<i>Went Hubbard Honored; Talons Thank the Fans</i>

WALL OF FAME: August 3 was a great night at Drillers Stadium as former Drillers owner Went Hubbard and former Drillers and current Detroit Tigers pitcher Kenny Rogers were inducted into the Drillers/Crown Bristow Wall of Fame. From left at the home plate ceremony are current Drillers owner Chuck Lamson, yours truly holding the Kenny Rogers painting, Hubbard’s daughter Jan Jefferis holding her dad’s painting, and Jan’s husband, Gary Jefferies.

GTR Newspapers photo

It was my honor to be present at Drillers Stadium on August 3 for the induction of Tulsa Drillers owner Went Hubbard and pitcher Kenny Rogers into the Drillers/Crown Bristow Wall of Fame during pre-game ceremonies. The special ceremonies preceded the Drillers game with Springfield.

Mr. Hubbard purchased the Drillers franchise from the Texas Rangers in December 1986. He was responsible for the expansion and the numerous renovations to Drillers Stadium, and he helped to transform the stadium from an 8,000 seat all-purpose stadium with an artificial surface playing field into a two-tier baseball-only facility with a natural grass field. With Mr. Hubbard as the majority owner, the Drillers became the first team in Texas League history to draw over 300,000 fans in ten straight seasons.

Mr. Hubbard’s daughter, Jan Jefferis, represented him at the induction.

Kenny Rogers spent parts of three seasons with the Drillers. He became a key starting pitcher for Tulsa during its run to the Texas League Championship in 1988, and he was the starting and winning pitcher of Game 6 of the Texas League championship game in El Paso. Kenny has enjoyed a 19-year big league career that began as a reliever and has transformed into one of the top left-handed starters in the majors, amassing a total of 210 major league victories. Last season, he helped lead Detroit to its first American League pennant in over 20 years.

Though Kenny was busy with the Tigers that night, he delivered a special video announcement to the Drillers fans.

What a Summer!
This has been a great summer for our city and region. Tulsa was never better than during the amazing PGA, where Tiger Woods, probably the greatest golfer ever, won to the delight of his millions of fans. Southern Hills, the city and region were beautiful, the people were friendly and warmly greeted the fans from outside the area, and millions of dollars were spent in the area, which will help our tax base immensely.

Talons Roll On
It has been a great year for the Talons. At this writing, we are hosting the National Conference Championship game Saturday night, Aug. 18. It is the third time in the past five years we have been in the finals in our conference. By the time you read this, you will know whether or not we will have advanced to the af2 Championship game, the ArenaCup ’07, which will be played at the Battle Wings’ home arena, the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City, on Aug. 25.

No matter what happens, win or lose, we thank our fans, advertisers and the media for supporting us. We will continue to do our best to keep championships coming to Tulsa!

Come and Visit
Our Primeaux KIA dealership continues to be number one in the region and soon should be number one in Oklahoma. The construction at I-44 is complete, and it is now an excellent thoroughfare. Crown Bristow remains a five-star dealership. Come on down to 4747 South Yale, or drive over to Crown Bristow and give us a visit. We’ll beat any deal!

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