Table of Contents COURTSIDE STORIES INTRODUCING Table of Contents BEGINNING LAUNCH SEQUENCE 8 SEEKING THE PROMISED LAND 16 HOUSTON’S TWIN TOWERS 22 THE ROCKETS BLAST OFF 30 BACK DOWN TO EARTH 38 INDEX 48 COURTSIDE STORIES THE PUNCH 11 CHOKE CITY TO CLUTCH CITY 21 FROM SHADOW TO SPOTLIGHT 24 A CHAMPIONSHIP OVERDUE 27 LEARNING FROM THE BEST 32 CREATING BRAND AWARENESS 44 INTRODUCING MOSES MALONE 13 CALVIN MURPHY 15 ROBERT REID 19 HAKEEM OLAJUWON 29 RUDY TOMJANOVICH 35 YAO MING 41
BEGINNING LAUNCH SEQUENCE JOHNSON SPACE CENTER HAS TRAINED AND SUPERVISED SPACE EXPLORERS FOR 50-SOME YEARS BEGINNING LAUNCH SEQUENCE 8
In the 1830s Texas was a battleground Mexico did not want to let go of its territory but American settlers called Texians revolted In the Battle of San Jacinto General Sam Houston led the Texians in a definitive rout of the Mexican army and negotiated the independence of Texas Just months later the city of Houston broke ground a few miles from the battle site Over time the city’s industries shipping railroads and oil thrived and Houston grew rapidly Today it is America’s fourth-largest city and home to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s NASA Johnson Space Center the headquarters for America’s astronaut training program Not long after the NASA center was established in 1961 a new National Basketball Association NBA team was assembled in San Diego California The 1967 expansion team was named the Rockets because San Diego was RUDY TOMJANOVICH 9
