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WNBA Basketball Might be Coming to Milwaukee

by Owen Ayite-Atayi, age 15

LeRoy Butler is a former Green Bay Packers player and is very well known in Wisconsin. Butler played for the Packers for 12 years and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was a phenomenal player and helped the Packers win the Super Bowl in 1996.

After Butler finished his football career, he wanted to make a leading effort to try to establish a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team in Wisconsin. The WNBA currently has 12 teams and is looking to add on more as seasons continue. The league was established on April 14, 1996, by David Stern, the commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA). According to The Athletic, Milwaukee is one of many cities that is in consideration to add to the WNBA.

A group that is controlled by Butler is trying to raise 100 million to prove to the WNBA that Milwaukee is dedicated to starting a new and healthy WNBA franchise. In 2021 the Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA championship. [Read More]

Greatest Game in Football History? The 1967 Ice Bowl!

by Jacob Dunn, age 12

The “Ice Bowl” was a Green Bay Packers football game that forever left its imprint on NFL history. It is also one of the most important sporting events in Wisconsin history.

On Sunday, December 31, 1967 the Packers and Dallas Cowboys were set to play in the league championship game for the second year in a row. However, cold weather conditions came out of nowhere overnight. Temperatures fell quickly and by game time it was -16 degrees with cold and brutal winds.

The Saturday before the game, two television networks came to broadcast the game to national audiences. The city of Green Bay was packed with people who labeled the city “Titletown USA” because the Packers had won the previous two titles. Now they were looking for their third straight championship. [Read More]

How the Milwaukee Bucks Won Their First Championship

by Owen Ayite-Atayi, age 14

The National Basketball Association, informally known as the NBA, has featured lots of fascinating teams and players over the years. Most people know about the Milwaukee Bucks because they won the championship in 2021. But many of the team’s current fans are not familiar with the team’s rich basketball history.

The Milwaukee Bucks started as an expansion franchise in 1968. Like most first-year teams, they were not very good. Then, in 1969, the team drafted a player named Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Kareem went on to average 28.8 points per game, 4.1 assists, 14.5 rebounds and 5 steals per game during his rookie season.

Kareem played college ball at UCLA and was known for his toughness and confidence on the court. Matched with several other talented young players, Kareem would lead the Bucks to the championship in only his second year with the team. It was only the third year in the league for the young Milwaukee Bucks. [Read More]

The Greatness of Hank Aaron

by Owen Ayite-Atayi, age 14

Hank Louis Aaron was one of the greatest African-American Major League Baseball (MLB) players. Hank was known for breaking Babe Ruth’s Hall Of Fame and Most Valuable Player (MVP) home run record. He hit 755 career home runs, to Ruth who racked up 714 hits for the Boston Red Sox.

Hank Aaron was a phenomenal MLB player, who went on with his MLB career to have 2,297 runs batted and 3,000 hits. In the 1970 season, Hank became the first player to hit 500 home runs and top it off with 3,000 hits in a single career. He won 3 Golden Glove awards for his outstanding out-fielding. In Hank’s 1957 season, he led the Milwaukee Braves to a World Series and took the victory in a thrilling game against the New York Yankees. Hank won the MLB’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in 1957 and was an outstanding player for the following seasons.

After Hank’s Milwaukee Braves' 1965 MLB season, he switched teams to play for the Atlanta Braves located in Atlanta, Georgia. Hank was having an outstanding season as usual, but once he relocated, many people began to hate Hank because he broke so many all-time records in the MLB. Racist people began to threaten Hank with harmful letters. Hank overcame all the hate and pressure and broke a record to end off his season by hitting 755 home runs. [Read More]

The Life and Career of the Great Bill Russell

by Owen Ayite-Atayi, age 15

Bill Russell was the pillar of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played for the Boston Celtics. Russell was not just a once-in-a-lifetime player, he was also an activist who spoke about racial injustice.

Bill Felton Russell was born February 12, 1934, in West Monroe, Louisiana. During this time, segregation was a strict law in the southern states. Growing up, he faced racism and Jim Crow laws. In 1942 when Russell was eight years old, he and his family moved to Oakland, California.

Coming out of high school, Bill was a 6’9” center who continued to pursue his career on the University of San Francisco basketball team, San Francisco Dons. During Russell’s university career he averaged 20.7 PPG (points per game) and 20.3 REB (rebounds). He was named captain by his teammates. In 1956, Russell was recruited to play for the United States basketball team in the 1956 Olympics. [Read More]

UW Field House, a Madison Landmark

by Owen Ayite-Atayi, age 14

The UW Field House is a landmark building initially built in 1930. It serves as the home to the UW volleyball and wrestling teams. Other UW teams are included as a part of the Field House family, such as the basketball, boxing, and track and field teams.

On April 3, 1970, the Badgers first hosted a National Basketball Association (NBA) playoff series game with the Milwaukee Bucks against the Philadelphia 76ers. The game had a sold-out crowd with the tickets costing under ten dollars. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had a stellar night at the Field House, scoring 46 points against the 76ers.

In 1986, the Field House became the permanent home of the UW volleyball and UW wrestling teams. The UW basketball team moved to the Kohl Center in 1998, making it the permanent home of the basketball team. The Field House has had many improvements in the past 20 years including brand-new media facilities, visiting teams’ locker rooms, and wood flooring. [Read More]

On His Way to the Hall of Fame, Wayne Embry Helped Build a Winner in Milwaukee

by Jules Da Costa , age 14

Have you ever heard of Wayne Embry? He became a National Basketball Association (NBA) Hall of Famer who played for various teams in the NBA. Embry was instrumental in making pro basketball successful and popular in Milwaukee.

Wayne Embry started off his basketball career as a player for the Atlanta Hawks in 1958. However, he soon found himself traded to the Cincinnati Royals, the team in his home state of Ohio. Embry, with the help of Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson made the Royals one of the best teams in the league. Embry was mostly known for his rebound and defensive plays but he was also phenomenal on offense too, scoring with his well-known hook shot. He was later named team captain of the Royals.

After a short retirement, in which Embry was talked out of by his friend Bill Russell, he became a player for the Boston Celtics. There, he helped the team win the NBA Championship in 1968. Soon after the Milwaukee Bucks became a team, they drafted him from the Celtics. While Bucks didn’t win many games that year, Wayne Embry was still crucial in the building of the Milwaukee Bucks as we know them today. [Read More]

Play Ball! New Youth Baseball League Launches in Madison

by Josepha Da Costa, age 17

On a sunny Saturday in early July, several Simpson Street reporters headed to Elver Park to watch a baseball game. It wasn’t just any game though; it was a little league game played by kids from all over Madison, including one of our own staff writers, Max Moreno!

This little league program stands out from the rest of the little league teams in the area. It was started by Corey Marionneaux, former baseball player and the President of the Black Men Coalition of Dane County. He created the program after learning that kids who looked like him weren’t getting an opportunity to play baseball here in Madison.

“As I researched more, I learned that we have historically low numbers of Black Americans participating in the sport of baseball right now. So, I decided to do something about that,” said Marionneaux. [Read More]

Badger Basketball to Host Games at American Family Field in Milwaukee — by Jules Da Costa, age 14

For the first time in Wisconsin, college basketball will be played on a baseball field. The University of Wisconsin men’s and women’s basketball games will be played at American Family Field, (formerly known as Miller Park) home to the Milwaukee Brewers. [Read More]

From Seattle Pilots to Milwaukee Brewers — by Julian Medina, age 14

Where did the present-day Milwaukee Brewers originate? The Milwaukee Brewers baseball team, formerly known as the Seattle Pilots, was established in Seattle, Washington, in the 1960s. [Read More]

Lisa Byington Makes History as Basketball's First Female Play-by-Play Announcer — by Josepha Da Costa, age 17

While the Milwaukee Bucks came up short in this year’s playoffs, it was still a great season. The team won its division, defeated the Chicago Bulls in a five-game playoff series, and once again excited Wisconsin basketball fans. [Read More]

The Rich Basketball History of Madison La Follette High School — by Josepha Da Costa, age 16

The 2021-22 Madison La Follette High School basketball team had a very successful season. But this isn’t the first time La Follette has had an excellent team. In fact, the school has a rich basketball history and the Lancers have won three state championships. Many La Follette players have gone on to play college basketball for major programs like the University of Wisconsin and Creighton University. [Read More]

El largo camino de los Milwaukee Bucks hacia el campeonato — por Zayn Khalid, 11 años de edad; traducido por Yoanna Hoskins, 17 años de edad

Durante los 50 años anteriores a la temporada 2020-21, los Milwaukee Bucks no habían ganado un campeonato de NBA. Los playoffs de los Bucks en 2021 y la victoria en el campeonato fue uno de los años más emocionantes de la NBA. [Read More]

Oscar Robertson: the Milwaukee Bucks' Superstar — by Amare Smith, age 18

Oscar Robertson grew up in a poor family. By the age of two, he and his family had moved to Indiana, a state where basketball was beloved as a very popular and growing sport in the 1950s. Oscar made tennis balls and rags into basketballs and used peach baskets as basketball hoops to practice. [Read More]

New Baseball Stadium Opens in Wisconsin — by Max Moreno, age 10

A new baseball stadium built for the Lake Country DockHounds opened this summer in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. [Read More]

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