15th Annual “Roast N Toast” honors Joe Stephens

LULAC president/founder Cruz Hernandez, Jr. was the official host for the Roast, as Joe Stephens grins.
LULAC president/founder Cruz Hernandez, Jr. was the official host for the Roast, as Joe Stephens grins.
LULAC president/founder Cruz Hernandez, Jr. was the official host for the Roast, as Joe Stephens grins.

LULAC Council #4703 held their 15th Annual Roast N Toast last Thursday evening, and the honoree was local businessman, former basketball star, and president of the Galena Park school board, Joe Stephens. The dinner and roast were held at the Jacinto City Town Center.

Roasters & Toasters for the evening were State Rep. Ana Hernandez, Pct. 2 Constable Chris Diaz (also an honoree last year), Galena Park’s John Moore and Crystal Murray, and Joe’s cousin Dr. Cedrick Smith. As in any Roast, Joe’s foibles were exagerrated, but his accomplishments far outshone them. He was a basketball star in the GP 1991 state champion team,and later spent 4 years in the NBA with the Houston Rockets. He now concentrates on activities involving mentoring youth, and he received high praise from his Toaster for this quality. He want to continue work with youth, as a Justice of the Peace to follow Judge Mike Parrott next year, he says.

Joe was grinning, and grimacing, most of the evening as he heard of his life’s foibles, from childhood to today. He also was grinning because he was just a new father a few days before, his third daughter.