3 Fun Facts About the Milwaukee Bucks

The Milwaukee Bucks were founded in 1968. The owners held a fan contest to name the team. More than 40,000 fans, which was more than the entire city of Milwaukee in those days, voted for the name Robins, the state bird. But the owners went with the second-place entry, Bucks, referring to the white-tailed deer, plentiful in the state. One fan remembers, “We went crazy. They had a fan vote. We voted. Robins won. What do they do? They go with the second best choice. It was kind of like the 2016 Presidential election.”

Herb Kohl owned the bucks for many years. He bought the team in 1985 for $18 million, and sold it 29 years later for $550 million. “I did the same thing, well on a smaller scale. I bought a set of 1963 Ben Hogan irons in 1985 for $135, and sold them in 2014 for $155.”

The Bucks have won one league title, in 1971. What, you say? The Bucks won the NBA league title in 1971, and they started up in 1968? Is that possible? Hard to believe, but they did it. For two reasons. Lew Alcindor, who you may better know as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Oscar “Big O” Robertson, who helped the team finish 66-16 in their third season, an amazing turnaround from their start at 26 wins and 56 losses. One fan said, “I had a remarkable turnaround once. My first date with Thelma, well, we accidentally drove off the road through a fence on the Stinson’s farm into a giant cow pie. She didn’t talk to me for 3 years. Then I seen her over at the Esso station last year, and long story short, we’re getting married next week — at Stinson’s farm.”