Group buying SuperSonics represent various businesses

Wednesday, July 19th 2006, 3:40 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ The men who make up the group buying the Seattle SuperSonics and the WNBA Storm represent a cross section of Oklahoma City businesses ranging from banking and investment to the oil sector.

Professional Basketball LLC will pay $350-million for the two teams.

The group is led by Clay Bennett who is chairman of the Dorchester Capital investment firm. He served on the NBA Board of Governors from 1992 to 1997.

Aubrey McClendon and Tom Ward co-founded Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy in 1989 and it's now the second-largest independent producer of natural gas in the United States.

Ward resigned from Chesapeake in February and now owns 46 percent of Texas-based Riata Energy.

Also a part of the group is Jeffrey Records who is chief executive officer and chairman of the board for MidFirst Bank which is Oklahoma City's largest bank.

And there is Edward Evans who is the former president of Oklahoma City-based wireless services provider Dobson Communications.