Berry Tramel
OKLAHOMA CITY — Allene Bottom has lived most of her life on a farm outside Hammon, in Oklahoma’s Roger Mills County, hard by the Texas Panhandle. Hammon is 118 miles from downtown Oklahoma City.
Bottom missed a Thunder game this season. But only one, and that was due to a snowstorm. She’s 88 years old and uses a wheelchair, but Bottom was in the Paycom Center on Sunday night when the Thunder brought an NBA championship to Oklahoma.
“I love this team,” Bottom said. “They are fantastic. Every one of them. All of them. They stick together like glue.”
In Bottom’s social circles, which consist primarily of folks from Hammon and Elk City, 18 miles to the south, everyone is a Thunder fan. Oh, maybe not everyone. Bottom estimated eight or nine out of 10, then recalibrated and said nine is more likely than eight.
People are also reading…
“It is very important,” Bottom said. “Everybody watches, whether they want to or not. I walk in; they’ll say, ‘They didn’t do so and so, they did so and so.’ Everybody knows that I go.”
The importance of the Thunder to Oklahoma City has been well-documented. A basketball franchise this successful has raised the global profile of OKC, be it business or media or even tourism. But the Thunder’s impact on the entire state is profound, too, and much of that impact is more internal than external.
“It brings the state together,” said Mike Merrill of Tulsa, who on the eve of Game 7 went to his 45-year reunion at Memorial High School. The prime topic of the Charger alumni? Not receding hairlines and old stories but the Thunder’s chances against the Pacers in Game 7, 24 hours later. “We’re all rooting. … It has galvanized the state, truly, and it’s been great to see.”
Joel Gilliland left his Ponca City home last week for his annual pilgrimage to Falls Creek for the Baptist youth camp in southern Oklahoma. He traditionally has been a counselor for his grandkids, which meant he and hordes of other Falls Creek workers and campers were scrambling to find good internet in the Arbuckle Mountains to stream Games 5 and 6.
“Everybody was talking about it last week,” Gilliland said.
“Just kind of brings everybody under the same umbrella. Having it be such a big thing — Oklahoma’s never had a professional championship.”
In a time of divided loyalties — political, Bedlam, geographic — the Thunder indeed brings most every Oklahoman together.
“Everybody I know up here’s a Thunder fan,” Gilliland said of Kay County, which hugs the Kansas state line more than 100 miles north of Oklahoma City. “Everybody wears Thunder gear.
“Even people just sort of on the edge of fandom, sports in general, just something about how this has pulled people together. If you’re not a big fan, you know someone who is.”
NBA Finals Pacers Thunder Basketball
Fans watch the first half of Game 7 of the NBA Finals basketball series between the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder in Oklahoma City on Sunday. Kyle Phillips, Associated Press
Promoting Oklahoma
Ameil Shadid and his wife attended the Thunder-New York Knickerbockers game on Jan. 3. A few days later, he would have his second interview for a job at the state chamber of commerce.
Shadid looked around the Paycom Center that night, saw not just the packed house and those glorious Knick uniforms and the wondrous Thunder players but people from every ethnicity and, he assumes, every background.
“I didn’t know their story,” Shadid said. “But I know they came to support the Thunder and partake in our state. And wow. It all hit me. I looked around, and I thought to myself how far we’ve come as a state. Just kind of put it in my pocket.”
That next Monday, Shadid was interviewed by State Chamber President Chad Warmington and Chief Operating Officer Carla Schaeperkoetter. They asked why he wanted to work with the State Chamber.
“I said, ‘It hit me: I love my state,’” Shadid said. “‘I love the fact that we have an NBA franchise that no matter what your undergrad degree is in, no matter where you work, what industry you’re in, everybody is Thunder Up. It’s the ultimate equalizer, in a good way, for our state.
“We have a wonderful state. Now we’re getting to showcase it to anyone and everyone. Whether it be business or industry or healthcare, it’s all encompassing.”
Shadid got the job.
Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, who grew up in Tulsa and graduated from Metro Christian Academy and Oral Roberts University, lauded Thunder leadership for extending its marketing throughout the state. For example, the Thunder Fellows program is set up in Tulsa’s Greenwood District to unlock new opportunities in sports, entertainment and technology for young people.
“I truly feel like it’s Oklahoma’s team,” Pinnell said. He even referenced the state outline on some Thunder jerseys. “They’ve done wonders to bringing the whole state together and get the whole state behind the team.”
Cherokee Impact
“The visibility has increased for our state,” said Tulsan Chris Benge, a former speaker of the House of Representatives and Oklahoma secretary of state, who is now the vice president of operations at OSU Tech in Okmulgee. “From an economic perspective, it has brought potential business development that we wouldn’t have the opportunity to. We’ve upped our game. Both urban areas. We just get to show ourselves really well to the nation that we couldn’t have 20 years ago.” Tom Gilbert, Tulsa World Archive
Chris Benge, a Webster High School graduate who went on to become Speaker of the House of Representatives and Oklahoma’s secretary of state, now is vice president of operations at OSU Tech in Okmulgee. And a huge Thunder fan.
Benge said something as innocuous as the crawl of scores and information along the bottom of ESPN telecasts is a massive windfall for the state.
“The visibility has increased for our state,” he said. “From an economic perspective, it has brought potential business development that we wouldn’t have the opportunity to. We’ve upped our game. Both urban areas. We just get to show ourselves really well to the nation that we couldn’t have 20 years ago.”
Pinnell said he’s visited almost 30 states since becoming lieutenant governor 6½ years ago and that the small talk has shifted heavily toward the Thunder in recent years.
Pinnell quoted former Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, who said, “You are who your sports team plays.”
“I thought that was very well put,” Pinnell said. “Oklahoma has a team that’s playing New York; we’re playing LA, not just competing against Wichita and Bentonville, not competing in Triple-A markets.
“That’s a huge win for the state of Oklahoma. Oklahoma versus the world now. The earned media opportunities in these games helps us have conversations with cranky CEOs looking to relocate, and now they’re looking at Oklahoma. Some of that is due to the Thunder.”
NBA Finals Pacers Thunder Basketball
Fans cheer before Game 7 of the NBA Finals basketball series between the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday. Nate Billings, Associated Press
Tulsa versus OKC
For decades, Tulsa and Oklahoma City had a rivalry. Economically. Culturally. Athletically.
Four decades ago, Tulsa got the Oklahoma Outlaws of the upstart United States Football League, and the Tulsa Roughnecks won the North American Soccer League championship when the NASL was shiny and new.
But over the years, Oklahoma City grew, built new facilities before Tulsa did and soon enough was in the running for a National Hockey League franchise before landing the NBA.
“There’s no real rivalry,” said Merrill, the Memorial graduate. “Let’s be honest: It’s shifted to Oklahoma City. Much bigger place, … three major highways. No use crying about it.”
Benge noted that the Tulsa and Oklahoma City chambers of commerce work much more closely than they did in previous generations. Benge credits the longtime relationship between former Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum and current Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt along with the Thunder as the genesis of that endeavor.
Some Tulsans were put off by the decision to call the franchise the Oklahoma City Thunder, citing the Minnesota Timberwolves, Utah Jazz, Indiana Pacers and the old New Jersey Nets franchises that went with the state name.
But Oklahoma City taxpayers voted for the sales tax that funded a major-league arena, so the city deserved to have the marketing splurge that goes with having its name on an NBA franchise. And besides, dignitaries from ESPN’s Malika Andrews to coaches Rick Carlisle (Pacers) and Doc Rivers (Milwaukee Bucks) routinely call the Thunder “Oklahoma,” anyway.
And it’s only natural that all Oklahomans would migrate to the state’s first major-league sports franchise. Thunder officials have estimated that over the franchise’s history, 6% to 8% of any particular Thunder game is populated by Tulsa County residents. And Thunder officials have said they are open to a regular-season game in Tulsa’s BOK Center.
“The Thunder unquestionably has brought Tulsa and Oklahoma City sports fans together,” Pinnell said. “That turnpike was already busy. I assure you it’s even busier going down to some of these games.”
Kristin Chenoweth, the Broadway and television star who grew up in Broken Arrow, sang a rousing national anthem before Game 7.
Tulsan Tyler Lockett, a 10-year Seattle Seahawks wide receiver who now is with the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League, is among the most ardent Thunder fans, constantly tweeting about the team.
“Game 7 in Oklahoma!! This is big for our state!!” Lockett tweeted 35 minutes before tipoff Sunday night.
Oklahomans from all corners can agree on the benefits of the Thunder.
For decades, Oklahoma historians and sociologists have talked about how Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” and OU football helped the state pull out of the inferiority complex caused by the Dust Bowl.
“We were all worried,” Merrill said of the NBA Finals going to a deciding Game 7. “We lived through the Dust Bowl, hardscrabble. We gotta see it through, right? It’s important for the mental well-being of the state.
“It’s been great. It’s been huge. It’s not just Oklahoma City’s team.”
Benge recalled hearing George Nigh speak. Nigh, now 98, is one of Oklahoma’s greatest promoters. He served as governor for eight years and lieutenant governor for 16 years.
Nigh called it “The Grapes of Wrath” effect. Oklahoma came from poor beginnings. Struggled its first 30 years as a state.
“That was something that was kind of still in our bones,” Benge summarized. “Sometimes we criticize ourselves and hold ourselves back because of that.
“We’re pretty close-knit, anyway. As much as 4 million can be. I think, too, we have more confidence as a state. A confidence that sometimes we’ve lacked over the years. With the Thunder and everything that has brought to our state, it has given us a chance to believe in ourselves.”
A chance to believe in each other.
“No matter what corner of the state you’re in, you’re all in for the Thunder,” said Shadid, now senior vice president of revenue and development for the State Chamber. “I wish my parents could see what the state looks like now, from the way they lift up this franchise. It’s remarkable. One of the coolest things about our state, in my 46 years of being alive.”
Now Oklahoma’s team is the NBA champion.
And 88-year-old Allene Bottom?
“I already have season tickets for next year.”
berry.tramel@tulsaworld.com
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