Retired NBA legend Karl Malone is officially in business in El Dorado and has wasted no time in reaching out and giving back to the community.
Friday, Malone joined Jeff Teague at the Teague Toyota-Chevrolet store on West Hillsboro to hold a press conference announcing their twin donations to a fund the two started to assist the six injured victims of the February fire at Delek’s El Dorado refinery.
The Karl Malone Auto Group now manages both the Teague Toyota-Chevrolet and Ford-Lincoln dealerships.
Malone and Teague each contributed $20,000 to the fund and presented personal checks during the press conference.
“In a nutshell, [Teague] and I, along with my partner Andy Madsen, decided to kick off this fundraiser. We have six workers - five made it home but have a long road ahead to get better - and one still in the ICU on a ventilator. This is about coming together as a community and helping. A lot of people say that, but to start something like this, somebody has to write the first checks,” Malone said.
Teague gave brief background that doubled as an announcement of Malone’s purchase of Teague’s El Dorado dealerships.
“This started probably a few weeks ago when we entered into an asset purchase agreement with Karl Malone and his team. [They] bought the dealerships of Teague Ford-Lincoln and Teague Chevrolet Toyota,” Teague said.
Teague said Malone learned about the refinery fire and came to him with the idea for a fundraiser.
“In this process, Karl and I got to know each other and have become good friends, and Karl let me know about the situation that happened at Delek… These six men who were injured in this fire have a long road of recovery ahead, and Karl approached me and asked if I want to participate. I’ve been in this town for 31 years and it has been very, very good to our employees and the Teague family. I think it’s very fitting that, as we’re parting, selling out and handing the baton over, this is something we can do to help those people who need help right now,” Teague said.
Malone went on to announce that a jambalaya plate benefit will be held on April 8 in the Toyota-Chevrolet dealership’s parking lot, with a specific time and more details forthcoming.
“Our goal is to raise as much money as we can… Every dollar that is raised — if it’s $100, it’ll be split six ways. It isn’t going to the group that put it together… We’re hoping the community gets behind this as well,” Malone said
Malone and Teague also encouraged local businesses and banks to participate in the fund.
“We want the whole community to be a part of this… [Karl and I] want to be the catalyst by which more money is raised. I think I can probably talk to the managers at Citizens Bank, even though we don’t have a branch here. I would ask the other banks here in town to consider it… I think it would be a good faith effort for those institutions - that are very capable - to help six families that are in dire need,” Teague said.
Teague is chairman of the board of Citizens Bank in Batesville.
Malone briefly detailed his connection to Union County before talking about his motivation in pursuing the fundraiser.
“I used to spend my summers training [at] a ranch I have out here in Norphlet… I’m from here, really; they say north Louisiana, south Arkansas. But I want people to understand that this is not for us, it’s for the whole community. It’s one thing to talk about it and another to be about it, so that’s what this is all about. All these banks out here, why not $20,000?” Malone said.
The fund, which Malone said will be officially started “very shortly,” is held at Simmons Bank in El Dorado.
“It’s not about a dollar amount. If you come in here with your piggy bank, somebody is going to count it and it’s going in that account. We’re calling out the banks because we know what they can do, but anybody [can help],” Malone said.