Bond between Thunder, memorial runs deep
Justice Steven Taylor remembers watching Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant stand in the Oklahoma City National Memorial grounds over a decade ago, trying to process what they had just witnessed in the museum.
“That was (Thunder general manager) Sam (Presti's) whole purpose, was to get these players know something and have a feeling and an emotional bond with Oklahoma City,” said Taylor, who serves as the chairman of t he museum's board of trustees.
On Tuesday, the Thunder took the most visible steps of their long standing partnership with the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. The team unveiled its 2019-20 City Edition uniforms, which honor t hose affected by the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The Thunder and Nike partnered with the memorial a nd museum t o design the uniforms. The team also pledged to underwrite a new permanent exhibit on the Oklahoma Standard and fund free admission once a month in 2020.
But the Thunder's relationship with the memorial and museum dates back to 2008, when the team relocated from Seattle. Starting in October of that year, Presti made it a Thunder tradition to bring new players and staff members to the memorial and museum. He has also has served on the museum's executive board for seven years.
“He' s not just aboard member, he's a very active board member,” Taylor said.
The players Presti brings through the memorial and museum hear the 1995 recording from a Water Resources Board meeting interrupted by the bomb going off across the street.
They see twisted rubble from the Federal Building.
They watch video clips of Oklahomans who lost loved ones in the blast.
They read the stories of first responders. They track the evidence that helped investigators bring Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols to trial. They stand in the memorial, alongside 168 empty chairs, one for every life lost in the bombing, and they take it all in.
“The Thunder has been so good to Oklahoma City,” said Kim Neese, chair of the Memorial Conscience Committee, “and t hey understand what the mission of the memorial is and therefore they bring all their new players through here. And t hat's really humbling for a lot of us as survivors that they get the mission and therefore want to partner with us and do this uniform for the 25th anniversary, which is just amazing.”
Neese was working on the third floor of the Water Resources Board building on the morning of April 19, 1995. When the bomb went off, light fixtures and broken glass rained down around and on top of her. Two of her coworkers died on the same floor.
“That's one of the reasons I'm on the Conscience Committee,” she said, “is that I want to continue to honor those two lives that were lost because I'm fortunate that, though injured slightly, I survived, and I'm grateful.”
Oklahoma City Police Chief Wade Gourley also brought up how impressed he was that the Thunder brings its players on tours through the museum. Back in 1995 he arrived at the scene of the bombing as they were evacuating the building for a second bomb threat— it was a false alarm. He was assigned to the perimeter and remembers citizens showing up with cranes and water, anything they could offer to help.
“Now that they live here and represent Oklahoma City,” Gourley said of the Thunder players ,“it' s really good for them to see what Oklahoma City's all about.”
It took Gourley about 20 years to visit the memorial museum for the first time; he wasn't ready to relive the horrors of that day. But he was there on Tuesday to view the Thunder's new City uniform.
When new players come through the museum this season — there will be a lot of them in the next few years as the Thunder moves into a rebuild — those who join the Thunder before the temporary display comes down will walk past an exhibit explaining the meaning of their City uniform on their way to the elevator.
“As they rebuild, it's very symbolic of how we rebuilt our city,” Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum Executive Director Kari Watkins said .“It doesn't matter what player wears this, what matters is our story's being told.”