Photo Credit:
Conference: Western
Division: Pacific
Founded: 1923
History:
1. Rochester Seagrams 1923 – 1942
2. Rochester Eber Seagrams 1942 – 1943
3. Rochester Pros 1943 – 1945
4. Rochester Royals 1945 – 1948 (NBL)
1948 – 1957 (NBA)
1. Cincinnati Royals 1957 – 1972
2. Kansas City-Omaha Kings 1972 – 1975
3. Kansas City Kings 1975 – 1985
4. Sacramento Kings 1985 – Present(1)(2)(3)
Arena: Golden 1 Center
Location: Sacramento, California
Team Colors: Pure black, Royal purple, Gray, White, Royal Blue4)(5)(6)
Main Sponsor: Dialpad(7)
President: John Reinhart(8)
General Manager: Monte McNair(9)
Head Coach: Mike Brown
Ownership: Vivek Ranadive (10)
Affiliation(s): Stockton Kings
Championships:
2. Rochester Eber Seagrams 1942 – 1943
3. Rochester Pros 1943 – 1945
4. Rochester Royals 1945 – 1948 (NBL)
1948 – 1957 (NBA)
1. Cincinnati Royals 1957 – 1972
2. Kansas City-Omaha Kings 1972 – 1975
3. Kansas City Kings 1975 – 1985
4. Sacramento Kings 1985 – Present(1)(2)(3)
Arena: Golden 1 Center
Location: Sacramento, California
Team Colors: Pure black, Royal purple, Gray, White, Royal Blue4)(5)(6)
Main Sponsor: Dialpad(7)
President: John Reinhart(8)
General Manager: Monte McNair(9)
Head Coach: Mike Brown
Ownership: Vivek Ranadive (10)
Affiliation(s): Stockton Kings
Championships:
1. 2 NBL (1) 1946
2. NBA (1) 1951
Conference Titles: 0
Division Titles: 6 1949, 1952, 1979, 2002, 2003, 2023
Retired Numbers: 11 1, 2, 4, 6, 11, 12, 14, 16, 21, 27, 44
2. NBA (1) 1951
Conference Titles: 0
Division Titles: 6 1949, 1952, 1979, 2002, 2003, 2023
Retired Numbers: 11 1, 2, 4, 6, 11, 12, 14, 16, 21, 27, 44
The franchise began with the Rochester Seagrams (a semi-professional team) from Rochester, New York, that formed in 1923 and hosted several teams there over the next 20 years. They joined the National Basketball League in 1945 as the renamed Rochester Royals(1), winning that league’s championship in their first season, 1945 – 1946. In 1948 they jumped with three other NBL teams to the Basketball Association of America, which later merged with the NBL to form the NBA. As the Royals, the team was often successful on the court, winning the NBA championship in 1951. The team, however, found it increasingly difficult to turn a profit in the comparatively small market of Rochester and relocated to Cincinnati in 1957, becoming the Cincinnati Royals.
In 1972, the team relocated again, this time to Kansas City, Missouri, and was renamed Kansas City-Omaha Kings because it initially split its home games between Kansas City and Omaha, Nebraska; the nickname was changed to avoid confusion with the baseball team dubbed the Kansas City Royals. After three seasons, the team truncated to Kansas City Kings but continued to play several home games per season in Omaha, through March 1978.(16)(17)(18)
The franchise again failed to find success in its market and moved after the 1984 – 1985 season to Sacramento. Between 2006 and 2022, the Kings had 16 consecutive losing seasons, the most in NBA history(19). The Kings also had the longest postseason drought in the four major North American sports, which started in 2006 and lasted until 2023.
Franchise History
1923 – 1944: Rochester Seagrams
The basis of a purely professional team in Rochester, New York, which came into existence in 1945, was two decades of a sponsored semi-professional team, the Rochester Seagrams. Canadian distiller Seagram was the team’s main sponsor and received the bulk of what monies were made. One of the team’s early stars was Lester Harrison, a local high school star of some publicity before joining the team. Harrison later became the team’s captain, coach, manager, and chief scout over the next two decades.
1945 – 1957: Rochester Royals
With news that World War II was approaching its end, the National Basketball League (NBL) announced that it was expanding, and Harrison was approached for interest in a franchise. While the sponsored semi-professional team balked at the additional expenses involved, Harrison and his brother Jack, a lawyer, jumped at the chance. They pooled money to meet the steep entry fee of $25,000 ($423,105 in 2023) and were granted an NBL franchise. Their team, the Rochester Royals, pushed the Seagrams out of their local facility, the smallish Edgerton Park Arena.
The best players were the returning Navy and Army players now being released from the war. There was no draft for the league in the selection of new players. So, Harrison was able to scoop up several name stars for his new team, among them Bob Davies, Red Holzman, and William “Fuzzy” Levane, as well as NBL free agents like George Glamack and Al Cervi. The result was a strong league champion in their first season of existence as the Royals during the 1945 – 1946 season.
The team had two more seasons of success during their NBL years, which permitted the team to play non-league opponents. During all three years, 1945 – 1948, the team played over 300 total games, hosting most of them.
The Royals defected to the NBL’s rival, the Basketball Association of America (BAA), in 1948 along with the Fort Wayne Pistons, Minneapolis Lakers, and Indianapolis (Kautskys) Jets(20). A year later, the BAA and the NBL merged to become the National Basketball Association (NBA)(21).
The move to the BAA took away Rochester’s profitable exhibition schedule and placed it in the same Western Division as the Minneapolis Lakers. Of the two best in professional basketball, only one of them could play in the league finals from 1949 to 1954. Minneapolis, with George Milkan, was almost always better during the playoffs than the Royals. With their smallish arena and now-limited schedule, the Royals became less profitable even as the team finished no lower than second in its division in both the NBL and BAA/NBA from 1945 to 1954.
The Royals won the NBA title in 1951 by defeating the New York Knicks 4 – 3. It is the only NBA championship in the franchise’s history. The title, however, did not translate into profit for the Royals. The roster turned over in 1955, except for star guard Bobby Wanzer, who soon became the team’s new coach. The team moved to the larger Rochester War Memorial (now Blue Cross Arena) in 1955. The NBA even agreed to host their All-Star Game there in 1956. But the Royals were now a losing team filled with rookies and did not turn a profit. Meanwhile, the NBA was putting pressure on Harrison to sell or relocate his team to a larger city. With this in mind, the 1956 – 1957 season was the Royals’ last in Rochester.
The Royals’ stay in Rochester featured the services of nine future members of the Basketball Hall of Fame: Al Cervi, Bob Davies, Alex Hannum, Lester Harrison, Red Holzman, Arnie Risen, Maurice Stokes, Jack Twyman, Bobby Wanzer, while others proved prominent in other fields, such as Pro Football Hall of Fame member Otto Graham, Hollywood Walk of Famer Chuck Connors and Jack McMahon.
1923 – 1944: Rochester Seagrams
The basis of a purely professional team in Rochester, New York, which came into existence in 1945, was two decades of a sponsored semi-professional team, the Rochester Seagrams. Canadian distiller Seagram was the team’s main sponsor and received the bulk of what monies were made. One of the team’s early stars was Lester Harrison, a local high school star of some publicity before joining the team. Harrison later became the team’s captain, coach, manager, and chief scout over the next two decades. Among visitors to Rochester to play the team were the Original Celtics, the New York Rens, and the Harlem Globetrotters.
1945 – 1957: Rochester Royals
With news that World War II was approaching its end, the National Basketball League (NBL) announced it was expanding, and Harrison was approached for interest in a franchise. While the sponsored semi-professional team balked at the additional expenses involved, Harrison and his brother Jack, a lawyer, jumped at the chance. They pooled money to meet the steep entry fee of $25,000 ($423,105 in 2023) and were granted an NBL franchise. Their team, the Rochester Royals, pushed the Seagrams out of their local facility, the smallish Edgerton Park Arena.
The best players were the returning Navy and Army players now being released from the war. There was no draft for the league in the selection of new players. So, Harrison was able to scoop up several name stars for his new team, among them Bob Davies, Red Holzman, and William “Fuzzy” Levane, as well as NBL free agents like George Glamack and Al Cervi. The result was a strong league champion in their first season of existence as the Royals during the 1945 – 46 season.
The team had two more seasons of success during their NBL years, which permitted the team to play non-league opponents. During all three years, 1945 – 1948, the team played over 300 total games, hosting most of them.
The Royals defected to the NBL’s rival the Basketball Association of America (BAA), in 1948 along with the Fort Wayne Pistons, Minneapolis Lakers, and Indianapolis (Kautskys) Jets. A year later, the BAA absorbed the remaining NBL teams to become the National Basketball Association (NBA).
The move to the BAA took away Rochester’s profitable exhibition schedule and placed it in the same Western Division as the Minneapolis Lakers. Of the two best teams in professional basketball, only one of them could play in the league finals from 1949 to 1954. Minneapolis, with George Mikan, was almost always better during the playoffs than the Royals. With their smallish arena and now-limited schedule, the Royals became less profitable even as the team finished no lower than second in its division in both the NBL and BAA/NBA from 1945 to 1954.
The Royals won the NBA title in 1951 by defeating the New York Knicks 4 – 3. It is the only NBA championship in the franchise’s history. The title, however, did not translate into profit for the Royals. The roster turned over in 1955, except for star guard Bobby Wanzer, who soon became the team’s new coach. The team moved to the larger Rochester War Memorial in 1955. The NBA even agreed to host their All-Star Game there in 1956. But the Royals were now a losing team filled with rookies, and did not turn a profit. Meanwhile, the NBA was putting pressure on Harrison to sell or relocate his team to a larger city. With this in mind, the 1956 – 57 season was the Royals’ last in Rochester.
The Royals’ stay in Rochester featured the services of nine future members of the Basketball Hall of Fame: Al Cervi, Bob Davies, Alex Hannum, Lester Harrison, Red Holzman, Arnie Risen, Maurice Stokes, Jack Twyman, Bobby Wanzer, while others proved prominent in other fields, such as Pro Football Hall of Fame member Otto Graham, Hollywood Walk of Famer Chuck Connors and Jack McMahon.
1957 – 1972: Cincinnati Royals
In April 1957, the Harrison brothers moved the Royals to Cincinnati, a city that was then trying to obtain an NBA expansion franchise. This move followed a well-received regular-season game played at Cincinnati Gardens on February 1st, 1957. The change of venue had been said to have been partly suggested by Jack Twyman and Dave Piontek, who were two of several roster players on the new Royals from that area. Cincinnati, which had a strong college basketball fanbase then, and no NFL franchise to compete with (until the Bengals joined in 1970 after two seasons in the AFL), was deemed the best choice for the Harrisons, who also considered other cities. The Royals' name continued to fit in Cincinnati, often known as the “Queen City”.
During the team’s first NBA draft in Cincinnati, the team acquired Clyde Lovellette and guard George King. They teamed with the 1 – 2 punch of Maurice Stokes and Twyman to produce a budding contender in the team’s first season in the Queen City. But injuries and the loss of star guard Si Green, the #1 overall pick of the 1956 NBA draft, to military service dropped the team into a tie for second place in the NBA Western Division during the 1957 – 58 season’s second half.
In the season’s finale, All-Pro star Maurice Stokes struck his head when he fell after pursuing a rebound. He shook off the effects of the fall, even as he had been briefly unconscious. After Game One in the playoffs three days later, Stokes’ head injury was greatly aggravated by airplane cabin pressure during the flight back to Cincinnati for Game Two. He suffered a seizure and was permanently hospitalized, a tragedy that greatly shook the team. Stokes, a tremendous talent who could play center, forward, and guard, was 2nd in the NBA in rebounds and 3rd in assists, a double-feat only Wilt Chamberlain has matched for a full season. The impact of losing Stokes was such that the team nearly folded. Six of the team’s shaken players simply retired on the spot.
Fellow All-Star Twyman rose to the All-Pro level over the next two seasons for Cincinnati, even as the team posted two 19-win seasons. The 1958 – 59 Cincinnati team featured five rookies, with Lovellette, King and other key players having left the team in the wake of Stokes’ tragic injury. The Harrison wanting out at this point, sold to a makeshift local group, headed by Thomas Woods, Cincinnati Gardens management, and many local businessmen.
Jack Twyman came to the aid of his teammate, and even legally adopted Stokes. Raising funds for Stokes’ medical treatment, Twyman helped him until his death in April 1970. The 1973 feature film Maurie, which co-starred actors Bernie Casey and Bo Svenson, dramatized their story.
1960 – 1970: The Oscar Robertson era
In 1960, the team was able to land local superstar Oscar Robertson(22) Robertson led a team that included Twyman, Wayne Embry, Bob Boozer, Bucky Bockhorn, Tom Hawkins, and Adrian Smith over the next three seasons. The Royals reversed their fortunes with Robertson and rose to title contender. An ownership dispute in early 1963 scuttled the team’s playoff chances when new owner Louis Jacobs booked a circus for Cincinnati Gardens for the week of the playoff series versus the champion Boston Celtics. The Royal’s home games were at Xavier University’s Schmidt Field House.
In late 1963, another local superstar, Jerry Lucas, joined the team. The Royals rose to the second-best record in the NBA. From 1963 – 1966, the Royals contended strongly against Boston and Philadelphia 76ers but won no titles. In the 1964 NBA draft, the Royals drafted rookies George Wilson, Bill Chmielewski, Steve Courtin (later traded to the 76ers), and Happy Hairston(23). The team’s star players throughout the 1960s were Oscar Robertson and Jerry Lucas. Robertson met with individual success, averaging a triple-double in 1961 – 1962 and winning the Most Valuable Player award in 1964. Robertson was a league-leading scorer and passer each season(24). Lucas was Rookie of the Year in 1964, led the league in shooting, and later averaged 20 rebounds per game over four seasons. Both were All-NBA First team selections multiple times. The team failed to keep some promising players, though, and played in the tough NBA East division, dominated by the Boston Celtics, even as a Baltimore team played in the West Division for three years, denying the team likely visits to the NBA Finals.
During the 1966 – 1967 season, the Royals began playing some of their home games in neutral sites such as Cleveland (until the Cavaliers began play in 1970), Dayton, and Columbus. This did wound their local fan base in Cincinnati, though, and fortunes for the team continued to steadily decline. That year, they would host the 1966 NBA All-Star Game, with Smith scoring 24 points to be named All-Star MVP. As of 2021, it is the last time that the franchise has hosted an All-Star Game. In the summer of 1968, Owner Louis Jacobs died and ownership went to his sons Jeremy and Max Jacobs.
New coach Bob Cousy traded Lucas in 1969. Robertson was traded to Milwaukee in 1970, where he immediately won an NBA title. Both transactions were unpopular with the fan base, resulting in a home attendance decline and eventually the franchise’s move to Kansas City which was announced on March 14th, 1972(25). The NBA Board of Governors voted 16 – 1 to permit the transfer nine days later on March 23rd. Before a crowd of 4,022, the Royals defeated the Baltimore Bullets 132 – 114 in its final home game at Cincinnati Gardens the following night on March 24th. The team represented Cincinnati for one last time in a 135 – 122 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers witnessed by 10,289 at the Cleveland Arena two nights later on March 26th.(26)
1975 – 1985: Kansas City – Omaha/Kansas City Kings
After moving to Kansas City, the Royals renamed themselves the Kings to avoid confusion with the Royals baseball team. Now dubbed the Kansas City – Omaha Kings, the team split its home games between the 7,316-seat Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City and the 9,300-seat Omaha Civic Auditorium.
The Cincinnati Royals had been looking at Omaha as a market as early as 1968, playing twelve “home games” in Nebraska from 1968 to 1971(27). From 1972 to 1975. The KC – Omaha Kings played a total of 42 regular season contests (but no playoff games) in Omaha. In 1975, the club became simply the Kansas City Kings (moving into the new 16,785–seat Kemper Arena the previous season). The team did not abandon Omaha completely, playing several games there through the 1977 – 1978 season(16)(17)(18). For the next two seasons, they played several home games in St. Louis.
1972 – 1976
The team netted a new superstar in point guard Nate Archibald, who led the league in scoring and assists in the 1972 – 1973 season.(28).
While still in Cincinnati, the team introduced a most unusual uniform design, which placed the player’s surname below his number. The design remained intact through the first several seasons of the team’s run in Sacramento, even when the shade of blue on the road uniforms was changed from royal blue to powder blue, and the script “Kansas City” which adorned the road jerseys was scrubbed after the move in favor of a repeat of the “Kings” script on the home shirts. The Kings’ back jersey template was later adopted by the WNBA and the NBA Development League, as well as the NBA during the All-Star Game since 2006.
The Kings had some decent players throughout. Tom Van Arsdale, the shooting forward, “Jumpin” Johnny Green, and Matt Guokas helped Archibald in his first year in Kansas City. Toby Kimball was a fan favorite. Jimmy Walker teamed with Archibald as the Kings made the playoffs the second year. Sam Lacey, an effective passing center, became one of the most dependable players in the league. Archibald became the first player to lead the league in scoring and assists in the first season in Kansas City. However, the management traded Archibald and wasted high draft picks. Bob Cousy gave way to Phil Johnson, who was fired midyear in 1977 and replaced by Larry Staverman, a player on the team on two separate occasions when it was in Cincinnati (Staverman coached for a brief time and the then resigned in May 1981 to take up the role of team president’s assistant for the Cleveland Browns).(29)
1976 – 1984
The Kings finally achieved some success in their new home when they hired Cotton Fitzsimmons as coach. Fitzsimmons won the Midwest Division in 1978 – 1979 with rookie point guard Phil Ford, who was NBA Rookie of the Year in 1979. Kansas City was led by shooting guard Otis Birdsong, strong on both offense and defense, all-around shooting forward Scott Wedman, and passing center Sam Lacey, who had a trademark 25-foot bank shot. They drew an average of 10,789 fans to Kemper Arena that season, the only time during their tenure in Kansas City that average attendance was in five figures (the attendance at the peak was only two-thirds of Kemper’s capacity). The Kings later played several home games in St. Louis during the early 1980’s to large crowds. Most Kansas City sports fans preferred to spend their entertainment dollar on the Royals, who won the American League West Division championship four times in five seasons between 1976 and 1980 and reached the 1980 World Series.
The Kings made the playoffs in 1979 – 1980 and again in 1980 – 1981, despite finishing the 1980 – 1981 regular season at 40 – 42 (.488). The Kings made a run in the 1981 NBA playoffs, reaching the Western Conference finals; there were the franchise’s first playoff victories since 1964, and their only ones ever in Kansas City. Ernie Grunfeld played the point in this run in place of an injured Ford, as KC used a slow half-court game to win the first two rounds. Power forward Reggie King had a remarkable series, dominating the opposition. After upsetting the Phoenix Suns by winning game 7 at Phoenix in the Conference Semifinals and becoming the second NBA road team to do so after leading a series 3 -1, they bowed out to the Houston Rockets (also 40 – 42 in the regular season) in five games in the Conference Finals. Lacey, the last remaining Cincinnati Royal to play for the Kings, could not keep up with Rockets superstar center Moses Malone. (The Kings did not win another playoff series for two decades.)
However, a series of bad luck incidents prevented the team from building on its success. Cleveland Cavaliers owner Ted Stepien lured Wedman and Birdsong away with big contract offers. In 1979, the roof literally fell in at Kemper Arena because of a severe storm, forcing the team to play most of the 1979 – 1980 season at the much smaller Municipal Auditorium. The ownership group sold the team to Sacramento Interests for 11 million dollars. The general manager was fired in a scandal in which he was found to be reusing marked postage stamps(30). When the Kings rehired Joe Axelson as general manager, they brought back the man who had previously traded Oscar Robertson, Norm Van Lier, Nate Archibald, and Jerry Lucas, and used the third pick in the ABA dispersal draft on Ron Boone. Axelson stayed on after the Kings left Kansas City where, in their last game ever, fans wore Joe Axelson masks. Axelson later said he hoped his plane would never touch down in Kansas City.
Axelson became the first general manager in the history of sports to fail with the same franchise in four cities: Cincinnati, Kansas City, Omaha and Sacramento. He was not fired for good until he rehired coach Phil Johnson, whom he had fired in mid-season in Kansas City ten years before. The Kings also entered this period competing with the Kansas City Comets of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) for the winter sports dollar, when the Comets were led by marketers – the Leiweke brothers. Their final season in 1984 – 1985 resulted in a 31 – 51 (.378) record, as fans stayed away from Kemper Arena in droves, with an average attendance of 6,410. Long-time ABA and NBA star, Don Buse, played his final professional season for the Kings.
Ownership began looking for a new home for the team. With poor attendance and lack of sponsorship dollars, the team was third in sports market share by a significant margin behind the NFL’s Chiefs (even though they went 14 consecutive seasons without a playoff berth, covering the Kings’ entire stay in Kansas City) and MLB’s Royals were the main reasons. Also, Kansas City had a much stronger following for the Kansas Jayhawks and Missouri Tigers college basketball teams than they did the NBA’s Kings.
The franchise was sold for $10.5 million on June 8th, 1983, to a six-man, Sacramento, California-based investment group led by Joseph Benvenuti who had a 50% interest and real estate developer Gregg Lukenbill who was the managing partner. The new ownership group honored the two remaining years of the Kings’ lease with Kemper Arena which expired in June 1985 but also had a five-year option that eventually was never exercised(31). A $12-million conversion of an 82,000-square-foot warehouse into what would become the first ARCO Arena was announced on October 15th, 1984(32)(33). The transfer of the Kings to Sacramento was officially approved by NBA team owners on April 16th, 1985, with the only contingency being the construction of an arena seating more than 16,000.(34)
1985 – Present: Sacramento Kings
The Kings moved to their current home of Sacramento, California in the 1985 – 1986 NBA season, with their first Sacramento season ending in the first round of the Western Conference 1986 NBA playoffs. The starting lineup was Reggie Theus, LaSalle Thompson, Mark Olberding, Terry Tyler, and Mike Woodson, with Larry Drew, Eddie Johnson, Otis Thorpe, and Joe Kleine coming off the bench. However, despite fan loyalty, the Kings saw little success in subsequent seasons, and the team did not make the playoffs again until the 1996 NBA playoffs in the 1995 – 1996 NBA season. Some of their failure was attributed to misfortunes such as the career-altering car crash suffered by promising point guard Bobby Hurley in 1993, and the suicide of Ricky Berry during the 1989 off-season; some was attributed to poor management such as the long tenure of head coach Garry St. Jean and the selection of “Never Nervous” Pervis Ellison with the first overall pick in the 1989 NBA draft. Former Kings television broadcaster Jerry Reynolds (1987, 1988 – 1990) and NBA legend Bill Russell (1987 – 1988) were the earliest head coaches.
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