The Hawks went through many cities and names until they finally settled in Atlanta in 1968.

A Few Relocations Later

In 1946, the Tri-Cities Blackhawks were based in the tri-city area of Rock Island and Moline in Illinois, and Davenport, Iowa. They relocated to Milwaukee in 1951 and were renamed the Milwaukee Hawks. After another move to St. Louis in 1955, the team finally made a permanent base at Atlanta in 1968 and is there to stay.

The St. Louis Hawks were successful as they became one of the top teams in the league. In 1957, they reached the NBA Finals where they lost to the Boston Celtics. The following year, they had their revenge as they beat the Celtics to win the NBA Championship. Though this was the only NBA Championship the team has ever won.

The Atlanta Years

The initial years in Atlanta were spent in rebuilding the team. In 1976, the team was taken over by Ted Turner who in turn hired Head Coach Hubie Brown. This turned out to be a good move as the Hawks won 50 games that season and the Central Division title in 1980. The years between 1985 and 1989 were quite successful as they won more than 50 games each season. However they never made it beyond the Eastern Conference playoff semifinals.

Lenny Wilkens was hired as Head Coach in 1993 and he was able to make the Hawks even more successful as they went on to have 57 wins which equaled an earlier record by the team. Wilkens broke an NBA record on having the maximum wins by a Head Coach in 1995 when he enjoyed his 939th victory. But despite his efforts, the playoffs still evaded the team.

The Hawks took on Isaiah Rider in 1999 by trading Steve Smith who had been a very popular player. Rider had behavioral problems and after reports of him smoking marijuana in his hotel room in Orlando he was asked to go for drug counseling and was fined a huge amount when he refused to do so. He was released from the team soon after as his conduct did not change.

The Hawks changed hands again in 2004 when they were bought by the Atlanta Spirit LLC, a group of executives. The current Head Coach is Mike Woodson and their home ground since 1999 is the Philips Arena. The Hawks have only won one NBA Championship in their entire tenure and have four Eastern Conference titles to their credit. They have also won fourteen Division titles, the last being in 1994. The team colors have just been changed for the 2008 season to navy blue, red and white, which they had used in St. Louis.