Have you ever wondered how the Philadelphia 76ers got their name?
The NBA franchise actually began in 1949, when six teams from the midwest-based National Basketball League joined the Basketball Association of America to form the 17 team National Basketball Association. One of those teams was the Syracuse Nationals, which eventually became the Philadelphia 76ers.
In the spring of 1963, the Syracuse Nationals were purchased by two Philadelpians, Irv Kosloff and Ike Richman, and the NBA approved the franchise shift formally on May 22.
The franchise then held a contest to name the club and on August 6, 1963, the Nationals changed their name. The late Walt Stahlberg, of West Collingswood, New Jersey, won the contest, of which 500 different suggestions were entered.
Stahlberg was one of several who picked the 76ers. However, his accompanying 25-word explanation was deemed the best by the judges, and he and his wife received an all-expense trip to the West Coast to see the newly-named 76ers play San Francisco.
参考资料：http://www.nba.com/sixers/history/name.html
作为NBA中的一支老牌球队，在建队之初，当时的费城76人队既没有把主场设在费城，也没有取名为76人队，而是起了个非常富有爱国主义意味的名字——锡拉丘兹民族队。1937年组建的锡拉丘兹民族队随着NBL（国家篮球联盟）与ABB（美洲篮球协会）的合并，于1949年加入NBA，而且取得了相当不错的成绩。在更名前的14年NBA征战中，她无一例外地14次杀入季后赛，多次闯入赛区和联赛决赛，并且获得了1次总冠军。
但是直到1963年迁入篮球之都费城之后，这支球队才真正迎来了自己NBA生涯中的激情岁月。费城是1776年美国独立时签署《独立宣言》的地方，为了突出费城的光辉历史，球队改名为Philadelphia 76ers，ers这个后缀在英语里有“年”的意思，所以费城76人队的名字应该是“费城76年队”。但在最初的中文翻译时，翻译者把它翻译成了费城76人队，以后约定俗成，这个错误的翻译就被固定下来了。
