Father and son Mike and Nate Worden of Burien attended the SuperSonics rally June 14 at Occidental Park. Nate works for his father at his company, A.C. Propeller Service.
Thousands of Seattle SuperSonics NBA fans converged on Occidental Park in Pioneer Square June 14 to cheer their favorite former players, Detlef Schrempf, Slick Watts, Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, Nate Robinson and others, and boo their least favorite team, the Oklahoma City Thunder. Their mantra, "We want our team back!" And for two hours it seemed like they got their wish.
Taking the stage at the organized rally between 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. were, in addition to the players, arena investor Chris Hansen, arena supporter, King County Executive Dow Constantine and other politicians, and musical performers Common Market, the Presidents of the United States of America and the Blue Scholars. Emcee was Kevin Calabro, play-by-play announcer and talk show host for 710 ESPN Radio Seattle.
The rally was organized by Hansen and his group, www.sonicsarena.com (Sonics Arena), which promotes tweeting, petitioning, letter-writing, and creating a video to direct your support for the return of the SuperSonics to City and County Council members.
Hansen has proposed a public-private partnership to build a multipurpose arena in Seattle’s Sodo neighborhood, south of the Safeco Field parking garage. He has asked the city and county to contribute a collective $200 million in public loans, to be paid off by taxes on the arena. His investment group would put up $800 million to help fund construction and to acquire NBA and NHL franchises.
Before taking the stage, Slick Watts told the Highline Times, "We've got to keep the people interested so that the City Council can understand that we've got fan support, and that's the key. And this is really good today."
He added, "My son Donald still coaches at West Seattle High School."
Claus Clifton from Tukwila attended the rally. "I am here to show my support for the Sonics," he said. "I was at the courthouse four years ago. That was a wild time. And Clay Bennett slipped out the back door. He's the owner of the Oklahoma City Thunder. He's the bad guy. Hopefully we'll get the team back toy what it was."
Father and son Mike and Nate Worden of Burien also attended. Nate works for his father at his company, A.C. Propeller Service.
"We've been longtime Sonics fans, longtime season ticket holders, great memories," said Mike. "Like the '95, '96 season, two of us sitting together. I'm optimistic they'll come back."
"I remember going to the old Coliseum before it became the Key Arena," said Nate, a Highline High School, class of 2003 grad. "I want to get my hopes up. But I've gotten my hopes up before and they've been crushed. Still, I am very optimistic they will return."
"It's long past time we are able to tell the leaders of this region that we need to bring this team back," said Alki resident Mike Barbre. "We got messed, scr**ed out of our team and we're here to bring it back (...) There are so many levels of blame to go around. I think (former Sonics owner) Howard Schultz was bitter that he wasn't getting the Key Arena upgrades he asked for. I think his lack of a relationship with the leaders of the on-floor team, mainly Gary Payton, was not tip-top. And he wasn't getting the support of the City officials.
"In my opinion, he decided to knowingly go after the people he knew would piss off our region the most," he added. "Schultz being the baby he was sold the team to Oklahoma. And I think Chris Hansen is the owner that everybody wants. He's one of us. I've never been the biggest hockey fan but I tell you what. If we bring an NHL quality team here, I'm an instant fan. This is a hockey town waiting to happen."
"We need our SuperSonics back in Seattle!," shouted Dow Constantine to a cheering crowd from the stage. "Bob Ferguson is working with Lenny Wilkins to help make this happen for the city."
He introduced others on stage with him who are also enthusiastic supporters, including Seattle City Council member Bruce Harrell, Washington State Representative Eric Pettigrew, Attorney General Rob McKenna, former Seattle and King County Council member Jan Drago.
"These and many others are the 'can-do people' who believe we can make something good happen," he said. "There are some others, the 'can't-do people'. We have can-do people like Chris Hansen (...) This is a solid deal and a good thing for our community."