This Day in Hockey History – June 2, 1972 – Atlanta Aflame

Jun 2, 2019

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If you can stand the heat, bring the Flames on the ice. On June 2, 1972, half a year after receiving a franchise and mere days before the Entry Draft, the Atlanta franchise announced that the team would be named the Flames.

Georgia gained a professional sports team back in 1968, when Tom Cousins bought and relocated the St. Louis Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Since they had to build a new arena in Atlanta anyway, the Omni Sports Group began thinking about adding a NHL team as well. In light of the formation of the World Hockey Association (WHA), in 1971, the NHL chose to add Atlanta and Long Island in order to broaden their markets. Thus, the Atlanta franchise was granted on November 9, 1971, with Cousins as the owner and the new Omni Coliseum as the arena.

As the arena went up, the new NHL franchise set up a team-naming contest. A total of 9,415 Georgians submitted entries. Bill Putnam, president of the Flames (and Hawks and the coliseum) exclaimed, “What amazes me is the public’s reaction. Almost 10,000 entries is fantastic.” Of them, 198 suggested the name “Flames.” Putnam commented, “Our judges agreed on 49 of 50 points that the Flames was the ideal name.”

In choosing one winner from the 198 suggesting “Flames,” the judges looked to the person who gave the best rationale behind the choice. Mickey Goodman, a 19-year-old college student at DeKalb University, had the best explanation and thus won the grand prize of four season-tickets.

The Flames paid homage to the American Civil War, specifically when U.S. Army General William Sherman had his forces burn Atlanta. During Sherman’s March to the Sea, they burned Atlanta as they left on November 15, 1864 and burnt a swath through Georgia until they reached Savannah on December 21. That march devastated the Confederacy and led to the Union’s victory the following spring.

The new name was announced at what would become center ice at Omni’s new arena. Attendees seemed impressed with what they could see so far. After the announcements, a party with Canadian flare (including mint juleps made with Canadian Club) were served.

Then the newly-minted Flames focused on the Entry Draft held on June 6th. After selecting the players, the franchise announced that their colors would be red, white, and gold.

Unfortunately for Atlanta, they only held on to the team for eight seasons, though they made the playoffs in six of them. On May 21, 1980, the Flames were sold to Nelson Skalbania (and his group) then moved to Calgary. Despite holding another naming contest, the Calgary team chose to keep the name Flames and simply altered the letter in the logo (from “A” to “C”). The Canadian team is the only one in the NHL to have a name referencing another nation’s war.

In 1997, the NHL awarded Atlanta another franchise. They chose the name Thrashers, which had been an option from the 1972 contest. The Thrashers also played in the same location as the Flames, and they, too, relocated to Canada.