Domino's at Bissonnet at South Rice.

"I've worked 50 hours since Friday," he said Tuesday, while on his way to make two deliveries.

J.R. Gonzales, a third-generation Houstonian, covers local history with an eye toward the people and events that have mostly been forgotten to time. Follow him through Bayou City History on Facebook and Twitter. He can be reached at 713-362-6163 or john.gonzales@chron.com.