SEATTLE — The late 1970s featured a run of success that hasn't been matched for professional basketball in Seattle.
In 1978 and 1979, two point guards put their feelings aside to bring a title to a town.
"I told them the reason my hair is gray is because of them," former head coach Lenny Wilkens said with a laugh.
For Wilkens, it's gray hair now because he was operating in a gray area then. As the new head coach of the Sonics in 1977, he knew it was a delicate dance when it came to Gus Williams and Slick Watts.
"As I talked to the team, I told them I wanted to make some changes," he said. "I thought that Slick would be better coming off the bench."
That meant the newly acquired Williams would enter the starting five.
"I thought defensively, we'd have a great advantage with Gus and Dennis Johnson," Wilkens said.
The swap led to success, and despite Watts being traded midseason, his grace resonated with the locker room.
"Every time I stepped on the court, I wanted to win. We were similar in that respect. Whatever I asked them to do, they were willing to do it," Wilkens said.
The Sonics went on to make the NBA Finals that year. They won their first and only NBA Finals title the next year in 1979.
Watts and Williams had helped deliver a championship to a community. Today it's the community delivering for them.
"I wanted to do something but I wasn't quite sure what," Sandy Gregory said.
Gregory had previously worked in the Seahawks organization.
She's retired in theory, but went back to work in 2020 once she heard about hard times for Williams.
"I knew that he had had a stroke and there was a GoFundMe to help him," she said. "And then about a year later Slick had a stroke and there was a GoFundMe for him."
But Gregory wanted to do more, which was a challenge given the lack of organizational infrastructure that comes with not having an NBA team. She decided to create the Sonics Legends Fund — a nonprofit designed to fill the gaps in healthcare coverage.
"Gus is in a facility, it's a nursing home back in the Baltimore area. He never played in Baltimore, so doesn't have a lot of friends there, so he doesn't get many visitors," Gregory said. "We thought the best thing we could do is provide a caregiver. She plays music for him, she reads to him, gets him in his wheelchair and out of the room and just spends time with him to break up the day."
It's all paid for a by a community that wants to help. The first fundraising event in 2022 was a roaring success.
"We raised about $90,000 in one hour, no auction or anything," Gregory said.
Planning for the next event is now underway. It's set for June at Moss Bay Hall in Kirkland. Owner Justin Andrews is timing it with the start of the NBA Finals. The goal is to bring a basketball community out of the shadows, and into the souls of former Sonics in need.
"Even though we're just helping two people right now, there's a need and there's people out there that love the Sonics and that would like to help," Gregory said.
"I think it's important that the community reaches out and touches our sports heroes," Wilkens added.
Watch Silvi Says on YouTube
