Rings For Reggie Chaney — A Touching UH Basketball Tribute Shines On a Day With Sampson Fab 5 Visions, Everywhere Eddie, a Kelvin-Tank Mashup and Steady Willie Fritz

Any day when Reggie Chaney is honored cannot be a bad day. That’s why even as a malaise settled over TDECU Stadium after Donovan Smith’s third quarter pick-6, the University of Houston’s basketball players couldn’t help but still smile. For each of them carried a sparkling Big 12 championship ring in a blue box. The glittering gold and dazzling diamonds on the ring shine, but the numbers engraved on the inside mean so much more to these Cougar champions.

That would be 32. For Reggie Chaney, the forever teammate who defines toughness and selflessness for Kelvin Sampson’s program. Chaney died much too young, at age 23, just months after playing his last game for the Cougars in his No. 32 jersey in 2023. Houston’s Big 12 champions dedicated last season to Chaney’s memory, with so many of the UH players having been teammates and friends of Chaney’s — and even those who hadn’t being touched by him.

So yes, that 32 on the inside of these hunking rings means everything.

“He’s my brother,” UH center Ja’Vier Francis says simply when asked about Chaney. “He’s all of our brothers. It means a lot. To have that three two on the ring means a lot.”

Reggie Chaney had to be part of these championship rings. Lauren Sampson, Houston’s do-everything director of basketball operations who spearheads the design of these rings, made sure he is.

“My favorite part of this one is the three two that they have on it for Reggie,” Ryan Elvin, the beloved UH walk-on turned NCAA Tournament hero turned first-year grad assistant, tells PaperCity. “Because he was with us every step of the way.

“He was a big part of this team, That extra motivation. I feel it’s only right that they paid that respect to him and having that three two on the ring is awesome.”

Elvin and Chaney were exceptional close, and their moms Deirdre Elvin and Chandra Chaney are still super close. When Ryan Elvin calls this his favorite championship ring — and when you play basketball four years for Kelvin Sampson you have a number to choose from — it’s no surprise.

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The design of the rings did catch the Houston players a little off guard. The Saturday of this first football game is the first time the UH players saw the rings.

“Lauren and everybody always does a great job of putting a lot of work and details into them,” Elvin says. “And they always surprise us with something. It’s great. These are possessions we’ll have forever that we can show our kids and families.”

UH’s Larger Future Power

UH basketball getting its Big 12 championships rings on the same day that Willie Fritz coaches his first football game for Houston is symbolic of the bright things that are happening on this campus in the heart of America’s fourth largest city. Yes, Fritz’s first game turns into a dud, a 27-7 loss to UNLV that sees the Cougar offense shut out for the first 59 minutes of the 60 minute contest.

But sometimes you need to look deeper to see the story that is developing, the progress that’s all around.

“My favorite part of this one is the three two that they have on it for Reggie. Because he was with us every step of the way.” — Ryan Elvin on UH basketball’s championship Reggie rings

Those sparkling championship rings with a larger meaning on the inside are one sign. So is the fact that Chris Cenac Jr., the sixth ranked player in the entire nation in the ESPN 2025 Top 100, is there to watch them get awarded. Cenac gets to see what forever will be the first University of Houston team to ever win a Big 12 title get honored on the field too with graduate senior power forward J’Wan Roberts bringing all the swag with his shades.

Cenac models his own game after LA Lakers star Anthony Davis and when his dad, Chris Cenac Sr., introduces himself and reaches out to shake your hand you can feel the potential power that Cenac Jr, a 6-foot-10 inside-outside threat, could be able to add under the kind of next level strength program that Alan Bishop runs for Sampson at UH.

Talking to PaperCity on his own this weekend, Cenac Jr. mentions how this Houston coaching staff recognizing his potential early, before many other marquee programs, means something. UH coaches started showing up at Cenac’s games in his ninth grade season with associate head coach Quannas White leading a recruitment that reached the official visit stage this weekend.

“They’ve been recruiting me for a while,” Cenac Jr. tells PaperCity. “So that’s meant a lot. They’ve been reaching out a lot. Showing a lot of love. So I’m going to give them a chance.”

For the No. 1 ranked high school center in America’s father, the equation is simpler. “Having this coaching staff,” Chris Cenac Sr says. “The coaching staff is why we’re looking at Houston. And the winning program they have.”

Chris Cenac Jr. is not the only five star recruit Houston basketball is in on with this 2025 class. UH is also majorly in on talented two-way guard Isiah Harwell, the eighth ranked overall player in the 2025 class by both On3 and Rivals. Top 25 point guard Kingston Flemings and Houston area high school power forward John Clark, a Top 50 nationally ranked player, also have Sampson’s University of Houston program very high on their lists. Bellaire forward Shelton Henderson, a Top 30 player, puts UH among his top six. Kelvin Sampson could be signing his own version of a Houston historic Fab 5 class if absolutely everything falls into place.

While UH basketball always tends to be the brightest shining light at UH, it’s not the only one. You just need to look a little deeper. And notice Dave Rehr’s women’s volleyball team is off to an impressive 2-0 start with its home opener set for this Thursday night at Fertitta Center.

And while Willie Fritz faces a major rebuild in football and a talent deficit he’s working to address with a recruiting blitz, much of it centered in the Houston area, he’s already brought some of the joy back to UH football. This can be seen in the packed and lively student section for the season opener, with more than 6,600 student tickets gobbled up. That’s more student tickets claimed than for any game of Dana Holgorsen’s last season.

The Willie Fritz Houston Fotball Challenge

Building on that first game enthusiasm even after 27-7 will be key. That’s part of new athletic director Eddie Nuñez’s job. Nuñez seems to be everywhere on this first football Saturday of his Houston tenure, dropping in on more tailgates than Will Farrell and the gang in Old School. Andy Yanez, the excellent young reporter who still churns out compelling content while working full time as a high school teacher and basketball coach, even catches Nuñez delivering a colorful pregame pep talk to the Spirit of Houston band.

Everywhere Eddie is certainly making an early impression.

“Eddie is no bullshit,” a prominent Houston booster who’s already had dinner with Nuñez tells PaperCity. “He’s not going to be afraid to make changes to get things done.”

This 27-7 loss to a UNLV program that won nine games last year in Barry Odom’s first season in Las Vegas is no mirage. Willie Fritz has a giant job in front of him. This first Fritz season isn’t about winning a certain number of games as much as it’s about this joy creator getting his expectations and standards in place with the players. Kelvin Sampson told PaperCity earlier this summer how he probably could have won more games in his first 13-19 Houston season, but he knew establishing his culture would mean so much more in the long run. Sampson put culture over winning in that first season. And still does today.

“He’s my brother. He’s all of our brothers. It means a lot. To have that three two on the ring means a lot.” — UH center Ja’Vier Francis on the Reggie Chaney championship rings

There is only one Kelvin Sampson and expecting Willie Fritz to be one of the greatest coaches in college football history like Sampson is in college basketball rings completely unrealistic. But consistency in approach is one thing that matters, one trait that most good coaches share. And after seeing his team commit the kind of penalties and missed tackles he’s harped against since he arrived at Houston with his Coogs Don’t Beat Coogs mantra, Fritz is the same guy after this loss.

Still largely measured. Still level headed. Still Willie.

“Poor job coaching as a head coach,” Fritz says. “Poor job from my assistant coaches. And poor job playing. I didn’t see much good out there. We didn’t tackle really well in the beginning of the game. . . And offensively, boy we had a hard time protecting.”

UH billionaire believer Tilman Fertitta stays afer many others leave in the wake of that deflating third quarter Pick-6, continuing to watch from his seats outside of the air-conditioned club. No one’s turning their back on Willie Fritz.

It’s a serious downer of a night after all the excitement of the day. But there’s more happening at the University of Houston. Take Tank Dell, the Cougar game changer turned Houston Texans receiving star, and Kelvin Sampson pulling each other into a hug in the pregame. That’s a Houston mashup worthy of Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent’s legendary team-up. Dell promotes UH better than almost anyone, serving as a pro athlete pied piper to other big-time player like Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud, and Sampson stands as the bedrock of so much national attention for this make-it-happen university in the Third Ward.

Like with those rings for Reggie, that’s another pure UH moment. Of course, some moments carry extra special meaning.

“We always think about Reggie,” Francis says. “So it’s cool that this ring keeps him close to us too.”

The placement of that 32 is not accidental. It’s on the inside of the ring. In the center. Where skin actually touches.