NBA fans in “Brew City,” Milwaukee, Wis., have been able to cheer on their local team, the Bucks, for almost 50 seasons. Founded in 1968, the Bucks play in the Eastern Conference’s Central Division with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Chicago Bulls, the Indiana Pacers, and the Detroit Pistons. They keep their fans entertained in the regular season, and usually in the postseason as well. Over their first 49 seasons, they’ve made it to the postseason 28 times – almost 60 percent of the time.
As they inch toward a historic 50th season, it’s time to look back at the logos the Milwaukee Bucks have used as their symbol to both rally fans and strike fear into their opponents.
Stags, not Does
As the story goes, the Milwaukee Bucks received their name and mascot after running a contest that received entries from over 14,000 fans. Mr. R.D. Treblicox of Whitefish Bay, Wis., happened to be one of the 45 individuals who recommended the Bucks for being fast, agile, spirited, and good jumpers. (It wasn’t just a goodwill gesture either; Treblicox won a new car for suggesting the name!)
There are several prominent players in Bucks history, but none as dominant as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and six-time NBA champion (even though he only earned this honor once with the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1970-71 season) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The living legend averaged over 30 points and 15 rebounds per game when he played in Wisconsin, which is above his career averages of almost 25 points and over 11 rebounds per game.
Trendy Bucks
Even though the team has been around since 1968, the Bucks have only used four primary logos in that time. In fact, the team managed to use their inaugural logo for 25 years before making a change. Let’s look at how the Milwaukee Bucks logo has evolved over time.
1968–1992: The team’s first logo uses a cartoon buck spinning a basketball and wearing a sweater with the letter “B” on it, sitting atop the words “Milwaukee Bucks.”
1993–2005: The Bucks add two colors to their logo scheme in their 25th season, purple and silver, to mesh with the hunter green used previously. It also features a frontal view of an eight-point whitetail buck. They also make the word “Bucks” larger than the name of the city. Behind all of this is an inverted triangle to help frame the logo.
2006–2014: This logo carries forward many elements from its predecessor. It ditches purple for red, while also adding an etched effect to the text for the word “Bucks.”
2015–2016: This logo represents a large shift away from prior logos. They expand the rack of the buck from eight to 12 points to represent the maturation of their franchise. Beneath the mouth of the buck is an “M” within the chest chevron to pay homage to the city of Milwaukee. It adopts an overall circular style while using the negative space between the antlers to create the appearance of a basketball.
All Pointing Forward
Whether you’ve been a fan of the Bucks for close to 50 years, or just jumped on the bandwagon, you can show your family, friends, and loved ones just how important Bucks-ball is to you by asking for the best officially licensed team apparel and merchandise this holiday season from the best place to get it – Fanatics.
