Atlanta Hawks is an American basketball team from Georgia. They are actually amongst the oldest professional basketball teams in this country. As such, they compete in NBA and are frequently ranked high up with the top teams. Within the Southeast division, however, they are one of the underdogs.

Who owns Atlanta Hawks? Anthony Ressler is a primary owner. However, the team also has a long list of junior partners to whom they belong.

History Logo

Atlanta Hawks Logo history

The team was established in 1946. Originally, they were known as ‘Buffalo Bisons’. A few names later, they settled on ‘Atlanta Hawks’ in 1968 following several moves to different cities. It seems that the name is inspired by one of the great Indian chiefs, the Black Hawk. However, they obviously keep it because hawks are considered strong birds.

1946 – 1951

Atlanta Hawks Logo 1946

When the initial logo was introduced, they were already known as ‘Tri-Cities Blackhawks’. Reflecting that, the logo was a blue basketball with black lines and the new name written in the same color at the very center. Above and below, there were several inscriptions telling of the cities where the team is active.

1951 – 1955

Atlanta Hawks Logo 1951

In 1951, the team moved to Milwaukee and started going by ‘Milwaukee Hawks’. The logo changed to a massive red & white hawk dropping a red basketball into the ring of the same color. Around the lower section of this logo, the designers put a heavily curved brand name, written in red capital letters.

1955 – 1957

Atlanta Hawks Logo 1955

In 1955, they moved to St. Louis and produced a new logo. It was simply a drawing of a black-and-white hawk flying towards the onlooker with the wings stretched out and a basketball in its claws.

1957 – 1968

Atlanta Hawks Logo 1957

Two years later, there was a new logo. This time, it was a very human-like depiction of a hawk standing upright in the usual basketball uniform. The ball was this time under his right ‘arm’ and supported by the left. The main color was now red, which was used for most of the lines in the otherwise white drawing.
It was also utilized for the brand name below.

1968 – 1969

Atlanta Hawks Logo 1968

This was an interim logo used for a season when they moved to Atlanta but didn’t have a new logo yet. It was basically the same drawing as before, but black and without the team name.

1969 – 1970

Atlanta Hawks Logo 1969

In 1969, they actually used the same hawk for a season, except they properly colored it into red, white, brown (for the ball) and yellow (for the claws). The bird was repositioned so that it now leaped forwards (to the right for the onlooker) with a ball held in its outstretched wing.

1970 – 1972

Atlanta Hawks Logo 1970

The 1970 logo instead used a green circle with the blue head of a hawk sticking into it from its left side. It was usually accompanied by the team name written in soft, round letters. They were all uppercase and blue.

1972 – 1995

Atlanta Hawks Logo 1972

For two following decades, they used a logo similar to the previous attempt. This time, however, it was a homogenous red ring, the left side of which was morphed into the bird’s head. The space inside was usually white, if you’re wondering.

1995 – 2007

Atlanta Hawks Logo 1995

In 1995, they created an emblem where the eagle flew towards the onlooker with the ball in its claws again. This time, it was more symmetric and colorful: the eagle was mostly red with black shadows, and the ball obviously sported brown. Above it all, they wrote ‘Atlanta Hawks’ in red, sharp letters that were as if cut into their current shapes.

2007 – 2015

Atlanta Hawks Logo 2007

In 2007, they mostly just repainted some parts: in particular, by adding a lot of blue where most black parts were. The ball turned grey, the writing became blue and the color palette in general grew paler. Lastly, the very font of the team name changed: the letters are now bigger and more ordinary.

2015 – 2020

Atlanta Hawks Logo 2015

In 2015, they decided to reuse their old red logo from the 70s. This time, they somewhat altered the positioning of the head, while also adding a big red ring around the emblem proper. There, the designers accommodated the team name: ‘Atlanta Hawks’ along the top edge and ‘Basketball Team’ on the opposite end.

2020 – today

Atlanta Hawks Logo

The 2020 logo is the same thing, except with a more saturated hue of red.

Uniform History

Atlanta Hawks Uniform

The home colors of Hawks have been mostly white since the beginning. They mostly added red for the letters, numbers and such. The away colors uniforms were more versatile: they were mostly the opposite for much of the history (red with some white), but sometimes switched to blue or black.

Atlanta Hawks Colors

HAWKS RED
PANTONE: PMS 186 C
HEX COLOR: #E03A3E;
RGB: (225, 68, 52)
CMYK: (0, 91, 76, 6)

 

VOLT GREEN
PANTONE: PMS 382 C
HEX COLOR: #C1D32F;
RGB: (196, 214, 0)
CMYK: (29, 2, 100, 0)

 

HAWKS CHARCOAL
PANTONE: PMS 426 C
HEX COLOR: #26282A;
RGB: (38, 40, 42)
CMYK: (73, 65, 62, 67)