Jan. 1, 1968: While the Sonics were losing to Lenny Wilkens and the St. Louis Hawks, O.J. Simpson was scoring a pair of touchdowns and leading USC to a Rose Bowl victory over Indiana.

The SuperSonics spent their inaugural New Year's Day at the Seattle Coliseum, where they took a beating from the St. Louis Hawks and two guys who were destined to play significant roles in the franchise's greatest moment.

Lenny Wilkens scored 26 points for St. Louis, and Paul Silas added 23 as the Hawks rolled to a 115-94 victory before a sparse holiday crowd of 3,604 on Jan. 1, 1968. It was St. Louis' fourth victory over the expansion Sonics that season.

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The Hawks, who enjoyed a colorful migratory history on their way to Atlanta, were spending their final season in St. Louis. (For the record, the Hawks began life in 1946 as the Buffalo Bison. The next season the franchise moved to Moline, Ill., on the Mississippi River and played as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. In 1951 it was off to Milwaukee, where the renamed Hawks stayed until they moved to St. Louis in 1955.

Ten months hence, on Oct. 12, the Sonics sent Walt Hazzard to the Hawks in return for Wilkens. That exchange worked out OK for Seattle.

Hazzard, who led the Sonics with 17 points that New Year's Day, made his only All-Star team that season. Wilkens, who was a five-time All-Star for St. Louis, would make three All-Star teams for Seattle and later coach the Sonics to their only championship in 1979.

Silas would join the Sonics via trade in 1977, and help the team reach the NBA Finals in 1978 and win it all the following season.

The Sonics' loss was relegated to the second page of The TNT's sports section on Jan. 2. The Rose Bowl garnered top story, as O.J. Simpson ran for 128 yards and two touchdowns to lead national champion USC to a 14-3 victory over Indiana.

Elsewhere on New Year's Day, LSU rallied to upset unbeaten and untied Wyoming (Wyoming!) in the Sugar Bowl. The Cowboys featured a star halfback name Jim Kiick. In the Cotton Bowl, protegé Gene Stallings coached Texas A&M to a 20-16 victory over mentor Bear Bryant, and Oklahoma held on for a 26-24 victory over Tennessee in the Orange Bowl.

UCLA and Houston were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the Associated Press' college basketball poll. The teams would meet for a legendary confrontation at the Astrodome later that month, with Elvin Hayes leading the Cougars to a 71-69 victory over Lew Alcindor and the Bruins, snapping UCLA's 47-game winning streak in the progress.

For the record, the Sonics fared better on New Year's Day than they did on Christmas, when they were 0-11. They played eight times on Jan. 1, going 4-4. They played for the final time on New Year's Day in 1979, dropping a 110-97 decision to the Golden State Warriors.