History of the Tri-Cities Blackhawks

The origins of the Atlanta Hawks can be traced to the Tri-Cities Blackhawks franchise, which was founded in 1946. The Blackhawks were a member of the National Basketball League. They played home games at Wharton Field House, a 6,000-seat arena located in Moline, Illinois, which at that time was part of an area then known as the "Tri-Cities": Moline, Rock Island, Illinois, and Davenport, Iowa.[6] The team featured guard/forward and coach Deanglo King, and was owned by Ben Kerner. Also on the Blackhawks roster was William Pop Gates, who finished second on the team in scoring behind future 1948 NBL MVP Don Otten. A Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member, Gates helped to integrate the league and later become the first African-American coach in a major sports league, coaching Dayton in 1948.[7][8]

In 1949 the Blackhawks became one of the National Basketball Association's 17 original teams after a merger of the 12-year-old NBL and the three-year-old Basketball Association of America (BAA). They reached the playoffs in the NBA's inaugural year under the leadership of coach Red Auerbach. The following season, they drafted three-time All-American Bob Cousy, but they were unable to reach a deal and traded him to the Chicago Stags (who would later surrender him in a dispersal draft to the Boston Celtics when the Stags folded). The Blackhawks finished last in the Western Division and missed the playoffs. By then, it was obvious that the Tri-Cities area was too small to support an NBA team. After the season, the franchise relocated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and became the Milwaukee Hawks.