1.
Houston
–
Houston is the most populous city in the state of Texas and the fourth-most populous city in the United States. With a census-estimated 2014 population of 2.239 million within an area of 667 square miles, it also is the largest city in the southern United States and the seat of Harris County. Located in Southeast Texas near the Gulf of Mexico, it is the city of Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land. Houston was founded on August 28,1836, near the banks of Buffalo Bayou and incorporated as a city on June 5,1837. The city was named after former General Sam Houston, who was president of the Republic of Texas and had commanded, the burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in the citys population. Houstons economy has an industrial base in energy, manufacturing, aeronautics. Leading in health care sectors and building equipment, Houston has more Fortune 500 headquarters within its city limits than any city except for New York City. The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled, the city has a population from various ethnic and religious backgrounds and a large and growing international community. Houston is the most diverse city in Texas and has described as the most diverse in the United States. It is home to cultural institutions and exhibits, which attract more than 7 million visitors a year to the Museum District. Houston has a visual and performing arts scene in the Theater District. In August 1836, two real estate entrepreneurs from New York, Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen, purchased 6,642 acres of land along Buffalo Bayou with the intent of founding a city. The Allen brothers decided to name the city after Sam Houston, the general at the Battle of San Jacinto. The great majority of slaves in Texas came with their owners from the slave states. Sizable numbers, however, came through the slave trade. New Orleans was the center of trade in the Deep South. Thousands of enslaved African Americans lived near the city before the Civil War, many of them near the city worked on sugar and cotton plantations, while most of those in the city limits had domestic and artisan jobs. Houston was granted incorporation on June 5,1837, with James S. Holman becoming its first mayor, in the same year, Houston became the county seat of Harrisburg County and the temporary capital of the Republic of Texas
Houston
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Clockwise from top: Sam Houston monument,
Downtown Houston,
Houston Ship Channel,
The Galleria,
University of Houston, and the
Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center.
Houston
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Sam Houston
Houston
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Houston, c. 1873
Houston
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Union Station, Houston, Texas (postcard, c. 1911)
2.
Texas
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Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile, Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers, the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south
Texas
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Sam Rayburn Reservoir
Texas
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Flag
Texas
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Texas Hill Country
Texas
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Big Bend National Park.
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
–
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
4.
Harris County, Texas
–
Harris County is a county located in the U. S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 4,092,459, making it the most populous county in Texas and its county seat is Houston, the largest city in Texas and fourth-largest city in the United States. The county was founded in 1836 and organized in 1837 and it is named for John Richardson Harris, an early settler of the area. By the July 2016 Census Bureau estimate Harris Countys population had grown to 4,589,928, Harris County is included in the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land Metropolitan Statistical Area. John Richardson Harris, early Harris County settler and founder of Harrisburg, on May 7,1813, he married Jane Birdsall. John and Jane Birdsall Harris settled near Waterloo, New York, in 1819 they were living in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, where their daughter Mary Jane Harris Briscoe was born, a third son, John Birdsall Harris, was born in 1821. Genevieve Harris met Moses Austin and decided to move to Texas and he came to Texas in his own vessel in 1824 and received title to 4,428 acres of land at the junction of Brays and Buffalo bayous in what is now Harris County. He boarded with William Scott while he built a house on the peninsula between the bayous and a store and warehouse on Buffalo Bayou, in 1826 he employed Francis W. Johnson to lay out the town of Harrisburg. With his brother David Harris, John Harris established a trading post at Bells Landing on the Brazos River. Their sloops and schooners plied between Texas and New Orleans, One of these vessels, the Rights of Man, carried eighty-four bales of cotton to New Orleans in 1828. Harris was building a steam sawmill-gristmill at Harrisburg in 1829, when he went to New Orleans to buy equipment, after his death on August 21,1829, his sawmill and shipping enterprise were operated by his brothers David, Samuel, and William Plunkett Harris. His widow and son DeWitt moved to Texas in 1833, the children came later. Litigation over Harriss estate prevented Harrisburg from becoming the seat of the new Texas government in 1836, when Houston was named instead. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 1,777 square miles. Both its total area and land area are larger than the state of Rhode Island. 6% of Harris Countys population, black Americans made up 18. 9% of the population. Native Americans made up 0. 7% of Harris Countys population, Asian Americans made up 6. 2% of the population. Pacific Islander Americans made up just 0. 1% of the population, individuals from other races made up 14. 3% of the population, people from two or more races made up 3. 2% of the countys population
Harris County, Texas
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The Harris County Civil Courthouse in Houston
Harris County, Texas
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Map of Harris County – Northeast one-fourth (circa 1912)
Harris County, Texas
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Firefighters on San Jacinto Street, circa 1914
Harris County, Texas
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Harris County 1910 Courthouse Restored
5.
Houston Rockets
–
The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association, as a club of the leagues Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its games at the Toyota Center, located in downtown Houston. The Rockets have won two NBA championships and four Western Conference titles, the team was established as the San Diego Rockets, an expansion team originally based in San Diego, in 1967. In 1971, the Rockets moved to Houston, the Rockets won only 15 games in their debut season as a franchise in 1967. In the 1968 NBA draft, the Rockets, picking first overall, selected power forward Elvin Hayes, the Rockets did not finish a season with a winning record until the 1976–77 season, when they traded for center Moses Malone. Malone went on to win the NBA Most Valuable Player award twice and he also led the Rockets to the NBA Finals in 1981 where they were defeated in six games by the Boston Celtics, led by Larry Bird and future Rockets coach Kevin McHale. In 1984, the Rockets drafted center Hakeem Olajuwon, who would be paired with 7 feet 4 inches Ralph Sampson, nicknamed the Twin Towers, they led the team to the 1986 NBA Finals—the second NBA Finals appearance in franchise history—where Houston was again defeated by the Boston Celtics. The Rockets continued to reach the playoffs throughout the 1980s, Rudy Tomjanovich took over as head coach midway through the 1991–92 season, ushering in the most successful period in franchise history. Olajuwon-led Rockets went to the 1994 NBA Finals and won franchises first championship against Patrick Ewing, Houston became the lowest-seeded team in NBA history to win the title. After Yaos early retirement in 2011, the Rockets entered a period of rebuilding, the acquisition of franchise player James Harden in 2012 has launched the Rockets back into championship contention in the mid-2010s. The Rockets, under general manager Daryl Morey, are notable for popularizing the use of advanced statistical analytics in player acquisitions and style of play. The Rockets were founded in 1967 in San Diego by Robert Breitbard, Breitbard brought in Jack McMahon, then coach of the Cincinnati Royals, to serve as the Rockets coach and general manager. The Rockets lost 67 games in their season, which was an NBA record for losses in a season at the time. Because of the low performance and attendance, Breitbard looked to sell the team, and in 1971, Texas Sports Investments bought the franchise for $5.6 million, and moved the team to Houston. The franchise became the first NBA team in Texas, and the nickname Rockets took on greater relevance after the move. It was also around this time that the Rockets would unveil their classic yellow and red logo, winter left soon after, being fired in January 1973 following a ten-game losing streak, and was replaced by Johnny Egan. Egan led the Rockets back to the playoffs in 1975, where the franchise also managed to win their first round against the New York Knicks, subsequently losing to the veteran Boston Celtics in 5 games
Houston Rockets
–
Hall of Famer Elvin Hayes was selected first overall by the San Diego Rockets in the 1968 NBA Draft.
Houston Rockets
–
Houston Rockets
Houston Rockets
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A ticket for Game 2 of the 1987 Western Conference Semifinals between the Rockets and the Seattle SuperSonics.
Houston Rockets
–
Rudy Tomjanovich spent all his playing career with the Rockets, and after becoming the team's head coach in 1992 led Houston to two straight championships.
6.
Seating capacity
–
Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats hundreds of thousands of people. The International Fire Code, portions of which have adopted by many jurisdictions, is directed more towards the use of a facility than the construction. It specifies, For areas having fixed seating without dividing arms and it also requires that every public venue submit a detailed site plan to the local fire code official, including details of the means of egress, seating capacity, arrangement of the seating. Once safety considerations have been satisfied, determinations of seating capacity turn on the size of the venue. For sports venues, the decision on maximum seating capacity is determined by several factors, chief among these are the primary sports program and the size of the market area. Seating capacity of venues also plays a role in what media they are able to provide, in contracting to permit performers to use a theatre or other performing space, the seating capacity of the performance facility must be disclosed. Seating capacity may influence the kind of contract to be used, the seating capacity must also be disclosed to the copyright owner in seeking a license for the copyrighted work to be performed in that venue. Venues that may be leased for private functions such as ballrooms and auditoriums generally advertise their seating capacity, seating capacity is also an important consideration in the construction and use of sports venues such as stadiums and arenas. The seating capacity for restaurants is reported as covers, a restaurant that can seat 99 is said to have 99 covers, seating capacity differs from total capacity, which describes the total number of people who can fit in a venue or in a vehicle either sitting or standing. Use of the term public capacity indicates that a venue is allowed to more people than it can actually seat. Again, the total number of people can refer to either the physical space available or limitations set by law
Seating capacity
–
The
Indianapolis Motor Speedway has the largest seating capacity of any venue in the world.
Seating capacity
–
An aerial view of the
Melbourne Cricket Ground during the 1992
Cricket World Cup final packed with 90,000 people.
7.
Populous (company)
–
Populous is a global architectural firm specializing in the design of sports facilities, arenas and convention centers, as well as the planning of major special events. Populous formerly operated as HOK Sport Venue Event, which was part of the HOK Group, in January 2009, Populous was created through a management buyout, becoming independently owned and operated. It is reported to be one of the largest architecture firms in the world, in 1983, HOK under Jerry Sincoff created a sports group. The firm initially consisted of eight architects in Kansas City, on several projects, HOK Sport had teamed with international design practice LOBB Partnership, which maintained offices in London, England, and Brisbane, Australia. On HOK Sports 15th anniversary in November 1998, the merged with LOBB. The new practice retained headquarters in all three cities, the Kansas City, Missouri, office was first based in the citys Garment District in the Lucas Place office building. It was the first major company to relocate to the neighborhood in several decades, in March 2009, HOK Sport Venue Event changed its name to Populous after a managers’ buyout by HOK Group. In October 2015, Populous relocated to its new headquarters at the newly renovated Board of Trade building at 4800 Main street near the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City. Other firms with sports design presence in Kansas City that trace their roots to Kivett include Ellerbe Becket Inc. Populous is credited for spearheading a new era of baseball park design in the 1990s, beginning with Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Starting with the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati in 2003, subsequent stadium exteriors featuring this motif opened in Washington and Minnesota. And because the stadiums were designed for baseball instead of several sports, Camden Yards was not only hugely popular with baseball fans. The success of a new ballpark in downtown Baltimore convinced many cities to invest public funds in their own new ballparks to help revitalize struggling urban neighborhoods, from 1992 to 2012, HOK Sport/Populous were the lead architects on 14 Major League Baseball stadiums and helped renovate four existing stadiums. One sportswriter said the attempt to emulate the old parks in this way is contrived. S, Louis, Missouri – St. Louis Cardinals Nationals Park, Washington, D. C. Sir Bobby Robson Stand at Portman Road – Ipswich, England, UK – Ipswich Town Football Club Estádio da Luz – Lisbon, benfica Estádio Algarve – Loulé, Portugal – S. C. Monterrey Stade des Lumières – Décines, France – Olympique Lyonnais City of Manchester Stadium expansion – Manchester, UK – Manchester City F. C. C. Petersburg, Florida (joint project with Lescher & Mahoney Sports & Criswell, Blizzard & Blouin Architects Ervin J. Paul, Minnesota, USA2015 – Final Four - Indianapolis, Indiana, USA Official website
Populous (company)
–
The red brick facade of Camden Yards was designed by Populous to blend in to the surrounding neighborhood of downtown Baltimore, especially the nearby
B&O Warehouse.
Populous (company)
–
Headquarters of Populous, in Kansas City, MO, USA.
8.
National Basketball Association
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The National Basketball Association is the major mens professional basketball league in North America, and is widely considered to be the premier mens professional basketball league in the world. It has 30 teams, and is a member of USA Basketball. The NBA is one of the four professional sports leagues in the United States. NBA players are the worlds best paid athletes by average annual salary per player, the league was founded in New York City on June 6,1946, as the Basketball Association of America. The league adopted the name National Basketball Association on August 3,1949, the leagues several international as well as individual team offices are directed out of its head offices located in the Olympic Tower at 645 Fifth Avenue in New York City. NBA Entertainment and NBA TV studios are directed out of offices located in Secaucus, the Basketball Association of America was founded in 1946 by owners of the major ice hockey arenas in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Canada. On November 1,1946, in Toronto, Canada, the Toronto Huskies hosted the New York Knickerbockers at Maple Leaf Gardens, the first basket was made by Ossie Schectman of the Knickerbockers. During its early years, the quality of play in the BAA was not significantly better than in competing leagues or among leading independent clubs such as the Harlem Globetrotters. For instance, the 1948 ABL finalist Baltimore Bullets moved to the BAA and won that leagues 1948 title, Following the 1948–49 season, the BAA took in the remainder of the NBL, Syracuse, Anderson, Tri-Cities, Sheboygan, Denver, and Waterloo. The new league had seventeen franchises located in a mix of large and small cities, as well as arenas and smaller gymnasiums. The process of contraction saw the leagues smaller-city franchises move to larger cities, the Hawks shifted from the Tri-Cities to Milwaukee in 1951, and then to St. Louis in 1955. The Rochester Royals moved from Rochester, New York, to Cincinnati in 1957, japanese-American Wataru Misaka broke the NBA color barrier in the 1947–48 season when he played for the New York Knicks. He remained the only player in league history prior to the first African-American, Harold Hunter. During this period, the Minneapolis Lakers, led by center George Mikan, won five NBA Championships, to encourage shooting and discourage stalling, the league introduced the 24-second shot clock in 1954. If a team does not attempt to score a goal within 24 seconds of obtaining the ball, play is stopped. In 1957, rookie center Bill Russell joined the Boston Celtics, who already featured guard Bob Cousy and coach Red Auerbach, and went on to lead the club to eleven NBA titles in thirteen seasons. Center Wilt Chamberlain entered the league with the Warriors in 1959 and became a dominant individual star of the 1960s, russells rivalry with Chamberlain became one of the greatest rivalries in the history of American team sports. The 1960s were dominated by the Celtics, led by Russell, Bob Cousy and coach Red Auerbach, Boston won eight straight championships in the NBA from 1959 to 1966
National Basketball Association
–
The
headquarters of the National Basketball Association in the
Olympic Tower at 645
Fifth Avenue,
Midtown Manhattan,
New York City,
USA.
National Basketball Association
–
Cities that hosted teams that played for more than one season in the NBA and/or
BAA from 1947–1959. Only
New York,
Boston, and
Detroit still have the same franchise.
National Basketball Association
–
Bill Russell defending
Wilt Chamberlain in 1966.
National Basketball Association
–
Los Angeles Lakers'
Magic Johnson and Boston Celtics'
Larry Bird in Game Two of the
1985 NBA Finals at Boston Garden.
9.
American Hockey League
–
The American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League. Twenty-seven AHL teams are located in the United States and the three are in Canada. The league offices are located in Springfield, Massachusetts, and its current president is David Andrews, the annual playoff champion is awarded the Calder Cup, named for Frank Calder, the first President of the NHL. The reigning champions are the Lake Erie Monsters, the AHL traces its origins directly to two predecessor professional leagues, the Canadian-American Hockey League, founded in 1926, and the first International Hockey League, established in 1929. With both leagues down to the minimum in membership, the governors of each recognized the need for action to assure their member clubs long-term survival. Their solution was to play an interlocking schedule, while the Can-Am was based in the Northeast and the IHL in the Great Lakes and Midwest, their footprints were close enough for this to be a viable option. The two older leagues eight surviving clubs began joint play in November 1936 as a new circuit of mutual convenience known as the International-American Hockey League. The four Can-Am teams became the I-AHL East Division, with the IHL quartet playing as the West Division. The IHL also contributed its former championship trophy, the F. G. Teddy Oke Trophy, the Oke Trophy is now awarded to the regular-season winners of the AHLs Northeast Division. A little more than a month into that first season, the balance, the makeshift new I-AHL played out the rest of its first season with just seven teams. At the end of the 1936–37 season, a modified playoff format was devised and a new championship trophy. The Syracuse Stars defeated the Philadelphia Ramblers in the final, three-games-to-one, the Calder Cup continues on today as the AHLs playoff championship trophy. After two seasons of interlocking play, the governors of the two leagues seven active teams met in New York City on June 28,1938, maurice Podoloff of New Haven, the former head of the Can-Am League, was elected the I-AHLs first president. The former IHL president, John Chick of Windsor, Ontario, the Bears remain the only one of these eight original I-AHL/AHL franchises to have been represented in the league without interruption since the 1938–39 season. The newly merged circuit also increased its schedule for each team by six games from 48 to 54. After the 1939–40 season the I-AHL renamed itself the American Hockey League and it generally enjoyed both consistent success on the ice and relative financial stability over its first three decades of operation. The number of teams competing for players rose from six to thirty in just seven years. Player salaries at all levels shot up dramatically with the increased demand and this did not seem to affect the AHL at first, as it expanded to 12 teams by 1970
American Hockey League
–
American Hockey League
American Hockey League
–
American Hockey League logo
American Hockey League
–
An AHL record crowd of 45,653 watched the Adirondack Phantoms defeat the Hershey Bears, 4–3 in OT, at the 2012 AHL Winter Classic at
Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
10.
Houston Comets
–
The Houston Comets were a Womens National Basketball Association team based in Houston, Texas, United States. Formed in 1997, the team was one of the original eight WNBA teams, the Comets were the first dynasty of the WNBA and won more championships than any other team in the WNBA. The team was folded and disbanded by the league in 2008 because new ownership could not be found, the Comets were known for courting great womens basketball stars. The team had among its members Cynthia Cooper, college and national team standout Sheryl Swoopes, Kim Perrot, who succumbed to cancer in 1999, the Comets were one of the founding teams in the WNBA. They capped off the inaugural season in 1997 with a win over the New York Liberty in the WNBA championship game to win the WNBAs first championship. When the league expanded the season, the Comets were moved from the Eastern Conference to the Western Conference. In 1998, they put together a win record of 27-3 for a.900 winning percentage – a WNBA record that still stands. They went on to repeat as champions, defeating the Phoenix Mercury in the first-ever WNBA Finals that year due to the game being extended into a three-game championship series. In 2000, the Comets went all the way to the Finals again,2000 was the Comets last championship and last WNBA Finals appearance in franchise history. After Cooper retired in 2001, Houston clinched the playoffs with a 19-13 record, but lost in the first round in a sweep to the 2001 eventual champion Los Angeles Sparks. In 2002, when Swoopes was injured most of the year with a torn ACL, the Comets were able to qualify for the playoffs with a 24-8 record, but lost to the Utah Starzz in 3 games. In 2003, they qualified to the playoffs for the 7th straight year and they missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history with a record of 13-21 in 2004, but returned to the playoffs with a 19-15 record, finishing 3rd. Houston would return to the playoffs with an 18-16 record,2006 was the last playoff appearance for the Houston Comets. After the Comets season ended in 2006, the Comets underwent major changes during the off-season. In October 2006, team owner Leslie Alexander announced he was selling the Comets, on January 31,2007, the WNBA Board of Governors approved the sale of the team to Hilton Koch, a Houston-based mattress and furniture businessman. Two weeks later, Comets assistant coach Karleen Thompson was named to become the teams new Head Coach, for the 2007 season, they would miss the playoffs for the second time in franchise history after starting the season 0-10, resulting in a 13-21 record. On December 12,2007, team owner Hilton Koch announced that the Comets would be moving from the Toyota Center to Reliant Arena for the 2008 WNBA season and this resulted in a loss of fans. The Compaq Center drew 13,000 fans, but the Reliant Arena could only house 7,200, in 2008, the Comets final year, they only drew an average 6,000 fans per game and sold out four games
Houston Comets
11.
Downtown Houston
–
Downtown Houston is Houstons central business district, containing the headquarters of many prominent companies. There is a network of pedestrian tunnels and skywalks connecting the buildings of the district. The tunnel system is home to restaurants, shops and services. What is now Downtown made up almost all of the City of Houston until expansions of the city limits in the early 20th century, Downtown Houston was the original founding point of the city. After the Texas Revolution, two New York real estate promoters, John Kirby Allen and Augustus Chapman Allen, purchased 6,642 acres of land from Thomas F. L, parrot and his wife, Elizabeth, for $9,428. The Allen brothers first landed in the area where the White Oak Bayou and Buffalo Bayou meet, gail Borden, Jr. a city planner, laid out wide streets for the town. The city was granted incorporation by the Texas legislature on June 5,1837, Houston was the temporary capital of Texas. In 1840, the town was divided into four wards, each with different functions in the community, by 1906 what is now Downtown was divided among six wards. The wards are no longer political divisions, but their names are used to refer to certain areas. Houston became a choice, as only the most powerful storms were able to reach the city. The second came a year later with the 1901 discovery of oil at spindletop, shipping and oil industries began flocking to east Texas, many settling in Houston. From that point forward the area grew substantially, as many skyscrapers were constructed, in the 1980s, however, economic recession canceled some projects and caused others to be scaled back, such as the Bank of the Southwest Tower. Ralph Bivins of the Houston Chronicle wrote that Fox said that area was a neighborhood of Victorian-era homes. Bivins said that the construction of Union Station, which occurred around 1910, hotels opened in the area to service travelers. Afterwards, according to Bivins, the area began a downward slide toward the skid row of the 1990s. Passenger trains stopped going to Union Station in 1974, the construction of Interstate 45 in the 1950s separated portions of the historic Third Ward from the rest of the Third Ward and brought those portions into Downtown. Beginning in the 1960s the development of the 610 Loop caused the focus of the Houston area to move away from Downtown Houston, in the mid-1980s, the bank savings and loan crisis forced many tenants in Downtown Houston buildings to retrench, and some tenants went out of business. Barna said that this development further caused Downtown Houston to decline, the Gulf Hotel fire occurred in 1943
Downtown Houston
–
Skyline of Downtown
Downtown Houston
–
Freeway map of Houston highlighting downtown.
Downtown Houston
–
Downtown Houston at night
Downtown Houston
–
Skyline District of Downtown as seen from highway
I-45
12.
Toyota
–
Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. In March 2014, the corporation consisted of 338,875 employees worldwide and. Toyota is as of 2016 the second largest automotive manufacturer behind German Volkswagen Group, Toyota was the worlds first automobile manufacturer to produce more than 10 million vehicles per year which it has done since 2012, when it also reported the production of its 200-millionth vehicle. As of July 2014, Toyota was the largest listed company in Japan by market capitalization, Toyota is the worlds market leader in sales of hybrid electric vehicles, and one of the largest companies to encourage the mass-market adoption of hybrid vehicles across the globe. Cumulative global sales of Toyota and Lexus hybrid passenger car models achieved the 10 million milestone in January 2017 and its Prius family is the worlds top selling hybrid nameplate with over 6 million units sold worldwide as of January 2017. The company was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937, as a spinoff from his fathers company Toyota Industries to create automobiles. Three years earlier, in 1934, while still a department of Toyota Industries, it created its first product, the Type A engine, and, in 1936, its first passenger car, the Toyota AA. Toyota Motor Corporation produces vehicles under five brands, including the Toyota brand, Hino, Lexus, Ranz, TMC is part of the Toyota Group, one of the largest conglomerates in the world. Toyota is headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, the main headquarters of Toyota is located in a 4-story building in Toyota. As of 2006, the office has the Toyopet Toyota logo. Vinod Jacob from The Hindu described the headquarters building as modest. In 2013, company head Akio Toyoda reported that it had difficulties retaining foreign employees at the due to the lack of amenities in the city. Its Tokyo office is located in Bunkyo, Tokyo and its Nagoya office is located in Nakamura-ku, Nagoya. In addition to manufacturing automobiles, Toyota provides financial services through its Toyota Financial Services division, since 1950, the two entities had existed as separate companies as a prerequisite for reconstruction in postwar Japan. Shoichiro Toyoda presided over Toyota Motor Sales in preparation for the consummation of the merger occurred in 1982. Shoichiro then succeeded his uncle Eiji as the President of the organization that then became known as Toyota Motor Corporation. Announced the appointment of board members, this was a first for the corporation. Additionally, Vice Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada replaced Fujio Cho as chairman, Toyota is publicly traded on the Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, and Sapporo exchanges under company code TYO,7203
Toyota
–
Toyota's new headquarters building in Toyota City, Japan
Toyota
–
Principal headquarters building of Toyota
Toyota
–
Akio Toyoda, CEO of Toyota, at the annual results press conference, May 11, 2011
Toyota
–
Mass production of Toyoda automated loom, displayed at the Toyota Museum in Nagakute-cho, Aichi-gun, Aichi Pref. Japan
13.
The Summit (Houston)
–
The Lakewood Church Central Campus is a house of worship in Houston, Texas. It is located five miles southwest of Downtown Houston, next to the Greenway Plaza. From 1975 to 2003 the building served as a sports arena, for various professional teams in Houston. From its opening until 1998, the building was known as The Summit, computer technology firm Compaq bought naming rights to the building after that and it was known as Compaq Center until 2003. At that point the name was dropped, coinciding with opening of the Toyota Center as a new sports venue in Houston. Shortly after, the building was leased out to Lakewood Church for use as its main facility, Lakewood Church purchased the building outright in 2010. In 1971, the National Basketball Associations San Diego Rockets were purchased by new ownership group Texas Sports Investments, the city, however, lacked an indoor arena suitable to host a major sports franchise. The largest arena in the city at the time was 34-year-old Sam Houston Coliseum, plans were immediately undertaken to construct the new venue that would become The Summit. The Rockets played their games in various local facilities such as Hofheinz Pavilion. On each end of the arena was a Fair-Play scoreboard with a small two-line monochrome message center, both scoreboards would be upgraded in 1986 with the addition of three front-projection videoboards on top of each scoreboard. The center videoboard showed live footage, fan shots, and replays while the left. It housed the Rockets, Aeros, Comets and several arena football teams until they vacated the arena in favor of the new Toyota Center in downtown Houston. It hosted the NBA Finals on four different occasions,1981,1986,1994 and 1995, in 1994 and 1995, the then-Summit was the site of the deciding games in the championship series and of the ensuing celebrations. The Summit was also host to teams from 1997 to 2000 when the Houston Comets won the WNBA title for four consecutive years. The first professional wrestling event at the Summit was promoted by the American Wrestling Association on May 29,1977, on January 7,1979, Dusty Rhodes won the NWA Texas Brass Knuckles Championship from Mark Lewin. The World Wrestling Federation aired the first TV card from the venue on October 19,1986, featuring Hulk Hogan defending his title against Paul Orndorff and it held the Royal Rumble on January 15,1989. This was the first time the Royal Rumble, won by Big John Studd, was televised on pay-per-view, the newly renamed Compaq Center hosted the No Way Out of Texas PPV on February 15,1998, and Bad Blood on June 15,2003. It hosted an episode of SmackDown
The Summit (Houston)
The Summit (Houston)
–
The Summit stands among the high-rise office buildings of Greenway Plaza, c. 1994
The Summit (Houston)
–
The interior of Lakewood Church Central Campus currently. It was once The Summit, and later Compaq Center, before becoming a house of worship.
14.
Naming rights
–
For properties like a multi-purpose arena, performing arts venue or an athletic field, the term ranges from three to 20 years. Longer terms are common for higher profile venues such as a professional sports facility. The distinctive characteristic for this type of naming rights is that the buyer gets a marketing property to promote products and services, there are several forms of corporate sponsored names. A presenting sponsor attaches the name of the corporation or brand at the end of a generic, usually traditional, a title sponsor replaces the original name of the property with a corporate-sponsored one, with no reference to the previous name. In a few cases, naming rights contracts have been terminated prematurely, such terminations may be the result of contractual options, sponsor bankruptcy, or scandals. Stadium naming may have shifted in recent years to promoting corporate trade names, the record for the highest amount paid for naming rights belongs to Citi Field and Barclays Center, both located in New York City, US. Each garnered deals of $20 million per year for at least 20 years and it ultimately fell short of that benchmark, with MetLife Stadium earning $17 million annually from its naming rights deal with MetLife. Naming rights in United States may have traced back to 1912 with the opening of Fenway Park in Boston. The stadiums owner had owned a realty company called Fenway Realty, despite this, it is more widely believed to have begun in 1926 when William Wrigley, the chewing gum magnate and owner of the Chicago Cubs, named his teams stadium Wrigley Field. In 1953, Anheuser-Busch head and St. Louis Cardinals owner August Busch, Jr. proposed renaming Sportsmans Park, occupied by the Cardinals, Budweiser Stadium. When this idea was rejected by Ford Frick, the Commissioner of Baseball at that time, the name was readily approved, and Anheuser-Busch subsequently released a new product called Busch Bavarian Beer. The name would later be shifted to the Busch Memorial Stadium in 1966, shortened in the 1970s to Busch Stadium, the public reaction to this practice is mixed. Selling the naming rights to a venue has been notably less successful. The general public continued to call the facility what it had known as for over three decades–i. e. After the agreement with 3Com expired, the rights were resold to Monster Cable, the initiative proved largely ceremonial, however, and it was overturned by the passage of Proposition C in 2009 in response to desperate economic times. The naming rights to the park were never resold and the closed in 2014. Sports stadiums with naming rights deals are not limited to the United States, in cricket, the most famous example is The Oval, home of Surrey County Cricket Club. It has had several sponsors over the years, and is known as The Kia Oval, having originally been known as the Kennington Oval
Naming rights
–
Delta Air Lines held the naming rights to the main indoor arena in
Salt Lake City from 1991 to 2006.
Naming rights
–
The same arena was renamed
EnergySolutions Arena in late 2006. Temporary signage covered up the previous Delta Center
logo after the new naming rights sponsor was announced.
15.
Texas House of Representatives
–
The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from districts for a term of 2 years. As of the 2010 Census, each represents a average of 167,637 people. There are no limits, with the most senior member, Tom Craddick. The House meets at the State Capitol in Austin, the Speaker of the House is the presiding officer and highest-ranking member of the House. The Speaker pro tempore is primarily a position, but does, by long-standing tradition, preside over the House during its consideration of local. Unlike other state legislatures, the House rules do not formally recognize majority or minority leaders, the unofficial leaders are the Republican Caucus Chairman and the Democratic House Leader, both of whom are elected by their respective caucuses. †Representative was first elected in a special election, eligio De La Garza, II, first Mexican-American to represent his region in the US House and the second Mexican-American from Texas to be elected to Congress. Ray Barnhart, Federal Highway Administrator Anita Lee Blair, first blind woman elected to a state legislature Jack Brooks, Representative and House Majority Leader John Nance Garner, U. S. Representative, Speaker of the House, and Vice President of the United States O. H. Ike Harris, Dallas County representative from 1963–1965, state senator Sarah T, charles Henry Nimitz Born in Bremen. In 1852, built the Nimitz Hotel in Fredericksburg, which now houses the National Museum of the Pacific War, grandfather of United States Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz. Elected to the Texas Legislature 1890, rick Perry, longest serving Governor of Texas, Colonel Alfred P. C. Petsch Lawyer, legislator, civic leader, and philanthropist, veteran of both World War I and World War II. Representative and longest served Speaker of the House Coke R. Stevenson, Governor of Texas Sarah Weddington, weinert, coauthored bill to establish the Pasteur Institute of Texas, authored resolution for humane treatment of state convicts, coauthored the indeterminate sentence and parole law. The Chief Clerk is the custodian of all legal documents within House. When there is an update of the electronic source website. The report noted how representatives register votes for absent members on the Houses automated voting machines, each representative would vote for the nearest absent members. This practice was in violation of a Rule of the House, however
Texas House of Representatives
Texas House of Representatives
–
Texas House of Representatives
16.
Lakewood Church Central Campus
–
The Lakewood Church Central Campus is a house of worship in Houston, Texas. It is located five miles southwest of Downtown Houston, next to the Greenway Plaza. From 1975 to 2003 the building served as a sports arena, for various professional teams in Houston. From its opening until 1998, the building was known as The Summit, computer technology firm Compaq bought naming rights to the building after that and it was known as Compaq Center until 2003. At that point the name was dropped, coinciding with opening of the Toyota Center as a new sports venue in Houston. Shortly after, the building was leased out to Lakewood Church for use as its main facility, Lakewood Church purchased the building outright in 2010. In 1971, the National Basketball Associations San Diego Rockets were purchased by new ownership group Texas Sports Investments, the city, however, lacked an indoor arena suitable to host a major sports franchise. The largest arena in the city at the time was 34-year-old Sam Houston Coliseum, plans were immediately undertaken to construct the new venue that would become The Summit. The Rockets played their games in various local facilities such as Hofheinz Pavilion. On each end of the arena was a Fair-Play scoreboard with a small two-line monochrome message center, both scoreboards would be upgraded in 1986 with the addition of three front-projection videoboards on top of each scoreboard. The center videoboard showed live footage, fan shots, and replays while the left. It housed the Rockets, Aeros, Comets and several arena football teams until they vacated the arena in favor of the new Toyota Center in downtown Houston. It hosted the NBA Finals on four different occasions,1981,1986,1994 and 1995, in 1994 and 1995, the then-Summit was the site of the deciding games in the championship series and of the ensuing celebrations. The Summit was also host to teams from 1997 to 2000 when the Houston Comets won the WNBA title for four consecutive years. The first professional wrestling event at the Summit was promoted by the American Wrestling Association on May 29,1977, on January 7,1979, Dusty Rhodes won the NWA Texas Brass Knuckles Championship from Mark Lewin. The World Wrestling Federation aired the first TV card from the venue on October 19,1986, featuring Hulk Hogan defending his title against Paul Orndorff and it held the Royal Rumble on January 15,1989. This was the first time the Royal Rumble, won by Big John Studd, was televised on pay-per-view, the newly renamed Compaq Center hosted the No Way Out of Texas PPV on February 15,1998, and Bad Blood on June 15,2003. It hosted an episode of SmackDown
Lakewood Church Central Campus
Lakewood Church Central Campus
–
The Summit stands among the high-rise office buildings of Greenway Plaza, c. 1994
Lakewood Church Central Campus
–
The interior of Lakewood Church Central Campus currently. It was once The Summit, and later Compaq Center, before becoming a house of worship.
17.
Bob Lanier (politician)
–
Robert Clayton Bob Lanier was an American businessman and politician. He served as mayor of the city of Houston, Texas from 1992 to 1998, at the time of his death, he was Houstons oldest living mayor. Lanier averaged 88 percent in his races, with strong support in each political party. As mayor, he was referred to as Mayor Bob. Born to working parents in the refinery town of Baytown, Texas in 1925. Lanier worked while attending college and started his career as a cum laude graduate from the University of Texas Law School in 1949. Initially employed by Baker & Botts law firm, Lanier practiced for a decade before switching gears to pursue a business career, during that business career he worked in banking and eventually established himself as a major Houston real estate developer, focusing mostly on subdivisions and apartments. In the 1991 Houston Mayoral election, most white voters of all economic levels voted for Lanier. His strongest tallies came from affluent neighborhoods like River Oaks, Meyerland, Uptown, Memorial and Sharpstown, Lanier won 75 percent of the votes in his home Houston precinct. In racially mixed areas such as Westbury and Alief, Lanier had the majority of votes with his opponent, Sylvester Turner. Lanier did not win in Montrose and many African-American neighborhoods, the Bob Lanier Public Works Building in Houston is named after him. Lanier also was a member of Houston Community College, which he continued to support until the end of his life. That public safety should be improved, laniers core values were translated into specific programs once he had taken office. By the time he had left office in 1997, he had achieved the following,1,244 Police officers or their equivalents added, crime reduced by 246,323 major felonies compared to 1991 rate. 5,226 units of housing assistance with down payment. 5,986 units of multi-family housing completed or approved by city council,5,287 units of public housing completed or approved by city council. 1,600 homeless beds completed or approved by city council (not including units provided by Harris County in FY1993,20,536 homeless persons and individuals with AIDS assisted. 950 miles of sidewalks constructed or initiated,367.2 miles of hike and bike trails under design and planned
Bob Lanier (politician)
–
Bob Lanier
18.
List of Governors of Texas
–
The governor has the power to consider bills passed by the Texas Legislature, by signing them into law, or vetoing them, and in bills relating to appropriations, the power of a line-item veto. He may convene the legislature, and grant pardons and reprieves, except in cases of impeachment, the State provides an official residence, the Governors Mansion in Austin. The incumbent, Greg Abbott, is the governor, of whom two have been women, to serve in the office since Texas statehood in 1845. When compared to those of states, the Governorship of Texas has been described as one of relative weakness. In some respects, it is the Lieutenant Governor of Texas, who presides over the Texas Senate, the governor is inaugurated on the third Tuesday of January every four years along with the Lieutenant Governor, and serves a term of four years. Prior to the present laws, in 1845, the states first constitution established the office of governor, the 1861 constitution, following secession from the Union, established the first Monday of November following election as the terms start. The constitution of 1869, enacted during Reconstruction, removed term limitations, the present constitution of 1876 returned terms to two years, but a 1972 amendment again returned them to four. Since its establishment, only one man has served in excess of eight years as governor, Price Daniel was elected to the governorship in 1956 and re-elected in 1958 and 1960 before losing his re-election for an unprecedented fourth term in the 1962 Democratic primary, missing the runoff. John Connally was elected in 1962 and re-elected in 1964 and 1966 before choosing to retire in 1968, in the case of a vacancy in the office, the lieutenant governor becomes governor. Prior to a 1999 amendment, the lieutenant governor only acted as governor until the expiration of the term to which he succeeded, the most recent death of a former Texas Governor was that of Bill Clements on May 29,2011 aged 94. The most recently serving governor of Texas who has died is Ann Richards, pictured in order of service, Texas has had two female governors, Miriam A. Ferguson was one of the first two women elected governor of a U. S. state, along with Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming. Ross was inaugurated on January 5,1925, while Ferguson was inaugurated on January 20, Ferguson was the wife of former governor Jim Pa Ferguson, while Richards was elected in her own right, being neither the spouse nor widow of a governor. Baylor University is the most common alma mater of Texas governors, with five of them - Lawrence Sullivan Ross, Pat Morris Neff, Price Daniel, Mark White, and Ann Richards - considered alumni. To date, Coke Stevenson is the most recent governor who never attended college, three governors have served non-consecutive terms, Elisha M. Pease, Miriam A. Ferguson, and Bill Clements. As was the case in most Southern states, Texas did not elect any Republican governor from the end of Reconstruction until the twentieth century. Bill Clements was the states first Republican governor since Edmund J. Davis left office in 1874,105 years earlier. Rick Perry, who ascended to the governorship on December 21,2000 upon the resignation of then-Governor George W. Bush, won full four-year terms in 2002,2006 and 2010
List of Governors of Texas
–
Incumbent
Greg Abbott since January 20, 2015
List of Governors of Texas
–
Seal of the Governor
19.
George W. Bush
–
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He was also the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000 and he is the eldest son of Barbara and George H. W. Bush. After graduating from Yale University in 1968 and Harvard Business School in 1975, Bush married Laura Welch in 1977 and ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives shortly thereafter. He later co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team before defeating Ann Richards in the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election and he is the second president to assume the nations highest office after his father, following the lead of John Quincy Adams. He is also a brother of Jeb Bush, a former Governor of Florida who was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2016 presidential election, the September 11 terrorist attacks occurred eight months into Bushs first term as president. Bush responded with what became known as the Bush Doctrine, launching a War on Terror, a military campaign that included the war in Afghanistan in 2001. He also promoted policies on the economy, health care, education, Social Security reform and his tenure included national debates on immigration, Social Security, electronic surveillance, and torture. In the 2004 Presidential race, Bush defeated Democratic Senator John Kerry in another close election. After his re-election, Bush received increasingly heated criticism from across the spectrum for his handling of the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina. Amid this criticism, the Democratic Party regained control of Congress in the 2006 elections, Bush left office in 2009, returning to Texas where he purchased a home in Crawford. He wrote a memoir, Decision Points and his presidential library was opened in 2013. His presidency has been ranked among the worst in historians polls published in the late 2000s and 2010s. George Walker Bush was born on July 6,1946, at Grace-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, as the first child of George Herbert Walker Bush and his wife, the former Barbara Pierce. He was raised in Midland and Houston, Texas, with four siblings, Jeb, Neil, Marvin, another younger sister, Robin, died from leukemia at the age of three in 1953. His grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a U. S and his father, George H. W. Bush, was Ronald Reagans Vice President from 1981 to 1989 and the 41st U. S. President from 1989 to 1993. Bush has English and some German ancestry, along with more distant Dutch, Welsh, Irish, French, Bush attended public schools in Midland, Texas, until the family moved to Houston after he had completed seventh grade. He then spent two years at The Kinkaid School, a school in Houston. Bush attended high school at Phillips Academy, a school in Andover, Massachusetts
George W. Bush
–
George W. Bush
George W. Bush
–
Lt. George W. Bush while in the
Texas Air National Guard
George W. Bush
–
George W. Bush with his father outside the White House, April 29, 1992
George W. Bush
–
Governor Bush (right) with father, former president
George H. W. Bush and wife, Laura, in 1997
20.
National Hockey League
–
Headquartered in New York City, the NHL is considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, and one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the playoff champion at the end of each season. At its inception, the NHL had four teams—all in Canada, the league expanded to the United States in 1924, when the Boston Bruins joined, and has since consisted of American and Canadian teams. After a labour-management dispute that led to the cancellation of the entire 2004–05 season, in 2009, the NHL enjoyed record highs in terms of sponsorships, attendance, and television audiences. The league draws many highly skilled players from all over the world, canadians have historically constituted the majority of the players in the league, with an increasing percentage of American and European players in recent seasons. The National Hockey League was established in 1917 as the successor to the National Hockey Association, founded in 1909, the NHA began play one year later with seven teams in Ontario and Quebec, and was one of the first major leagues in professional ice hockey. Realizing the NHA constitution left them unable to force Livingstone out, the four teams voted instead to suspend the NHA, frank Calder was chosen as its first president, serving until his death in 1943. The Bulldogs were unable to play, and the remaining owners created a new team in Toronto, the first games were played on December 19,1917. The Montreal Arena burned down in January 1918, causing the Wanderers to cease operations, the NHL replaced the NHA as one of the leagues that competed for the Stanley Cup, which was an interleague competition back then. Toronto won the first NHL title, and then defeated the Vancouver Millionaires of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association for the 1918 Stanley Cup. The Canadiens won the title in 1919, however their Stanley Cup Final against the PCHAs Seattle Metropolitans was abandoned as a result of the Spanish Flu epidemic. Montreal in 1924 won their first Stanley Cup as a member of the NHL, the Hamilton Tigers, won the regular season title in 1924–25 but refused to play in the championship series unless they were given a C$200 bonus. The league refused and declared the Canadiens the league champion after defeated the Toronto St. Patricks in the semi-final. Montreal was then defeated by the Victoria Cougars of the Western Canada Hockey League for the 1925 Stanley Cup and it was the last time a non-NHL team won the trophy, as the Stanley Cup became the de facto NHL championship in 1926 after the WCHL ceased operation. The National Hockey League embarked on rapid expansion in the 1920s, adding the Montreal Maroons, the Bruins were the first American team in the league. The New York Americans began play in 1925 after purchasing the assets of the Hamilton Tigers, the New York Rangers were added in 1926. The Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Cougars were also added after the league purchased the assets of the defunct WCHL, a group purchased the Toronto St. Patricks in 1927 and immediately renamed them the Maple Leafs. The first NHL All-Star Game was held in 1934 to benefit Ace Bailey, the second was held in 1937 in support of Howie Morenzs family when he died of a coronary embolism after breaking his leg during a game
National Hockey League
–
National Hockey League Ligue nationale de hockey (
French)
National Hockey League
–
Montreal Canadiens in 1942
National Hockey League
–
Los Angeles Kings '
Mike Weaver battling for the puck against
Calgary Flames '
Daymond Langkow, December 21, 2005.
21.
Lee P. Brown
–
Lee Patrick Brown is an American criminologist, public administrator, politician and businessman, in 1997 he was the first African-American to be elected mayor of Houston, Texas. He was reelected twice to serve the maximum of three terms from 1998 to 2004 and he has had a long career in law enforcement and academia, leading police departments in Atlanta, Houston and New York over the course of nearly four decades. With practical experience and a doctorate from University of California, Berkeley, he has combined research and his parents, Andrew and Zelma Brown, were sharecroppers in Oklahoma, and Lee Brown was born in Wewoka. His family, including six brothers, moved to California in the wave of the Great Migration. A high school athlete, Brown earned a scholarship to Fresno State University. That year he started as a officer in San Jose, California. Brown was elected as the president of the San Jose Police Officers Association, Brown went on to earn a masters degree in sociology from San José State University in 1964, and became an assistant professor there in 1968. He also earned a masters degree in criminology from University of California. In the same year, He moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1972, Brown was appointed associate director of the Institute of Urban Affairs and Research and professor of Public Administration and director of Criminal Justice programs at Howard University. In 1974, Brown was named Sheriff of Multnomah County, Oregon, in 1978 he was appointed Public Safety Commissioner of Atlanta, Georgia, serving to 1982. Brown and his staff oversaw investigation of the Atlanta Child Murders case, a critical element of reform during Browns tenure was increasing diversity of the police force. By the time Brown resigned to accept the top job in Houston. In 1982 Brown was the first African American to be appointed as Police Chief to the City of Houston and he was first appointed by Mayor Kathy Whitmire. The Houston Police Department seemed to be in constant turmoil and badly needed reform, according to one of Browns colleagues at Atlanta. Everybody knows Lee likes challenges and anyone who knows about the Houston Police Department knows its one helluva challenge, after coming to Houston, Brown quickly began to implement methods of community policing, building relationships with the citys diverse communities. Initially, the officers were unimpressed by what Brown termed Neighborhood-Oriented Policing, old-time officers saw it as simply reverting to a long-discredited policy of walking a beat, and claimed the acronym meant never on patrol. Brown and his staff divided the city into 23 identifiable neighborhoods, Brown emphasized through his officer training sessions that getting feedback from the public was as important as writing up tickets or doing paperwork chores. The neighborhood officers soon recognized the hot spots and the movers and shakers who could be helpful in preventing problems
Lee P. Brown
–
Lee P. Brown
Lee P. Brown
–
Secretary of State
22.
David Stern
–
David Joel Stern is the former commissioner of the National Basketball Association. He started with the Association in 1966 as a counsel, joined the NBA in 1978 as General Counsel. He became Commissioner in 1984, succeeding Larry OBrien and he is credited with increasing the popularity of the NBA in the 1990s and 2000s. Stern has served on the Rutgers University Board of Overseers and is a Chair Emeritus of the Board of Trustees of Columbia University and he is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. On October 25,2012, Stern announced that he would step down as NBA commissioner on February 1,2014,30 years to the day after beginning his tenure as commissioner and his deputy, Adam Silver, is his successor. On February 14,2014, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced that Stern would be a member of its 2014 induction class, in 2016, he became a member of the FIBA Hall of Fame. David Stern was born on September 22,1942 in New York City and he grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey in a Jewish family, and is a graduate of Teaneck High School. Stern attended Rutgers University, where in 1960 he pledged to the Sigma Delta Chapter of Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity. He graduated as a student in 1963, graduated from Columbia Law School in 1966. His first association with the NBA in 1966 was as a counsel at Proskauer Rose. In 1978, Stern became the NBAs General Counsel under Larry OBrien, by 1980, he was Executive Vice President of the NBA. During this time, two decisions were reached with the NBA Players Association, drug testing and team salary cap. The drug testing dealt with the perception that most basketball players used drugs, that the NBA admitted it had a problem, the salary cap created a revenue-sharing system where owner and player were effectively partners. Both of these agreements solidified Sterns standing inside NBA circles, on February 1,1984, Stern became the Commissioner of the NBA, succeeding Larry OBrien. It was during that year that four of the leagues marquee players during the 1980s and 1990s—Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley. The arrival of Michael Jordan, in particular, ushered in a new era of commercial bounty for the NBA, with him came his flair and talent for the game, and that brought in shoe contracts from Nike which helped to give the league even more national attention. Jordan and the two other premier basketball legends of the 1980s, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, took the game to new heights of popularity and profit. By 2004, Stern oversaw the NBA expand from 10 to 30 franchises, expand into Canada, Stern also oversaw the creation of the WNBA, a professional womens basketball league
David Stern
–
David Stern
23.
Louisville, Kentucky
–
Louisville is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 30th-most populous city in the United States. It is one of two cities in Kentucky designated as first-class, the other being the states second-largest city of Lexington, Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County. Louisville was founded in 1778 by George Rogers Clark and is named after King Louis XVI of France, making Louisville one of the oldest cities west of the Appalachian Mountains. Sited beside the Falls of the Ohio, the major obstruction to river traffic between the upper Ohio River and the Gulf of Mexico, the settlement first grew as a portage site. It was the city of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. Its main airport is also the site of United Parcel Services worldwide air hub, since 2003, Louisvilles borders have been the same as those of Jefferson County because of a city-county merger. The official name of this consolidated city-county government is the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government, the citys total consolidated population as of the 2014 census estimate was 760,026. However, the total of 612,780 excludes other incorporated places and semiautonomous towns within the county and is the population listed in most sources. As of 2014, the MSA had a population of 1,269,702, the history of Louisville spans hundreds of years, and has been influenced by the areas geography and location. The rapids at the Falls of the Ohio created a barrier to river travel, the first European settlement in the vicinity of modern-day Louisville was on Corn Island in 1778 by Col. George Rogers Clark, credited as the founder of Louisville. Several landmarks in the community are named after him, two years later, in 1780, the Virginia General Assembly approved the town charter of Louisville. The city was named in honor of King Louis XVI of France, early residents lived in forts to protect themselves from Indian raids, but moved out by the late 1780s. In 1803, explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark organized their expedition across America in the town of Clarksville, Indiana at the present-day Falls of the Ohio opposite Louisville, Kentucky. The citys early growth was influenced by the fact river boats had to be unloaded and moved downriver before reaching the falls. By 1828, the population had swelled to 7,000, the city grew rapidly in its formative years. Louisville was a shipping port and slaves worked in a variety of associated trades. The city was often a point of escape for slaves to the north, during the Civil War, Louisville was a major stronghold of Union forces, which kept Kentucky firmly in the Union. It was the center of planning, supplies, recruiting, and transportation for numerous campaigns, by the end of the war, Louisville had not been attacked, although skirmishes and battles, including the battles of Perryville and Corydon, took place nearby
Louisville, Kentucky
–
From top:
Louisville downtown skyline at night,
Cathedral of the Assumption,
Thunder Over Louisville fireworks during the
Kentucky Derby Festival,
Kentucky Derby,
Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory,
Fourth Street Live!,
The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts
Louisville, Kentucky
–
Louisville's founder,
George Rogers Clark
Louisville, Kentucky
–
View of Main Street Louisville in 1846
Louisville, Kentucky
–
Memorial to the
1890 tornado, on Main Street in
downtown Louisville
24.
Reliant Energy
–
NRG Energy, Inc. is a large American energy company, dual-headquartered in West Windsor Township, New Jersey, and Houston, Texas. It was formerly the wholesale arm of Xcel Energy, and was spun off in bankruptcy in 2004, when the state of Texas deregulated the electricity market, the former Houston Lighting & Power was split into several companies. In 2003 HL&P was split into Texas Genco, CenterPoint Energy, in 2006, NRG Energy bought Texas Genco from a group of private equity firms for roughly $5.9 billion. Afterwards, in May 2009, NRG Energy acquired the operations of Reliant Energy. With those two moves, NRGs holdings represented most of the former HL&P and today serve 1.6 million customers in Texas, the retail operations continue to operate under the Reliant Energy name while the remainder of the former Reliant Energy became RRI Energy. Following the acquisition of Reliant, NRG extended its footprint with the acquisition of Green Mountain Energy in November 2010. NRG Energy completed its acquisition of GenOn Energy in December 2012 for $1.7 billion in stock, the GenOn name was retired in the merger, but the combined company retained GenOns Houston headquarters to coordinate operations. In August 2013, NRG acquired Energy Curtailment Specialists, a Buffalo, the terms of the deal were not disclosed In September 2014, NRG acquired Goal Zero, a manufacturer of personal solar power products. NRG Energy holds the rights to the NRG Park campus in Houston, Texas, home to the NRG Astrodome, NRG Stadium, NRG Arena. On March 12,2014, NRG Energy announced that they would be re-branding Reliant Park to replace Reliant on all signages to NRG, after the GenOn merger, NRG has 47,000 MW of total generation capacity, enough to power approximately 40 million homes. Its nearly 100 power plants are located in 18 states in the Northeast, Chicago area, Gulf Coast, Southwest, Nevada, generation facilities include mostly fossil fuel power plants powered by natural gas, oil, and coal, plus four wind farms and six solar farms. NRG also has a 44% ownership stake in the South Texas Nuclear Generating Station, some facilities use cogeneration and the company also owns 28MW of solar distributed generation. NRGs Retail Power services provide electricity services to more than 2 million homes and businesses, mostly in Arizona, beginning in 2009, NRG began an initiative to become an green energy producer in the United States and started investing money in clean energy projects. They include onshore and offshore wind power, solar energy, photovoltaic, and distributed solar power facilities. In late 2010, NRG launched the EVgo network, the first completely private public car charging network for electric power vehicles. The company signed a two-year agreement beginning in January 2011 to provide 100% renewable energy for the Empire State Building, assemblywoman Aravella Simotas has been chair of a coalition to support the utility in their plan to replace its decades-old, dirty power plant in Astoria with a newer generator. The company stated its intention in 2012 to replace 31 older oil generators with new gas generators that will increase the megawatts of power while reducing emissions, greenStreet New York energy law NRG Energy Website Reliant Energy website EVgo Website
Reliant Energy
–
a Goal Zero battery, lamp and solar panel
Reliant Energy
–
NRG Energy, Inc.
Reliant Energy
–
Nissan Leaf recharging from an eVgo network charging station in Houston, Texas
25.
Enron
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Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded in 1985 as the result of a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small companies in the U. S. Fortune named Enron Americas Most Innovative Company for six consecutive years, at the end of 2001, it was revealed that its reported financial condition was sustained by institutionalized, systematic, and creatively planned accounting fraud, known since as the Enron scandal. Enron has since become an example of willful corporate fraud. The scandal also brought into question the practices and activities of many corporations in the United States and was a factor in the enactment of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002. The scandal also affected the business world by causing the dissolution of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm. Enron filed for bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York in late 2001 and selected Weil, on September 7,2006, Enron sold Prisma Energy International Inc. its last remaining business, to Ashmore Energy International Ltd. One of Enrons primary predecessors was the Northern Natural Gas Company, the low cost of natural gas and cheap labor supply during the Great Depression helped to fuel the companys early beginnings. The company doubled in size by 1932 and was able to bring the first natural gas to Minnesota, over the next 50 years, Northern expanded even more as it acquired many energy companies and created new divisions within. It was reorganized in 1979 as the subsidiary of a holding company, InterNorth. Although most of the acquisitions conducted were successful, some ended poorly, InterNorth competed with Cooper Industries over a hostile takeover of Crouse-Hinds Company, who manufactured electrical products. InterNorth was ultimately unsuccessful as Cooper bought out Crouse-Hinds, Cooper and InterNorth feuded over numerous suits over the course of the takeover that were eventually settled after the transaction was completed. The subsidiary Northern Natural Gas operated the largest natural gas company in North America. By the 1980s, InterNorth became a force for natural gas production, transmission and marketing as well as for natural gas liquids. The Houston Natural Gas corporation was formed from the Houston Oil Co. in 1925 to provide gas to customers in the Houston market through the building of gas pipelines. This growth was seen from the exploitation of unregulated Texas natural gas market. Towards the end of the 1970s HNGs luck began to run out with rising gas prices forcing clients to switch to oil. In addition, with the passing of the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978, after Herrings death in 1981, M. D. Matthews briefly took over as CEO in a 3-year stint with initial success but ultimately saw a big dip in earnings that led to his exit
Enron
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Arthur Andersen Witnesses
Enron
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Enron logo, designed by
Paul Rand
Enron
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Enron Complex in
Downtown Houston.
26.
Ken Lay
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Kenneth Lee Ken Lay was an American businessman. He was the CEO and chairman of Enron Corporation, Lay was indicted by a grand jury and was found guilty of 10 counts of securities fraud. Lay died while vacationing, three months before his October 23 sentencing, a preliminary autopsy reported Lay had died of a heart attack caused by coronary artery disease and his conviction was vacated. Lay was born in the Texas County, Missouri town of Tyrone and he went on to earn his Ph. D. in economics from the University of Houston in 1970 and soon after went to work at Exxon Company, USA. Lay worked in the early 1970s as an energy regulator. He became an undersecretary for the Department of the Interior and returned to the world as an executive at Florida Gas Transmission. He was also a member of the board of directors of Eli Lilly and Company, Lay was a friend of the Bush family including Vice President George H. W. Bush. He made monetary contributions, led several committees in the Republican Party and was co-chairman of Bushs 1992 re-election committee, as President, Lay flew Bush and his wife to Washington on an Enron corporate plane. In December 2000, Lay was mentioned as a candidate for President Bushs Treasury Secretary. From 1989 to 2002, his political contributions totaled $5.8 million, with 73% going to Republicans, from 1999 to 2001, he gave $365,410 to the Republican Party. In 1999 Lay was one of Americas highest-paid CEOs with a $42.4 million compensation package, Lay liquidated more than $300 million in Enron stock from 1998 to 2001, mostly in stock options. Lays company, Enron, went bankrupt in 2001 and it was the biggest bankruptcy in U. S. history. In total 20,000 employees lost their jobs and in many cases their life savings, investors also lost billions of dollars. On July 7,2004, Lay was indicted by a jury in Houston, Texas. Lay was charged, in a 65-page indictment, with 11 counts of fraud, wire fraud. The trial commenced on January 30,2006, in Houston, during his trial, Lay claimed that Enron stock made up about 90 percent of his wealth, and that his net worth was in the negative by $250,000. He insisted that Enrons collapse was due to a conspiracy waged by short sellers, rogue executives, on May 25,2006, Lay was found guilty on six counts of conspiracy and fraud by the jury. In a separate trial, Judge Lake ruled Lay was guilty of four additional counts of fraud
Ken Lay
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Mugshot of Lay upon his arrest in 2004
