The Rockets were the first Texas-based NBA franchise.
How did the Houston Rockets come to be? It all started on the West Coast, in San Diego, specifically.
Courtesy: Vintage Card Prices
The National Basketball Association (NBA) was growing, and the league looked to expand in the West. San Diego was the location selected due to its economy and population base. Robert Breitbard paid $1.75 million to start an NBA expansion team. The year was 1967.
Pat Riley (later of Lakers and Heat fame) was the first selection in the 1967 Expansion Draft. But the team didn’t win many games in its inaugural season (67 losses).
Elvin Hayes, Calvin Murphy, and Rudy Tomjanovich came on board the following year–the players who would later lead the Houston Rockets to two NBA championships.
In 1971 the league was ready for a change because of the team’s poor performance and low game attendance. Robert Breitbard sold the team to Texas Sports Investments for $5.6 million. TSI moved the team to Houston–the first NBA team to be located in The Lone Star State.
The Rockets played for many years at The Summit (photo, TigerDroppings)
TSI kept the team nickname, “Rockets,” because of Houston’s long history with the space industry. And, soon thereafter, the Rockets unveiled the classic Red and Yellow logo that every basketball fan in Houston knows.
Back then the Rockets didn’t have a permanent home, so the team played in different arenas, including the Astrodome, AstroHall, Sam Houston Coliseum, and Hofheinz Pavilion at the University of Houston. In 1975 the Rockets moved to their new home, The Summit (later The Compaq Center).
The team later moved to The Toyota Center, where it plays today.
