One by one the speakers took the stage during the ceremonial groundbreaking for the Milwaukee Bucks new downtown arena.
And each one - from Bucks owners Wes Edens and Marc Lasry to Gov. Scott Walker to Mayor Tom Barrett, thanked former Bucks owner Herb Kohl for his efforts in keeping the NBA franchise in Milwaukee.
"When he started this conversation, he could have sold this team for hundreds of millions of dollars more than he did," Barrett said. "But what he said to the NBA is 'This team is staying in Milwaukee.'
"And he found this great ownership team that agreed to do that. Then he did something that nobody in this crowd will ever do, including me. He gave away $100 million. And he did it because he loves this city, he loves the people who are here and he believes in its future.
"So I think there have been 10 of us that have thanked him. I think each of us has thanked him for $10 million. That gets us to $100 million."
Fans paraded around fences as the speakers took the stage and owners Edens, Lasry and Jamie Dinan put shovels in the ground, along with a beaming Kohl. In April 2014 Kohl sold the Bucks after owning the team for nearly 30 years.
Gov. Walker also praised Kohl and said he remembered the first time the former U.S. Senator saved the team from leaving Milwaukee.
"That $100 million was an incredible catalyst to start this project, but I remember 30 years ago, when even before he was a Senator, Herb Kohl stepped up and heeded the call to keep the Milwaukee Bucks in this community and in this state," Walker said.
"Not long after that, the Pettits said if Herb Kohl is going to stand there, we're going to invest the money needed to build this facility, the Bradley Center."
The 81-year-old Kohl said Saturday's big celebration was a day he honestly thought would come.
"I think it's a big day for our city and our state in so many ways, and I'm very grateful," Kohl said. "Now we have more memories to look forward to.
"The day I bought the team or the day after (in 1985), the Pettit family came to my office and I had no idea they were going to come there. They said that now you have bought the team, we're going to build the Bradley Center.
"It shows you how things happen unforeseen. So now here we are 30 years later and we're going on to the next generation, which is what it's all about Clearly we're going to have the team with us for many, many more years."
Kohl has kept his seat at the Bradley Center for many years, one on the aisle about midway up in the lower section. He said he looks forward to having a similar seat in the new arena.
Kohl joked that "I know how easy it is" to develop an NBA champion, but he said he hopes the new ownership group will be able to fulfill that promise.
"You never know," Kohl said. "So much of it is luck, who you draft, who you are able to trade for, who a free agent may be. So yeah, I think it's going to happen."
Kohl praised the Bucks ownership group.
"They were totally dedicated to his goal," Kohl said of Edens, Lasry and Dinan. "There was no question they wanted to succeed. Without that attitude on their part, it would have been very difficult. So I give them great credit for today's event.
"They're good people."
Edens said it was an exciting day and he looked forward to the fall of 2018 when the new arena will open.
"Time-wise, it's kind of halftime," Edens said. "We started this 2 1/2 years ago and we have like 2 1/2 years to go. It's a great time to pause and celebrate.
"It's said it's hard to make a dollar but it's even harder to make a difference. What he (Kohl) did was very profound. He made a big difference to this city and this state and the organization."
Edens said he could see the potential of the Milwaukee market when he first investigated the Bucks franchise. He said he is happy with the site of the arena, just north of the current Bradley Center.
"Look around what's here," Edens said. "I don't really think people understand what this place will look like 2 years from now, 4 years from now, 10 years from now.
"When you look at this 10 years from now, it will look like it was planned, not just a hodge-podge of a bunch of different buildings. We're very focused on making this a destination, certainly on nights the Bucks are playing, but on the nights they're not playing, too."
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is part of the USA TODAY network.
