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Houston Rockets Tickets |
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In 1971, real estate broker Wayne Duddleston and banker Billy Goldberg bought the franchise for $5.6 million and relocated the team from San Diego, where there was a lack of fan support (the majority of San Diego were Los Angeles Lakers fans), to Houston, Texas, the home town of Hayes. The Rockets had originally been named for San Diego's slogan at the time, "A City in Motion." However, with the move to Houston, their nickname took on even greater relevance. The Rockets began playing at the Astrodome and AstroHall, both in Houston, the HemisFair Arena, in San Antonio, the Hofheinz Pavilion, on the University of Houston campus, and at Waco. However, fan support was also scarce in the football and baseball-dominated city, and the Rockets averaged less than 5000 fans per game the first season. A local legend has it that some days the local churches in Waco drew more people than the Rockets. Despite this, the team played well, acquiring two promising young players in Calvin Murphy and Rudy Tomjanovich. Early in the 2000 season Barkley ruptured the quadriceps tendon in his left knee in a game against Philadelphia. To suffer a season (and hence career) ending injury against Philadelphia, his first NBA team, was almost surreal. When considering his career-ending injury, Barkley displayed his trademark wit by observing, "I'm just what America needs - another unemployed black man." Barkley would go on to rehab and make a token appearance towards the end of the season. With injuries to Barkley and Olajuwon, the rebuilt Rockets went 34-48 and missed the playoffs, but the future wasn't bright.
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