The Story of the Oklahoma City Thunder

The Story of the Oklahoma City Thunder — page 3 — LOOKING FOR A LEADER OKLAHOMA CITY IS HOME TO CORPORATIONS COLLEGES PARKS AND PRO SPORTS TEAMS 8 LOOKING FOR A LEADER

The Story of the Oklahoma City Thunder — page 4 — LENNY WILKENS The Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 was one of the strangest chapters of pioneering in United States history On the 22nd of April under pristine blue skies boomers and prospectors lined up if they hadn’t already been hiding out and making their claim unscrupulously at high noon and raced by horse and foot to claim some 2 million acres of land in an all-out burst for settlement The rush into the Unassigned Lands meant that many cities in what would someday become the state of Oklahoma were literally built in a day Included in this list were the towns of Stillwater Norman Guthrie and Oklahoma City Guthrie and Oklahoma City gained populations of some 10,000 pioneering folk in a single day most of whom camped out temporarily in tent cities While Guthrie was the front-runner to become Oklahoma’s 9

The Story of the Oklahoma City Thunder — page 5 — EXPLOSIVE SWINGMAN JOHN BRISKER WAS AN UNYIELDING ENFORCER capital it never grew and eventually ceded the status to Oklahoma City which now features a metropolitan area home to more than one million residents Washington’s largest city Seattle But just two years later the NBA approved the move and Oklahoma was the franchise’s destination Before the move to Oklahoma though the Another group rushed into town when a National Basketball Association NBA franchise formerly known as the Seattle SuperSonics came to Oklahoma City in 2008 Native Oklahoman Clay Bennett had purchased the team from Seattle businessman Howard Schultz the chief executive officer CEO of Starbucks Coffee in 2006 Bennett had bought the team on the condition that he would make a sincere effort to keep the team in the state of franchise was born into the NBA in 1967 in Seattle and spent four decades in the great city of the Pacific Northwest Seattle is home to the Boeing Company which builds some of the world’s largest jets and thus the team was named the SuperSonics in the powerful aircraft’s honor The Sonics colors of green white and gold were implemented and seemingly as fast as the speed of sound the new hoops team hit the hardwood 10

The Story of the Oklahoma City Thunder — page 6 — COURTSIDE STORIES Haywood’s Hardship From 1971 to 1975 SuperSonics fans were treated to the high-energy game of forward Spencer Haywood After growing up poor in Mississippi Haywood resolved to make a better way for his family and in 1969 as a 20-year-old who had played just 2 years of college ball he signed with the American Basketball Association’s ABA Denver Nuggets since the NBA didn’t allow underclassmen in its draft Following a long battle in court Haywood won a legal appeal to enter the NBA and came to Seattle in 1970 This led to the NBA’s hardship rule which allowed early draft entrance to players who could prove financial hardship Seattle fans loved Haywood’s rim-rocking style but on the road Haywood took some verbal abuse from those who thought he didn’t yet belong in the league I was in the court one day and on the court the next day and they were booing and throwing bottles at me he later recalled Kevin Garnett the 2004 NBA Most Valuable Player MVP and a former hardship case himself thanked Haywood in his MVP acceptance speech saying I’m forever grateful to him for leading the way 11 Haywood’s Hardship

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