The Early Beginning

The NBA team now known as the Washington Wizards was established in 1961, as the Chicago Packers. It was the first expansion team in the NBA. This name only lasted a year before it changed its name to the Chicago Zephyrs, to avoid a controversy with crossing a rivalry from another sport, between Chicago and the NFL’s Green Bay Packers. The team relocated to Baltimore in 1963.

Beginning of the Bullets

The move to Baltimore brought out a revival of what the Baltimore professional league basketball organization was already called in the failed professional leagues of the 1940’s, the American Basketball League (ABL) and the Basketball Association of America (BAA).  This Baltimore Bullets team went defunct in 1954 at the time of the ABL-BAA merger but the name was finally revived in 1963, when an established professional basketball league finally became widespread and was rapidly expanding.

The Bullets’ name comes from the historical site, the Phoenix Shot Tower, in downtown Baltimore.  A brick shot tower that was constructed in 1828, was the tallest building in America at that time, created millions of drop shot lead bullets for muskets in that era.

The first few years as an NBA team were successful given the stacked roster that included the likes of Walt Bellamy, Bailey Howell, and Bob Ferry. Howell effectively led the team to the first franchise conference title in 1965, ultimately falling to the Los Angeles Lakers in just six games.

 

 

Courtesy of https://www.lines.com/nba/history-of-nba-teams/wizards