OKLAHOMA CITY – After the Washington Huskies lost to the Oklahoma Sooners on Sept. 9, a group of Seattle SuperSonics upper management and some corporate partners who had trekked here for the football game were treated to a dinner at a local steakhouse by new owner Clay Bennett.

Though Bennett was not attending the dinner, he had called ahead to set up a reservation. Immediately after the group was seated, waiters and waitresses rushed out four plates of appetizers, “compliments of Mr. Bennett.”

After hungrily digging in to what appeared to be breaded calamari, someone in the group questioned exactly what it was they were consuming.

“Lamb fries,” they were told.

Which, they quickly learned, is an Oklahoman euphemism for lamb testicles.

The appetizers were quickly disregarded, and soon removed.

Outside this dusty expanse of flat terrain best known for folks rushing in during the land grab of 1889 and rushing out some 40 years later when the unyielding soil could no longer sustain the floundering economy, little is known about Clayton Ike Bennett.

But as the awkward first steps of a long-distance dance between Bennett and Seattle are taken, more and more is being revealed about the man who has become the face of the organization. From a Seattle perspective, he will ultimately emerge as a savior of a professional sports organization or a villain for the theft of it.

Take, for instance, the “lamb fries” incident. It is seemingly distilled Clay Bennett – a subtle, understated attempt at humor. And, what’s more, it forced his visitors to get a flavor, if you will, of Oklahoma, the only home that Bennett has ever known and to which he is obsessively devoted – though he is beginning to make hints about Seattle being his “second-favorite city.”

“I’ve been very impressed with the guy,” said Kemper Freeman, a Bellevue developer who has met several times with Bennett to discuss the team’s looming arena situation. “He is not a big, pompous-type of guy. I feel like I’ve known him a long time. You know with some people, you just feel comfortable with them immediately? That’s how I felt with him.”

Edging into the spotlight

Bennett was the de facto host of a football weekend that tied together two states that otherwise have little in common.

Uncomfortable in the spotlight, Bennett nonetheless used the three hours at Memorial Stadium in Norman as a means to connect with his new Pacific Northwest constituents in a way he hadn’t done since his group announced July 18 its intention to buy the team from Howard Schultz and company for $350 million.

Besides spending a few days with the brain trust of the Sonics, perhaps soothing some anxieties in a down-home, get-to-know-you fashion, Bennett also played host to reporters who regularly cover the Sonics, meeting with them individually in his office on the 31st floor of the Oklahoma Tower and inviting them to his suite on the 50-yard line of the stadium. A long line of power brokers – from former University of Oklahoma football coach Barry Switzer to other members of the new ownership group – sauntered through the suite and conducted amiable business, a frat house of commerce but in decidedly more impressive digs.

As unfamiliar as Bennett is with being the primary attraction in the fish bowl, he clearly is making an attempt to connect with a Sonics fan base that seems convinced Bennett will hijack their team – Seattle’s first professional team – at some point in the not-too-distant future. And let’s not forget, too, that eventually he is going to ask the public for some amount of money to subsidize a brand-new, state-of-the-art arena.

And so Bennett is begrudgingly making an attempt to fulfill the responsibility of his new occupation, which includes playing host of a party at a football game.

“If there is an element of this that is out of my skill set, it is … the high-profile nature of it and the media relations,” Bennett said. “I can’t stand to see my picture or hear my voice or read my words. It is going to take some getting used to. But I just try to be candid and forthright and answer things I know the answer to, and if I can’t I won’t or tell you I don’t know.”

Ask any number of average residents walking down the street here if they know who Clay Bennett is and they generally screw up their face in bewildered puzzlement. Ask the same residents who the Gaylord family is and they peer at you impatiently, as if you asked them if they recognized their own name.

Family dynasty

The Sooners’ football stadium is officially named The Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium. A building just outside the stadium is named Gaylord Hall. The street that borders Bricktown, Oklahoma City’s restaurant and bar enclave, is E.K. Gaylord Boulevard. Gillardia, an upscale suburb, is jokingly referred to as Gaylordia. The Gaylords own The Oklahoman, the state’s biggest daily newspaper.

Oh, and they happen to be the family of Clay Bennett’s wife, Louise. At the time of his death in 2003, Louise’s father, Edward Gaylord, had an estimated net worth of $2 billion.

And so while Bennett is a successful businessman in his own right, and while he has a network of successful friends he has known since his teenage years and others he has cultivated, Bennett constantly lives with the perception that he is who he is today because he happened to marry well a long time ago. The Bennetts were high school sweethearts, he a sophomore and she a freshman when they first met. They are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year.

Bennett’s family supplied residential building materials, and Bennett briefly worked in the family business after graduating from Oklahoma. But, he said, he quickly learned that he was much better at barking orders than taking them.

“That is not a very good revelation to have when your father is the boss,” Bennett said.

And so, with the financial stability to be an independent entrepreneur, he began taking on different projects, the reason he is viewed by supporters as a shrewd businessman and by detractors as lucky in love.

“That has certainly been a topic I have had to deal with and understand,” Bennett said. “There was a time when any disparaging notion relative to that concept would (annoy me). But I understand that perspective now. It doesn’t bother me at all. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Because of a leg up, I have been able to be an entrepreneur through the years and not an employee.”

It is not as if Bennett stumbled upon this ownership endeavor haphazardly. When he was 10, he recounts, he had the unusual urge not to play pro football but to own a team.

He admits he was not able to process the notion that it was an all-encompassing business venture, but he did know that sports at the highest level of competition was attractive to him.

He got his opportunity when his father-in-law became a part owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team. At 29, Bennett accompanied Edward Gaylord to his first meeting with the Rangers’ players and staff. It was, he said, a transcendent moment – and now he was able to understand firsthand what always drew him to pro sports; it is not just the competition, but marketing, ticket sales, promotion, community relations, public affairs, public relations, entertainment and facilities that made it such an attractive pursuit.

“It just seems to be the ultimate multifaceted business experience because it touches so many aspects,” Bennett said.

The Rangers shares of his in-laws’ company, OPUBCO (Oklahoma Publishing Co.), ultimately were sold to George W. Bush, which led to the family buying a 30 percent stake in the San Antonio Spurs basketball team in 1992.

low-key presence

Bennett served as the team’s representative on the NBA Board of Governors, though Wally Walker – who represented the Sonics for owner Ackerley Group during some of the same time period – says Bennett was not especially memorable. Those around the Spurs say Bennett kept a low profile, and even Bennett admits he had no relationship with current Sonics coach Bob Hill, who was coaching the Spurs at the time.

If nothing else, that foray in the NBA laid the foundation for what Bennett is pursuing with the Sonics, and is at least part of the reason he is the team’s public representative. Though certainly the fact that he has been involved in numerous civic activities throughout Oklahoma City, and knows his way around and through the political process at a time the Sonics are pursuing a new arena, doesn’t hurt.

“Through my career I have just seemed to assemble some sort of odd skill set that may fit this particular job,” Bennett said. “A real interest and love for sports; decent professional background in sports and sports administration; a good background in entrepreneurial-related business; background in civic-related activities. Certainly at this point this investment is as much about public affairs and civic relations and relationship-building as building a competitive athletic team.”

This summer was supposed to be for Bennett, 46, about reading and improving his golf handicap. Then the sale of the team came along unexpectedly, and he has been on a breathtaking whirlwind ever since, trying to understand both the nuances of the Sonics organization and the Northwest’s political processes while maintaining his business and relationships in Oklahoma City.

“I cracked one book and had to grind through to get it read,” Bennett said, “and I don’t know where my clubs are.”

He likes to cook, which does not seem to fit the cowboy image but is supported by his large frame. In fact, when a portly radio talk show host encouraged Bennett to bet on the Huskies-Sooners game, Bennett looked at him and quipped, “We look like we might need to bet on food.”

He has three children – two daughters attending the University of Oklahoma and a son in the seventh grade, who, Bennett said, “suddenly has become a huge Sonics fan.”

While his sister-in-law, Christy Everest, runs the newspaper, Bennett’s wife, Louise, is the company’s secretary and quietly undertakes altruistic work in the city with abused and underprivileged children.

Bennett has traveled the world, but enjoys vacationing with his family in Colorado Springs and a tiny town outside Aspen.

Bennett’s office is at the top of a building that is the hallmark of Dorchester Capital, the investment company he formed and runs. He bought that building and another in downtown Oklahoma City – less than 10 blocks from the site of the 1995 bombing of a federal building that killed 168 people – for $75 million. Five years later he sold the buildings for $100 million.

His office is tasteful but not ostentatious, impressive but not obnoxious. A set of Bagger Vance golf clubs adorns the wall and a miniature statue of Arnold Palmer watches over a lobby that is so quiet one wonders if any business is taking place at all. There also is a bookcase filled with his devotion to and relationship with the Sooners football program, including autographed footballs from national championship teams.

Far from the mien he presented at the announcement of the sale of the team – a demeanor that had some in the Sonics organization referring to him as Darth Vader – Bennett has a quick smile and puts his arm around a visitor as if they were old buddies.

A ‘straight-shooter’

Relaxing at a conference table that could hold 15 and which is positioned in deference to a bust of Ronald Reagan in the corner – a replica of the one at Reagan’s presidential library in Simi Valley, Calif. – Bennett is gracious and low-key as words cloaked in a languid drawl cascade from his mouth, talking about his least-favorite subject: himself.

Ask anyone who knows Clay Bennett, and most say he is straightforward, a “straight shooter” as they say down here. He might not always give you an answer, they say, but he does not lie. He is a tough negotiator, but fair. He knows when he has leverage, and is not afraid to use it to his advantage, but does not necessarily take advantage of people.

“He’s not going to say he’ll do something he can’t do,” former Oklahoma City Mayor Ron Norick told The Oklahoman. “And if he says he needs a new arena, that’s what he needs. … I’ve never known Clay to make an idle threat. You know where you are when you’re dealing with Clay.”

Bennett is, like many Oklahomans, humble. To the party in the suite at the football game, he wore khaki pants and a pink button-down shirt rather than flaunting his Sooners colors. He fully grasps and makes light of the contradiction of being modest and yet buying an NBA team, of avoiding publicity but becoming the recognizable face of one of only 30 teams of one of the most popular leagues in the world.

As Bennett talks, it becomes clear that he wants to redefine Seattle’s first impression of him as an unemotional, disingenuous, Midwestern Gordon Gekko (the amoral stock trader portrayed by Michael Douglas in “Wall Street”) who is looking to steal away a city’s legacy, consequences be damned.

He has not had much interaction with the Puget Sound region since that initial announcement, and he won’t have a great deal more until the sale becomes final Oct. 24.

But he was sincere about not understanding the media’s reaction to his claim that he wants to keep the Sonics in Seattle. Where he comes from, his word and reputation usually are good enough. He hopes that, in the end, it is valid in Seattle as well.

“I have reflected on that day, and I would say the following: Nothing could be done to stop that response,” Bennett said. “So the fact that I wasn’t overly charismatic in my presentation may have affected some people, but the die was cast the moment the press conference was called.

“So I tried to focus on being very clear and factual in my comments because I felt the words would outlive the images or context of the event. Do I wish it had gone better? Yes. It was a setback in the process, and it was a personal setback in terms of how I thought things would go. But the ultimate judgment will be through our actions and what we do.”

Frank Hughes: 253-597-8742, Ext. 6120

frank.hughes@thenewstribune.com

THE SONICS’ NEW OWNERS

When the Seattle SuperSonics’ ownership switch becomes official this month, the team will be run by a group headed by Oklahoma businessman Clay Bennett. Bennett, along with Aubrey McClendon, Jeffrey Records and Tom Ward, will be the primary group of decision-makers for the organization. Ed Evans, who was instrumental in putting the deal together, will have less say because he owns a smaller ownership stake.

Clay Bennett

Bennett is the chairman of Dorchester Capital, an investment firm he started. He is married to Louise Gaylord Bennett, daughter of the late billionaire Edward Gaylord, who owned The Oklahoman, the state’s largest newspaper. The couple met at Casady High, when Clay Bennett was a sophomore and Louise Gaylord was a freshman. They celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary this year. They have two daughters, both of whom attend the University of Oklahoma, and a son in the seventh grade.

Aubrey McClendon

McClendon is the chairman and CEO of Chesapeake Energy, the third-largest producer of natural gas in the United States. He started the company with Ward in 1989 with a $50,000 investment; it is reportedly worth $23 billion now. McClendon attended Duke University, graduating in 1981. McClendon attended Heritage High in Oklahoma City, the rival high school of Bennett’s. According to the Forbes list of the richest 400 Americans, McClendon and Ward are both worth $1.6 billion, tied for 215th on the list.

Tom Ward

Ward is the chairman and CEO of Riata Energy, taking over the post in May of this year after leaving Chesapeake Energy in February. Ward and McClendon started Chesapeake Energy in 1989. Ward graduated from Oklahoma in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in business in petroleum land management. McClendon introduced Ward to Bennett.

Jeffrey Records

Records is chairman and CEO of Midfirst Bank, the largest bank in Oklahoma City and the fifth-largest privately held bank in the United States. Records attended Casady High with Bennett and the two have known each other since they were teenagers. A native of Oklahoma City, Records earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Claremont McKenna College.

Ed Evans

Though Evans primarily put together the deal for the Sonics, he is a minority shareholder in the business and will have a limited say in the decision-making process. He is the most prominent of the five or six other limited partners. He was introduced to Bennett through Records. He is chairman of Syniverse Holdings Inc., a global supplier of interoperability solutions to the telecommunications industry.

THE SEASON

The 2006-2007 season will be the Sonics’ 40th in Seattle.

Tuesday: First practice

Oct. 11: Exhibition schedule begins at Portland.

Oct. 24: Sale of team to group headed by Clay Bennett becomes final.

Oct. 26: Exhibition schedule ends against Golden State in Spokane.

Nov. 1: Regular season begins – Portland at Seattle, 7 p.m.

April 18: Regular season ends – Dallas at Seattle, 7 p.m.

TICKETS

Tickets available through www.supersonics.com, TicketMaster outlets or at 206-283-3865.