BREAKING NEW GROUND THE CITY OF DALLAS TEXAS HAS A HISTORY OF SUCCESSFUL PRO SPORTS TEAMS BREAKING NEW GROUND 8
When the United States was expanding westward in the early 1800s settlers often had little means of acquiring necessary supplies Recognizing this risk-taking entrepreneurs would sometimes strike out ahead of the crowds and develop outposts where the settlers could buy supplies recuperate from hard travel and experience some measure of civilization in the Old West John Neely Bryan was one such entrepreneur and he developed the town of Dallas Texas in 1839 As years passed Dallas evolved from a small-scale trading farming and ranching settlement into a major distribution center for the oil and cotton industries Today the Dallas Fort Worth Arlington area comprises the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the U S and is the base camp for companies such as MARK AGUIRRE 9
SINCE THEIR VERY FIRST TIPOFF THE MAVS HAVE ENJOYED A LOYAL FAN BASE IN TEXAS ExxonMobil Texas Instruments and Frito-Lay As the population of the Dallas area steadily increased so did the desire for various forms of sports and recreation In 1960 the National Football League’s Dallas Cowboys were created Twelve years later the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball moved into Arlington Businessman Donald J Carter believed the area’s avid fan base could support another pro sports club and pushed to get a National Basketball Association NBA franchise created in Dallas The 1980 expansion club was named the Mavericks a term that can describe either independent-thinking people or rogue cattle and Dallas’s history involved plenty of both The Mavericks hoped to combine innovative thinking with bullish power as they headed into their first season Their head coach was Dick Motta who had led the Washington Bullets to the NBA championship three seasons earlier 10
Two for the Price of One Each year every team in the NBA puts a lot of thought and research into its first-round pick in the NBA Draft The higher the pick the more important it is In 1980 the Dallas Mavericks were granted the 11th overall draft selection which in theory meant they could get the 11th-best player available from the college ranks and make him the cornerstone of their new franchise The Mavs chose high-scoring forward Kiki Vandeweghe from UCLA Vandeweghe however had no intention of signing with a fledgling franchise and immediately demanded to be traded It was a tough blow to take but the Mavericks set out to make the best of the situation In December 1980 they traded the rights to Vandeweghe plus their 1986 first-round draft choice to the Nuggets for two future first-round draft picks With those picks the Mavs selected guard Rolando Blackman in 1981 and center Sam Perkins in 1984 Perkins became a solid performer at forward for six years in Dallas and as of 2014 Blackman was the second-most prolific scorer in Mavericks history COURTSIDE STORIES Two for the Price of One SAM PERKINS 11
