The Philadelphia 76ers also known as the Sixers for short are based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania a professional basketball team. Philadelphia 76ers plays in the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association.
In the year 1946, Danny Biasone sent a $5,000 check to the National Basketball League offices in Chicago, and the Syracuse Nationals became the largely Midwest-based league's easternmost team. In 1949, the Nationals were one of seven National Basketball League teams that merged with the Basketball Association of America to form the NBA. In the year 1955, the Nationals, who were led by forward Dolph Schayes won the NBA championship.
Early 1960’s were the struggling years for NBA Teams. Syracuse was standing last of the medium-sized cities, but it was too small for a professional team to be profitable enough. Paper magnate Irv Kosloff bought the Nationals from Danny Biasone and moved the team to Philadelphia in the year 1963. The NBA returned to Philadelphia one year after the Warriors had left for San Francisco. To decide the name of the team a contest was held and the winner was the late Walt Stahlberg. The name of the team was changed to the "76ers",named after 1776, the year the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia. The Teams’ name was quickly shortened to "Sixers" by headline writers, and the two names soon became interchangeable for marketing purposes.
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