The Dallas Mavericks found the Ritz-Carlton Hotel to be the perfect place to be on March 21st as the NBA team celebrated by supporting the community at the 4th Annual Dallas Mavericks Foundation Tux & Tennies Gala, presented by Stanford Private Wealth Management. The event was a huge success with over Five Hundred Thousand Dollars being raised for the foundation.

The event was emceed by Dallas Mavericks guard Jason “The Jet Is On the Runway” Terry who showed that there is a network job waiting for him when his career has ended. He was assisted at the microphone by team President and CEO Turdema Ussery. All of the Dallas Mavericks players were in attendance. Also in attendance was Todd Wagner, former Broadcast.com partner of Mark Cuban and head honcho of 2929 Entertainment. Todd is also a philanthropist in his own right through The Todd Wagner Foundation. Also in attendance were former Dallas Mavs Eric Strickland, Rolando Blackman and Popeye Jones.

The Live Auction was the highlight of the night with Professional Auctioneer and President of United Country Auction Services officiating over the hilarious and spirited bidding. Auctioneer Jones, mixed it up with Terry and at times would prompt “The Jet” to encourage his fellow NBA players to “bid it up” to help those who needed help the most. Between the two of them, they were able to bring in over $200,000 with just four items. These were certainly not average items though and the bidding was spirited. One of the most beautiful items ever offered in a fundraising event was a one of a kind full size Swarovski Crystal Basketball autographed by league MVP Dirk Nowitzki which sold for $64,000, an evening with Jerry and Ramira Stackhouse at Dean Fearing’s new restaurant Fearings followed by a night at the Dallas Ritz-Carlton sold for $27,000, a rare collector bottle of Hennessey cognac brought in a whopping $20,000 but the highlight of the Live Auction was an MVP basketball clinic with 2007 NBA MVP Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd and assistant coach Joe Prunty which fetched an evening high $100,000.

The night was fun and meaningful for everyone as Mark Cuban’s Dallas Mavericks Foundation was able to make significant contributions to Texas Scottish Rite Hospital- received funding to purchase adapted daily living and mobility equipment., Vogel Alcove-received funding for their play therapy for homeless children, YMCA of Metropolitan Fort Worth-received funding for their New Lives/New Beginnings Childcare Program, Spirit Horse Therapeutic Riding Center-received funding to purchase adapted daily living and mobility equipment horseback riding lessons and scholarships for children with disabilities, Community Partners of Dallas-received funding to help stock their Rainbow Room which serves more than 6,000 youth annually ages 0-17, The Family Place-received funding with new playground equipment and Kidney Texas-received funding for Camp Reynal at Camp John Marc in Meridian, Texas.