Thunder GM makes time to accept award named for a longtime friend, civic leader

On what already was a busy Wednesday for Oklahoma City Thunder General Manager Sam Presti — his team was hosting an NBA playoff game against the New Orleans Pelicans during the evening — the GM made it a point to be at the Oklahoma Hall of Fame that afternoon as a matter of respect.

As part of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame’s Scholarship Awards Assembly, at which students from across the state combined to receive more than $100,000 in scholarship and tuition grants from the Oklahoma Scholarship Competition, Presti and Oklahoma City Latino community leader Patricia Fennell were presented with the 2024 Lee Allan Smith Oklahoma Legacy Awards.

The award’s namesake, Smith, is a longtime civic leader and booster of Oklahoma City. Presti said when he arrived in Oklahoma with the Thunder in 2009, Smith was one of the first to greet him. Presti said he was immediately struck by Smith’s enthusiasm and love for Oklahoma City.

“He called me and invited me to spend some time with him,” Presti told The Oklahoman. “He was really just checking on me. … I was really moved by that, tremendously moved by just the thoughtfulness and to be appreciated in that way. It made me a big admirer of him. As I stayed and spent more time here, I just ran into more and more people that had had that interaction. It made me understand how important the city is to him and the state is to him. He wanted other people to feel that way.”

During his comments at the event, Presti told students, parents and family members that two qualities — pride and passion — could go a long way in ensuring their future success. He also encouraged students to “widen your circle” of acquaintances, because “the real world does not exist online.”

Smith is “very prideful of where he’s from and he’s equally as passionate, which allows him to instill that pride in others, Presti said. “I believe that’s a big reason why … I saw myself as someone from Oklahoma, because of the way I was welcomed and my family was welcomed, and because of the passion that I saw in other people, namely him and Clay (Bennett, the Thunder’s chairman) and other people who really love the state and are so passionate about sharing that.”

Shannon Rich, the Oklahoma Hall of Fame’s president, called Presti “an Oklahoman by choice” and he agreed with that assessment. He has embraced Oklahoma City, so much so he requires Thunder players and staff to connect with the story of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and to reflect on the values of the “Oklahoma Standard” long associated with the aftermath of that event.

Presti offered two examples of how he’s become an Oklahoman – he owns a pickup truck and he understands the importance of Bedlam, the rivalry between the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University.

“The part of Oklahoma that transcends everything for me is just the people and the focus on being together and protecting one another and finding ways to lift one another up, especially during difficult times,” Presti said. “The thing that makes it special here is that it’s a day-to-day experience. It’s not a situation that needs to be rallied.”

Founder of major Oklahoma City Latino organization also recognized

Fennell is the first Latina to be inducted into the Oklahoma Women’s Hall of Fame. She is the founding executive director of the Latino Community Development Agency in Oklahoma City, an organization created to promote social, cultural, educational, and economic development in the local Latino community.

Originally from Ecuador, Fennell told the story of how she moved to Oklahoma with her new American husband, pursued a degree from the University of Oklahoma and eventually started the agency.

Under her leadership, Latino Community Development Agency's annual operating budget has grown from $42,000 per year to $2.5 million.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Thunder GM, OKC Latino leader honored by Oklahoma Hall of Fame