Philadelphia 76ers History: From the Syracuse Nationals to Three NBA Championships The Philadelphia 76ers are one of the NBA’s oldest and most historically important franchises. Their story actually begins in Syracuse, New York, in 1946, when Danny Biasone founded the Syracuse Nationals. The franchise joined the NBA in 1949, won a championship in Syracuse in 1955, moved to Philadelphia in 1963, and became the 76ers. Since then, Philadelphia has been home to Wilt Chamberlain, Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Moses Malone, Charles Barkley, Allen Iverson and Joel Embiid. The franchise has won three NBA championships: 1955, 1967 and 1983. From the Syracuse Nationals to the Philadelphia 76ers Danny Biasone Builds the Franchise On November 14, 1946, Danny Biasone founded the Syracuse Nationals, sending a $5,000 check to the National Basketball League. Biasone wasn’t merely an owner. He became one of basketball’s most important innovators. He and general manager Leo Ferris developed the concept of the 24-second shot clock, which transformed professional basketball from a slow, possession-oriented game into the faster sport fans recognize today. The Nationals joined the NBA in 1949 when the NBL and Basketball Association of America merged. The franchise reached the NBA Finals several times before finally winning its first championship in 1955, defeating the Fort Wayne Pistons in seven games. The Franchise’s Ownership History The 76ers’ ownership history is unusual because the franchise has had relatively few ownership changes over more than 75 years. Danny Biasone — 1946-1963 Biasone founded and owned the Syracuse Nationals. He remained the franchise’s principal owner until the team was sold and moved to Philadelphia. Ike Richman and Irv Kosloff — 1963-1976 In 1963, Philadelphia businessmen Ike Richman and Irv Kosloff purchased the Nationals from Biasone. They moved the franchise to Philadelphia and renamed it the 76ers. Their ownership produced one of the greatest teams in NBA history. The 1966-67 76ers went 68-13, then defeated the San Francisco Warriors in the NBA Finals. Fitz Eugene Dixon Jr. — 1976-1981 Fitz Dixon purchased the 76ers from Kosloff in 1976. One of his first major moves was acquiring Julius Erving from the New York Nets. That transaction changed the franchise. Harold Katz — 1981-1996 Katz purchased the team from Dixon in 1981. He was the owner when Philadelphia acquired Moses Malone and won the 1983 NBA championship. Comcast Spectacor — 1996-2011 Comcast Spectacor purchased the 76ers from Katz in 1996. The company was led by Philadelphia sports executive Ed Snider. The organization owned the club during the early Allen Iverson years, including Philadelphia’s run to the 2001 NBA Finals. Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment — 2011-present In 2011, an investment group led by Josh Harris and David Blitzer purchased the 76ers from Comcast Spectacor. Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment remains the controlling ownership group. Every Major 76ers Home Arena Because the franchise began as the Syracuse Nationals, its home-arena history stretches back to the 1940s. State Fair Coliseum — Syracuse The Nationals played some of their earliest games at the State Fair Coliseum. War Memorial Arena — Syracuse The Oncenter War Memorial Arena, originally the War Memorial, became an important Nationals home. It was the setting for the franchise’s first NBA championship in 1955. Philadelphia Civic Center / Convention Hall After moving to Philadelphia in 1963, the new 76ers initially played at Philadelphia’s Civic Center and Convention Hall. The building hosted the team’s early Philadelphia years, including the beginning of the Wilt Chamberlain era. The Spectrum — 1967-1996 The 76ers moved into the Spectrum in 1967. This became the home of the greatest team in franchise history up to that point. The 1967 championship team played its first Spectrum season immediately after winning the title. The Spectrum later became home to the Julius Erving and Moses Malone era. The Center — 1996-1997 The new South Philadelphia arena opened in 1996 as the CoreStates Center. It subsequently became the First Union Center and then the Wachovia Center. The 76ers played there during the beginning of the Allen Iverson era. Wells Fargo Center — 2010-2025 The arena eventually became the Wells Fargo Center. It was the home of the 76ers through the 2024-25 season. Xfinity Mobile Arena — 2025-present The arena was renamed Xfinity Mobile Arena effective September 1, 2025. It remains the 76ers’ home in the 2026-27 season. A new arena is currently planned for Philadelphia’s South Philadelphia sports complex, with the project currently scheduled to open in 2030 according to the latest announcement. The Greatest 76ers Draft Picks Philadelphia has had some spectacular drafts, although some of its most important players — Wilt Chamberlain, Julius Erving and Moses Malone — arrived through other means. Here are several of the franchise’s most important draft selections. Dolph Schayes Schayes was selected by the Syracuse Nationals in 1948. He became the foundation of the franchise’s first great era. He played 15 seasons with the franchise, made 12 All-Star teams and eventually became a Hall of Famer. His No. 4 is retired by Philadelphia. Verdict: Outstanding success. Schayes was the first true superstar in franchise history. Billy Cunningham — 1965 Philadelphia selected Cunningham fifth overall in the 1965 NBA Draft. “The Kangaroo Kid” became one of the most important players in franchise history. He made four All-NBA teams, became an All-Star and eventually coached the 76ers to the 1983 championship. Verdict Outstanding success. He succeeded both as a player and coach. Darryl Dawkins — 1975 Philadelphia selected Darryl Dawkins fifth overall in 1975. He was also one of the first major players to… Continue reading Philadelphia 76ers History:
Tag: Syracuse
NCAA March Madness 2016
What a thrilling ending to the 2016 edition of MARCH MADNESS. North Carolina probably wishing the could have waited a couple of seconds for their final shot. I didn’t do so well. I DID however pick a number two seed to win (Michigan State); BUT it was a number two seed which won. So I have to give myself a half credit (?). It has been FUN. I plan to do this again next year. Despite my troubles with CHROME. It gave me fits in updating. I would spend sometimes an hour updating just one bracket sheet. Finally learned I had to clear my cache every time before I attempted to update anything. Be sure to check back regularly. I don’t have any idea what I will write about….. NO! wait I have some idea. Maybe some racing history. (If I can find the notes I made a couple years ago. Also…. who knows. WELCOME TO OUR 2016 MARCH MADNESS. I am not sure How many years we have been doing this. I will have to look it up. This is where you can print your “OFFICE POOL” Bracket, Check the scores, etc. I will have this “MASTER BRACKET”, “WHAT IF YOU CHOSE THE HIGH PICKS” for each game. An “UPSET BRACKET” (if the favored team wins it will be in Green, if it is an upset it will be listed in RED”. And, Yes I will have my picks so you can compare your picks to mine. (And Laugh or Cry) What is a seed? Merely a starting place. Although unlikely, IT is possible for two 16 seeds to meet in the final game. Would lets say Michigan St were to be seeded as a number 16. They would still have to win all games to be CHAMPION ! SEEDING attempts to give a more favored team an easier path to the CHAMPIONSHIP. Seeding should lead to the best 2 teams playing in the final game. However there is always that upset minded team; or the chance that the favored team has a bad game, a stand out player is sick or injured. I am reminded of one year in our STATE High School WRESTLING Tournament. The Athletic Assn. decided to go with a draw, rather than seeding. The Result? Two wrestlers with one defeat each faced each other in the first match. Loser of a first round match goes home. It was a 3 OT match. One of these wrestlers went home, while wrestlers with more losses during the season advanced. The winner of this match had no competition left. Easy wins. He won the CHAMPIONSHIP that first match. Not much excitement. Reportedly there is a TEENAGE GIRL in Indiana who has only missed 3 games in this years bracket. She picked Texas over Northern Iowa. California over Hawaii. Final game she had Syracuse over North Carolina. Her Champion pick is……VILLANOVA. She says she does not follow Basketball regularly and has only attended a game or two at her high school. Maybe this is proof the rest of us over think some things To print BRACKET: Click on PRINT PDF button at top and select page with the bracket you want to print. ( If you do not see the “PRINT PDF” button. Please go to the The Title “NCAA March Madness 2016” and click to advance to the full post). MASTER BRACKET [pdf-embedder url=”https://fromthemiddle.blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/2016-march-madness-MASTER-bracket.pdf”] ALL HIGH PICKS [pdf-embedder url=”https://fromthemiddle.blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/2016-march-madness-ALL-HIGH-PICKS-bracket.pdf”] UPSETS [pdf-embedder url=”https://fromthemiddle.blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/2016-march-madness-UPSETS-bracket.pdf”] MY PICKS [pdf-embedder url=”https://fromthemiddle.blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/2016-march-madness-MY-PICKS-bracket.pdf”] Views: 106
The Final Four
APRIL 9, 2013 We have come to the conclusion of this year’s installment of MARCH MADNESS. The new Champion is LOUISVILLE! From what I could tell from the bits and pieces i was able wake up and catch it seemed to be a truly good competition. Michigan started out strong. Then Louisville made their charge. Nip and tuck til the end. The game could have gone anyway. But it was Michigan which found itself on the short end in the closing minutes. Which meant they were forced to foul to extend the game. As happens in this situation, more often than not, The team trying to catch up gets beat, and that is what happened here. Per my definition of being beat or losing. I see no loser here. I see a strong team that got BEAT. NO LOSERS. We should have also learned a valuable lesson. Kevin Ware, who proved during the season to be a star player for the Cardinals was unfortunately injured during tournament play, could only supply moral support to his team most of the tournament games. The players rallyed around his injury. But as good as Kevin Ware is, the team from Louisville proved they were not a one man team. Many teams would have been lost without a player of his caliber. But they showed that they could all, every player, be a key member to the team. When I was coaching I always told the boys ‘Be ready. We have no set starting team. It depends on the team we are playing, what skills are needed. Each player has a different set of skills”. As a player I preferred not to start. As this took pressure off me. (Everyone expects more out of starters than subs). I usually sat for the first minute. Then finished the game. Great tournament, many upsets, and the overalll number one seed emerges the victor. Although not as bad as many the celebrating fans tarnished the schools win with their irresponsible after game behavior. That is all I have to say about this. See your newspapers for details. If they dare to put the story in without whitewashing it. PROGRAM NOTE: APRIL 8,2013 As Much as we would love to see the game tonight. We will be unable to BECAUSE of the lateness of the start time. You see we live in the Central Time Zone. However our illustrious state leadership has decided in its INFINITE wisdom we must observe ATLANTIC TIME, They call it Daylight Saving Time. But there is just so much daylight in a 24 hour day. So no one has been able to save any. Putting us TWO hours ahead of the sun. So The game should be on at 7 pm instead of 10 pm. So to all of you lucky people who get to see the game ENJOY. 4 am comes pretty early when you are two hours ahead of the sun. UPDATE APRIL 7, 2013 And then there were TWO. LOUISVILLE, and MICHIGAN. The stage is set..I am looking for a close game. One that will keep all fans on the edge of their seats. As you know I have said Michigan will be the new NCAA Basketball Champion. Good Luck to both teams. I must hope that the end of this game and season is not marred by in inappropriate action by the ones who consider themselves fan, yet take away from the the pride of their teams by rioting and tearing things up. Both teams deserve better. These outlaw demonstrations SUBTRACT. from the dignity of the respected teams. REJOICE IN THEIR FEATS. UPDATE: We nearly had another upset. A well played game by both Witchita St. and Louisville. Now we must see if Michigan can overcome the Syracuse Press. Usually I give a lot of trivia here but this year I won’t. Suffice it to say this has been one heck of a tournament. So many upsets. Made a tournament season worthy of watching. I Still stand by my original conviction that all four final teams should have come from the Big Ten. Regardless of what my old NEMESIS Sir Charles thinks. (which was always a little far out). The Big Ten had its best shot at an ALL FINAL FOUR shootout. Only team that really let me down was WISCONSIN. They truly had the best shot bur as noted they also have the spells of non-concentration, of which they fell victim. Did they get beat by a better team? NO! They LOST because they did not give their all. As I have said before and will say again. You only get BEAT if you give it all you have and and still end up on the short end of the score. But you LOSE if you don’t leave it all on the court. Granted somedays you may not have as much to give as other days. But Wisconsin just completely melted down. I really don’t feel they respected their opponent. ENOUGH. Locally I find we have one person who had 4 of the final 8. And believe it or not has 2 of the final four. Some of you may have done better. I don’t see how. As much as I would like to see another upset. Odds are really against it so as it stands I see Louisville Vs Michigan in the final game with MICHIGAN the Champions. Both teams are really good. But it will come to MENTAL and PHYSICAL Toughness. I think both team are pretty equal in the MENTAL toughness…. But Physical toughness? Again you have to go back to their conferences. Big Ten definitely the most physical Conference in the country. Michigan has proved they have this PHYSICAL toughness throughout the Big Ten season. Scale tips to Michigan. RESULTS FAVORITES MY PICKS WHY? Because…. I really don’t know. Just a glutton for punishment, I guess Views: 115
It Is MARCH MADNESS TIME
Finally it is MARCH MADNESS!!!!!. Who will be the Number One team this year? Who will be the CINDERELLA team? Could this be the year a 16 seed upsets a number 1 seed? Who will be the most upset minded team? Could we see a one Conference final game. Maybe even a one Conference FINAL FOUR. Will SOMEONE Come Up with a PERFECT PICK SHEET. WOW! Lots of possibilities waiting for us. Maybe your favorite School Will WIN First we have to have our 68 teams. So Knowing you can’t account for the NCAA’s Comittee, THEY have an altogether sometimes strange reasoning for their picks. One thing I really don’t like is this. The committee has decided to add 4 teams they would not have included in the original 64. They may take one of these teams to play into a 12 seed spot. They may have 2 of these teams play into the same SET OF 16. The way I see it they should have these teams play in by having them play the 16 seeds. That way you have one play in, in each block of 16. But; Going out on a limb. I have selected these 68 teams to play in the NCAA Tournament of 2013. In Alphabetical Order. [table]1st 16, 2nd 16,3rd 16,4th 16 1. Akron, 18. Hampton, 35. Memphis,52. St. Mary’s 2. Arizona, 19. Harvard, 36. Miami,53. San Diego St. 3. Belmont, 20. Illinois, 37. Michigan. ,54. S. Dakota 4. Boise St, 21. Indiana, 38. Michigan St. ,55. Southern 5. Bucknell, 22 Iona, 39. Minnesota. ,56. Stephen F. Austen 6 Butler, 23. Iowa St. , 40. Missouri. .,57. Syracuse 7. California, 24. James Madison.,41.Montana ,58. Temple 8. Cincinnati, 25 Kansas, 42. New Mexico ,59. Tennessee 9. Colorado, 26. Kansas St, 43. N.Carolina,60. UCLA 10. Colorado St., 27. Kentucky, 44. N. Carolina St.,61. UNLV 11. Creighton, 28 LaSalle, 45. Notre Dame,62. Valparaiso 12. Davidson, 29. Liberty, 46. Ohio St.,63. Va. Commonwealth 13. Duke, 30. Long Beach St., 47. Oklahoma, 64. Vermont 14. Florida, 31LIU Brooklyn., 48. Oklahoma St., 65. Villanova 15. Florida Gulf Coast, 32. Louisiana Tech., 49. Oregon,66. W. Kentucky 16. Georgetown, 33. Louisville, 50.Pittbursgh , 67. Witchita St. 17.Gonzaga,34. Marquette,51. St. Louis,68. Wisconsin [/table] Now my Picks for Number one seeds. (which will not happen due to the NCAA’s need to spread the wealth). The most deserving (as I see it) Indiana, Michigan St., Michigan, and Gonzaga. I Know a lot of you will wonder why I have 3 teams from the Big Ten. Simply because, The strength of the Big 10 this year. I think if any of these teams were in ANY other conference they would have been the number one team. That is the way I see it. Join me for our annual Picks un-contest SEE if you can beat me. I once again will have my picks using the upper ranked team, my personal picks, and the actual finishes. Views: 121
