Philadelphia Warriors

1946–1959: The Fulks and Arizin era

The Warriors were founded in Philadelphia in 1946 as the Philadelphia Warriors, a charter member of the Basketball Association of America. They were owned by Peter A. Tyrrell, who also owned the Philadelphia Rockets of the American Hockey League. Tyrell hired Eddie Gottlieb, a longtime basketball promoter in the Philadelphia area, as coach and general manager. Gottlieb named the team after the Philadelphia Warriors, which he founded with his friends Harry Passon and Hughie Black in 1917 as the Philadelphia YMHA, which was sponsored by the Young Men's Hebrew Association of South Philadelphia and played in the minor league American League of Philadelphia, before being renamed the Philadelphia Sphas (1918–1921, 1922–1926, 1927–1933, 1937–1959) — a team of primarily Jewish players that was sponsored by the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association and played in the Eastern Basketball League and American Basketball League — and subsequently renamed the Philadelphia Passon, Gottlieb, Black (after the founders) (1921–1923); the Philadelphia Warriors (1926–1928); the Philadelphia Hebrews (1933–1937); the Atlantic City Tides (1949); and the Baltimore Rockets (1959), an exhibition team for the Harlem Globetrotters. Today, some, including former NBA player Carmelo Anthony, have called on the team to change its name because Warriors are associated with Native American iconography, although the term itself has been used to describe many types of warfarers, both past and present, however team management today in regards to the controversy over the team's name history, has stated the name "Warriors" is now nothing more than an honorable reference to the United States military.