- 1968
- 1976
- 1996
- 1999
- 2004
-
Move to Atlanta – Hawks
Despite the success, Kerner became weary of the Hawks’ longtime home, Kiel Auditorium. The 33-year-old arena seated only 10,000 people and was starting to show its age. The Hawks occasionally played at the larger St. Louis Arena, mostly against popular opponents, but Kerner was not willing to move the team there full-time because it had not been well-maintained since the ... -
Ted Turner’s ownership
Cable network entrepreneur and Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner bought the team n 1976, Turner bought the Atlanta Hawks, partially to provide programming for WTCG. The Hawks were the only NBA team in the Southeastern United States, just as the Atlanta Braves were the only Major League Baseball team in the region for many years to come. Turner’s ownership was ... -
New Arena
Philips Arena Coming!Around this time, it was decided that the Omni should be replaced by a new arena. The Omni was designed with weathering steel that was intended to rust into a seal around the arena so it could last for decades. However, the designers and architects didn’t reckon on Atlanta’s humid subtropical climate. As a result, it never stopped rusting and ... -
Phillips Arena Opens
Following the 1997 playoffs, the Hawks then moved back to Alexander Memorial Coliseum at the Georgia Institute of Technology, with the Georgia Dome used for larger-capacity games, until Phillips Arena opened before the 1999 – 2000 season. Philips Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Atlanta, Georgia. It was completed and opened in 1999 to replace and occupying the ... -
Atlanta Spirit LLC’s Ownership
In March 2004, the team was sold to a group of executives by the name of Atlanta Spirit LLC by Time Warner, who inherited the Hawks and Braves upon its merger with Turner Broadcasting in 1996, along with the Atlanta Thrashers pro ice hockey team now the Winnipeg Jets, with which the Hawks shared the Philips Arena, which replaced the ...
History of the Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks are a professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league’s Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at Philips Arena.
The team’s origins can be traced to the establishment of the Tri-Cities Blackhawks in 1946 in Moline, Illinois, a member of the National Basketball League (NBL) and owned by Ben Kerner & Leo Ferris. In 1949, they joined the NBA as part of the merger between the NBL and the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and had Red Auerbach as coach briefly. In 1951, Kerner moved the team to Milwaukee, where they changed their name to the Hawks. Kerner and the team moved again in 1955 to St. Louis, where they won their only NBA championship in 1958 and qualified to play in the NBA Finals in 1957, 1960, and 1961. The Hawks played the Boston Celtics in all four of their trips to the NBA Finals. The St. Louis Hawks moved to Atlanta in 1968, when Kerner sold the franchise to Thomas Cousins and former Georgia Governor Carl Sanders.
Established
1946
City
Tri-Cities - Milwaukee - St. Louis - Atlanta
League History
1949 – Present / National Basketball Association
1946 – 1949 / National Basketball League
Team History
1968 – Present / Atlanta Hawks
1955 – 1968 / St. Louis Hawks
1951 – 1955 / Milwaukee Hawks
1946 – 1951 / Tri-Cities Blackhawks
Nickname
Hawks - In 1948, the cities of Moline and Rock Island, IL, and Davenport, IA—collectively known as the Tri-Cities at the time—were awarded a team in the National Basketball League. The team was nicknamed the Blackhawks, who, like Chicago's hockey team, was named after the Sauk Indian Chief Black Hawk. When the team moved to Milwaukee in 1951, the nickname was shortened to Hawks. The franchise retained the shortened moniker for subsequent moves to St. Louis and finally Atlanta in 1968.
Championship
NBA Championships 0
1958
Arena
2019 - Present / State Farm Arena
1999 - 2018 / Philips Arena
1997 – 1999 / Georgia Dome & Alexander Memorial Coliseum
1972 – 1997 / The Omni
1968 – 1972 / Alexander Memorial Coliseum
*St. Louis*
1955 – 1968 / Kiel Auditorium
*Milwaukee*
1951 – 1955 / Milwaukee Arena
*Moline*
1946 – 1951 / Wharton Field House
Owner
2015 – Present / Tony Ressler
2004 – 2015 / Atlanta Spirit, LLC
1977 – 2004 / Ted Turner/Turner Broadcasting
1968 – 1976 / Tom Cousins/Cousins Corporation, Carl Sanders
1946 – 1968 / Ben Kerner
To qualify as the greatest player for this team, the player must have played one season for this team. If not, we will remove the player.
* verifies that player has played for this team as an added player by a fan.
Retired Number
9 / Bob Pettit
21 / Dominique Wilkins
23 / Lou Hudson
44 / Pete Maravich
55 / Dikembe Mutombo
59 / Kasim Reed
– / Ted Turner
*Blue is this team’s history