The Houston Rockets have retired the following jerseys: #24 Moses Malone, #23 Calvin Murphy, #45 Rudy Tomjanovich, and #22 belonging to Clyde Drexler.
It was San Diego jerseys that this club first wore from 1967 through 1971. The Houston Rockets jerseys became available after the team moved to Houston for the 1971 / 1972 season.
Houston Rockets finally got on their feet in time for the 1976 through 1977 campaign. That was the year a certain man named Moses came to town to deliver the team from slavery to mediocrity. Moses Malone was playing with the Utah Stars and the Spirts of St. Louis in the ABA.
The Houston Rockets came into the league with the Seattle Supersonics.
This club has a mascot named Clutch The Bear who apparently was named the fifth most recognizable mascot in all of sports by a USA Today article in 2005. The is also a dance group named Launch, a name much more in keeping with the teams theme than a bear.
The city is famed for it's association with the space program and has a population of 1,953,631 of which 354,444 or 18.14% are between the ages of 25 and 34.
When Buzz Aldrin descended the ladder and came into contact with the surface of the moon, he jumped back up the ladder and came down a toal of three times, to make the point that is was very easy to move around on the moon.
There are maybe 4 athletes in the history of pro basketball that have got more than 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 4,000 assists. Do you know who they are? At least 1 played for this club. The choices are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Karl Malone or Charles Barkley. the answer is Charles Barkley.
* Charles was in the draft of 1984 and was chosen by Philadelphia who took him with the 5th pick. Charles was the youngest on a team full of older, verteran athletes full of such names as Julius Erving, Moses Malone, and Mr. Maurice Cheeks. These guys had taken the 76ers all the way to the title the year before.
Clyde Drexler had great success with this club, which was fitting since he was a native of the city, and he went to the U of H starring on the "Phi Slamma Jamma" teams from the early 1980's. Clyde was a forward in school but later teamed with Olajuwon and Micheaux to create a starting line up that took the school on 2 consecutive times to the Final Four.
* In Clyde's first year he did not make that great a contribution to his team. He didn't even make the all rookie team.
* After that very uninspiring first campaign, the man went 10 consecutive years being among the best scorers in the game. In Drexler's 2nd year his average jumped to 17.2 ppg., then by his 3rd, he was an All Star.
As a baller Calvin Murphy had all the tools he needed. He had quick hands, speed, skill, and he could jump like a gazelle. One thing he didn't have was height standing at only 5 foot nine inches.
