“I think it just shows the pride,” Khator tells PaperCity. This new $60 million on-campus arena is just the latest major move. (Photo by Chris Baldwin.)īut the most effective way that Fertitta shifts some of the focus away from him is that he conspires in surprising University of Houston president Renu Khator with the fact that she’s also being inducted into the UH Athletics Hall of Honor right along with him on this Thursday night.Īs closely as Fertitta, as UH’s Board of Regents chairman, has worked with Khator in transforming Houston’s largest university, it’s a fitting two step, one that Khator seems genuinely caught off guard by. The Fertitta Center court is quite the stage. The demonstration of Fertitta Center’s most high-tech feature - the fact that its entire court can turn into a high-definition 3D screen that stretches 94 feet and guarantees to give UH some of the most show-stopping pregame introductions in all of college basketball - will have to wait a few more minutes. That does not exactly hurry the billionaire along. “I think Tilman’s determined to take a picture with everyone in the building,” emcee Bill Worrell cracks at one point. Rockets CEO Tad Brown and general manager Daryl Morey are lumped in with the Landry’s crowd for the photo, part of Tilman’s ever growing world. He insists on bringing all the Landry’s people who show up - including his longtime assistant Rhonda DePaulis, who’s been with him for more than 20 years - onto the gleaming court to take a picture, too. He introduces his parents, Vic and Joy Fertitta, and notes how lucky he is that they’re still around to see him achieve moments like this. Then, he goes about trying to make sure the night is about almost everyone else in the building too. But the school wanted to do this tonight, so I’m here if I can be of service to my school.” Joining the Hallįertitta gets inducted into the UH Athletics Hall of Honor on this ribbon cutting night too, joining such legendary Houston athletes as Hakeem Olajuwon and Carl Lewis. “I even said just the opening game was fine to me. “As far as I was concerned, we didn’t have to do tonight,” Fertitta says. In some ways, Fertitta wants to get to Saturday night when the UH men’s basketball team plays the inaugural game in the Fertitta Center against No. Fertitta does not spend much time on the red carpet outside that stretches into the VIP Club Entry way. It happens to be an official NBA basketball, but when you also own the Houston Rockets, that’s understandable. On this night, dedication night, Fertitta walks into the Fertitta Center, carrying a basketball. “My dad loves UH,” Fertitta’s oldest son Michael says simply. And his family will continue to support UH, hopefully for decades.” “He considers himself an alumni of the school and he wants to continue to support UH.
“It’s been amazing to see how much our father has cared about the University of Houston over the years,” his son Patrick Fertitta tells PaperCity in a quiet moment, before the pageantry, giant red scissors and flashing lights of the ceremony. “And to finally be able to put his impact and his lasting legacy on an arena like this, and to help the athletic program and the game of basketball, it’s all coming to a head. Especially not from the people closest to him. But the one liners cannot hide how much pushing to deliver this building for UH means to Fertitta. This is a billionaire who is willing to make a joke at his own expense (and in this case, at the expense of his currently 9 and 11 NBA team too). “I’m going to have people who are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for tickets saying, ‘Do I need to go to the University of Houston to get great seating and better basketball?’ ” “We don’t even have this in Toyota Center,” Fertitta cracks, looking around the plush club seating.