Halloween is a family affair for the Franks family of Fort Worth.
For a decade or more, the family has gone all out dressing up as some of their favorite characters. It's not just the three kids Eli, 13, Eden, 11 and Elle, 8, who get into costume. Mom Danika and Dad Chauncey are in it, too, with mom perhaps having the most fun.
They've transformed into characters from Harry Potter to Scooby Doo to super heroes from Marvel Comics with The Black Panther getting top billing. Two years ago, the family recreated the characters from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Danika and Chauncey Franks introduced their three children to the 1990s sitcom as COVID gripped the country and people stayed close to home.
The Today Show even picked the family for its Plazaween celebration. Viewers were asked to vote on the best costumes, and the winners were invited to be on the show. The Franks didn't get the call to the Plaza but the country saw how they embraced the Halloween celebration.
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The choice of costume is a family affair with the discussion and planning starting six months prior to the day.
The family found the inspiration for this year's theme on a tennis court that came with the house they recently bought. The Chaunceys chose to honor Black tennis legends.
"My two two daughters are Venus and Serena Williams. My husband Chauncey is their father. I am Althea Gibson, an amazing tennis star from back in the 1950s. My son, Eili, is Arthur Ashe, an amazing tennis star from the 80s," Danika Franks said.
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The tribute to Black tennis legends will go beyond Halloween with a new nonprofit the Franks founded called The Courtside Ministry.
"We just started imaging what can we do this. How can we expose this sport to our kids and more over, how is this sport exposed to young people? Is that equitable? Is it fair? And, so we've been working the past two years on a program that will introduce the sport of tennis especially to Black and brown children in communities here in Fort Worth," Danika Franks said.
Making tennis more accessible is one part of the idea with the hope to launch programming next spring. The other part of The Courtside Ministry is to host students from TCU where Chauncey Franks is chaplain for the football team and oversees the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at TCU.
