40 Years Ago

Today is the 40th anniversary of the first Sonics game, a 144-116 loss to the San Francisco Warriors.

David Andriesen of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has a thorough and excellent look back at that game, the first by a major pro sports team from Seattle. Included is a look at where several of those Sonics are now.

Along with the story, P-I columnist Jim Moore shares his memories of that expansion team and being a Sonics fan growing up in Seattle.

I went to several games, but I listened to all of them and looked forward to all of the broadcasts. Bob Blackburn was Kevin Calabro back then, and to me he is still the voice of the Sonics, the original voice, the man who was in my bedroom night after rainy night.

I sat at my desk and kept score on sheets of legal paper. I would write down each player, put a bunch of 2s next to his name and circle each 2 every time the player made a shot. A lot of circled 2s followed Walt Hazzard's and (Bob) Rule's names. They didn't have 3-pointers then.

Great work by the P-I. Make sure to go give it a look.