50th Anniversary of Syracuse Nationals NBA Championship WHEREAS, The Syracuse Nationals joined the National Basketball League (NBL) in the 1946-47 season, and three years later six NBL franchises, including the “Nats” merged with the Basketball Association of America (BAA) to form the National Basketball Association (NBA); and WHEREAS, While the team moved to Philadelphia and became the ‘76ers in 1963, the Syracuse Nationals enjoyed many successful seasons in Syracuse, playing against the Minneapolis Lakers in the NBA’s first championship series in 1950, reaching the NBA Finals in 1954, and winning the NBA Championship in 1955; and WHEREAS, There were many outstanding players on the Syracuse Nationals basketball team, several of whom made indelible marks on the history of basketball, and are present here today: Dolph Schayes, who was the first star of the Syracuse Nationals, garnering in his 13 years as a professional basketball player 5 league records and widely regarded as the first true “power forward”; and Earl Lloyd, who in 1950 became the first African-American to play in an NBA game, in 1955 with the Syracuse Nationals he became the first African-American to win an NBA championship, and later went on to distinguish himself in many coaching endeavors; and WHEREAS, It is an honor to recognize today the legacy of the Syracuse Nationals and remember their victorious 1955 NBA Championship. NOW, THEREFORE, I, NICHOLAS J. PIRRO, County Executive of the County of Onondaga and I, MATTHEW J. DRISCOLL, Mayor of the City of Syracuse, do hereby proclaim the twenty-sixth day of March, two thousand five as 50th Anniversary of the Syracuse Nationals NBA Championship in the County of Onondaga and the City of Syracuse IN WITNESS WHEREOF, we have hereunto set our hands and caused the Seals of the County of Onondaga and the City of Syracuse to be imprinted this twenty-sixth day of March, two thousand five. _________________ __________________ Nicholas J. Pirro Matthew J. Driscoll County Executive Mayor .