ELM GROVE — It's not every day that you spend time with one of the founding owners of the Milwaukee Bucks.
Back in 1968, Dr. George Krokos was part of the ownership group that brought the team to Milwaukee.
We caught up with him at his favorite hangout, Zisters, in Elm Grove.
"So going to New York and being awarded a franchise along with Phoenix is how it first started," said Krokos. "It wasn't easy starting a franchise in Milwaukee. First of all, it involved an awful lot of money, and we did a very unusual thing: before this, there is no other team that went public. So instead of using monies available, we took the team public, we put 500,000 shares out at $5. And the franchise believe it or not, was $2 million."
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In their inaugural season in the NBA, the Bucks lost 55 games. Seats back then at the Milwaukee Arena were just $5 a game. Then came the coin flip that changed the direction of this franchise. The Bucks called tails at the NBA draft.
"Because we were tied with Phoenix, it was about who was going to get the rights to Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar]... we won the coin flip, we just needed something to give us a perk, so we had the rights to Kareem, and then the skies opened," said Krokos.
Sadly Dr. Krokos passed away last month. His family wanted us to share our conversation with him.
