R&B; and QB Were Brought Together

Fats Domino and his family spent two days with Louisiana State University quarterback JaMarcus Russell after being rescued from the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina.

“I’m not sure where they are headed, but I just feel better knowing that they are OK,” a university news release quoted Russell as saying Friday.

The 77-year-old R&B; singer and his family are friends of the family of Russell’s girlfriend, university spokesman Michael Bonnette said.

“It was kind of a friend of a friend thing,” he said.

Domino was rescued by boat Monday, the day the hurricane struck.

He was taken to the Superdome, Bonnette said, where he eventually was put on a bus to an evacuee triage center that had been set up in the university’s basketball arena.

Domino, who had checked in under his given name of Antoine Domino, was reunited there with his family. The family and a dozen other people from New Orleans then went to Russell’s apartment just off the university campus.

Russell had been on the lookout for them and finally made contact with them Wednesday night, Bonnette said.

The news release quoted Domino as thanking Russell and saying: “Tell the people of New Orleans that I’m safe. I wish I was able to still be there with them, but I hope to see them soon.”