OKC Thunder Honor Murrah Bombing Victims and Survivors With Special Jersey

The Oklahoma City Thunder will debut new uniforms Thursday night that honor the victims and survivors of the 1995 Murrah Building Bombing.

The team will wear the uniforms for the first time during their home game against the Houston Rockets.   

The design features symbols that represent elements of the memorial such as the survivor tree, the gates of time, and the reflecting pool.

The says the times 9:01 and 9:03 appear within the vents of the shorts. They reflect the innocence of the city at 9:01 before the attack, followed by the time the city began to come together and heal at 9:03.

The words Service, Honor and Kindness appear above the jersey’s tag. And near the back inside the jersey, it has a few words of remembrance for the victims.  

OKC National Memorial Museum executive director Kari Watkins said the jersey sends a strong message.

“They know when they put on a jersey that says Oklahoma City it comes with a different sense of responsibility than some other cities have,” Watkins said. “We have to show the world that we were not defined by the bombing, but we are defined by our response to it. And so they are part of that response. They are part of the strength and courage and the resilience of the city to move forward.”

The team will wear the special uniform several times this season, including on two road games. Watkins said that opens up the opportunity to share what happened 25 years ago with some who may have never heard the story of that day.

“It reaches a generation of people who don’t know it,” said Watkins. “I think we are at 50-something percent who were not born at the time of the bombing as part of our population. We have to make sure this story is continuously told and explain why it is still relevant 25 years later.”

The Thunder also announced the team will cover the cost of admission to the memorial museum on the 25th of each month in 2020. That runs all year, starting January 25th.