Diverse fans give Bucks, Milwaukee a big boost
MILWAUKEE — Much has changed in Milwaukee since the Bucks won their lone NBA title a halfcentury ago.
Nothing reflects the differences more than the melting pot of fans swarming together outside Fiserv Forum playoff games. Fans will flock there again Sunday in hopes of helping the Bucks rally from an 02 deficit in the NBA Finals when they host the Phoenix Suns in Game 3.
The diversity of the crowds is striking, considering Milwaukee’s history.
Team President Peter Feigin backtracked five years ago after calling Milwaukee “the most segregated, racist place I’ve ever experienced in my life,” but 49yearold Milwaukee native LaNelle Ramey — a Black man — believes it needed to be said.
“It forced those who were here, longtime Milwaukeeans, to look in the mirror — in particular, those who didn’t want to believe it,” said Ramey, the executive director for MENTOR Milwaukee, a Bucksbacked organization that fosters mentorship programs for area youth.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said he took no personal umbrage over Feigin’s 2016 comments. Barrett noted the diversity of his own administrative team while adding, “I’m also very cognizant of the fact we have a very large income gap, education gap, publicsafety gap in not only the city of Milwaukee but all of southeastern Wisconsin.”
When asked what his proudest moment is with the Bucks, Feigin doesn’t mention the Eastern Conference title the team just won. He instead cites the players’ decision not to take the floor for a postseason game inside the bubble at Walt Disney World last year following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis.
Their decision led to a leaguewide postponement of playoff games.
“It really kind of sparked a global pause and awareness for social justice,” Feigin said.
Bucks players engaging in social issues isn’t new.
Bob Dandridge, a recent Hall of Fame selection who played on the Bucks’ 1971 championship team and the 1974 squad that lost the NBA Finals to Boston, said there were plenty of outspoken players on those teams.
Kareem AbdulJabbar’s activism inspired the NBA to give a socialjustice award bearing his name. Oscar Robertson filed the lawsuit that helped bring free agency to the NBA. Dandridge also wasn’t shy about sharing his views.
The difference today, Dandridge says, is the support players receive from management.
“I think it’s an entirely different approach as far as outspokenness with today’s owners and the owners back in the ’70s when I was in Milwaukee,” Dandridge said.