page_title: Philadelphia 76ers
section_title: Relocation to Philadelphia
hierarchical_section_title: Philadelphia 76ers / Franchise history / Relocation to Philadelphia
caption_attribution_description: English: Title: Municipal Auditorium and Convention Hall, 34th Street, below Spruce, Philadelphia, Pa. Subjects: Organizations' facilities Places: Pennsylvania &gt; Philadelphia (county) &gt; Philadelphia Notes: Title from item. Extent: 1 print (postcard)&#160;: linen texture, color&#160;; 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. Accession #: 06_10_018004
context_page_description: The Philadelphia 76ers are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division and play at the Wells Fargo Center. Founded in 1946 and originally known as the Syracuse Nationals, they are one of the oldest franchises in the NBA and one of only eight to survive the league's first decade.
  The 76ers have had a prominent history, with many Hall of Fame players having played for the organization, including Dolph Schayes, Hal Greer, Wilt Chamberlain, Billy Cunningham, Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Charles Barkley, and Allen Iverson. They have won three NBA championships, with their first coming as the Syracuse Nationals in 1955. The second title came in 1967, a team which was led by Chamberlain. The third title came in 1983, won by a team led by Erving and Malone. The 76ers have only been back to the NBA Finals once since then: in 2001, where they were led by Iverson and lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in five games.
context_section_description: The playoff overtime loss on March 26, 1963, would prove to be the last game for the Syracuse Nationals, as investors Irv Kosloff and Ike Richman purchased the team from Danny Biasone and moved the team to Philadelphia, filling the void left by the Warriors. Syracuse was the last of the medium-sized cities housing an NBA team, but by then it was apparent that central New York was no longer large enough to support it. The NBA thus returned to Philadelphia one year after the Warriors had left for San Francisco. A contest was held to decide on a new name for the team. The winning name, chosen by Walter Stalberg, was the "76ers". The name comes from the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia in 1776. Newspaper writers liked the name because it was easily shortened to "Sixers" in headlines. The shorter name was quickly accepted by the team for marketing purposes, and for most of the last half-century "76ers" and "Sixers" have been officially interchangeable.
  For their first four years in Philadelphia, the 76ers played mostly at the Philadelphia Arena and Civic Center-Convention Hall, with an occasional game at The Palestra at the University of Pennsylvania. Schayes was named head coach, a post he held for four years (the first as player-coach).
caption: Convention Hall, previous home of the Philadelphia Warriors from 1952 to 1962; home of the Sixers from 1963 to 1967.
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