The NBA has played witness to several teams packing up an moving to new cities. The Lakers went from Minneapolis to Los Angeles, the Warriors moved from Philadelphia to San Francisco to Oakland where they play right now (they’re moving back to San Francisco), The Jazz moved from New Orleans to Utah … there have been many, but the one team few know the history of is the Atlanta Hawks. In fact, the Hawks moved to Atlanta from St. Louis, and when they played as the St. Louis Hawks, they were one of the NBA’s best. Actually, not only were they one of the best, they won the NBA Championship in 1958 and appeared in the NBA Finals four times in five years (1957, 58, 60 and 61); and had the ball bounced their way, the Hawks might have won another championship – or two? But winning and playing in St. Louis is only a part of the amazing story of this franchise. Had it not been for the Hawks, the great Boston Celtics teams of the 1950s and 1960s might have never happened. Bill Russell might have never stepped foot on the parquet floor of the old Boston Garden and the Celtics might have ceased to exist! Greg Maracek, founder of the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame and author of the book, “Full Court: The Untold Stories of the St. Louis Hawks,” joins the podcast for a terrific conversation about the former champions. Greg, who also was the paly-by-play voice for several St. Louis-area teams including the St. Louis Blues of the NHL and the St. Louis University Billikens basketball team is this week’s special guest as we take a look back at one of the NBA’s most powerful teams of the late 1950s and early 1960s, while also exploring the reasons why the Hawks left St. Louis for Atlanta.
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