The New York Knicks pulled off another victory in San Antonio on Saturday, outscoring the Spurs in the final minutes of the game to win their first championship since 1973, to the elation of fans across the city.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced soon after the win that a ticket-tape parade will be held Thursday, June 18. It’s expected to be one of the city’s largest parades.
But despite winning championships in 1970 and 1973, it will be the first parade for the Knicks – the fault of a former mayor.
“The Knicks have never had a ticker-tape parade,” Kenneth Cobb, deputy commissioner at the city’s Department of Records and Information Services, told The City Reporter.
Then-Mayor John Lindsay had “discontinued the ticker-tape parade celebration in favor of more informal receptions,” during his second term in the ‘70s, Cobb said.
Instead of being feted up the Canyon of Heroes after their 1973 win, Willis Reed, Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, Bill Bradley and the rest of the players received diamond jubilee medallions marking the 75th anniversary of the city’s consolidation in 1898, according to a post from the city’s former archivist.
Police and other officials didn’t expect a big crowd at City Hall Plaza, due to the dreary weather, according to the New York Times. But more than 2,000 fans – mostly high school and college students – flooded the space in front of City Hall, threatening to take over the stand for honorees.
“This has got to be the most enthusiastic crowd I’ve ever seen,” an officer told the Times.
Lindsay wasn’t completely against parades as mayor. He organized parades to recognize the Apollo space program in 1969 and later that year for the World Series champion New York Mets.
Preparations are already underway for Thursday’s parade, as the NYPD and other agencies are bracing for massive crowds. It’s unclear what time it will begin, but the parade will end back at City Hall, which was lit up blue and orange following Saturday’s win.
Dozens of people were arrested late Saturday into early Sunday morning as celebrations turned dangerous in Manhattan, police said. Revelers destroyed yellow school buses used to shuttle fans to the World Cup, and a 17-year-old was shot in Times Square.
Our nonprofit newsroom relies on donations from readers to sustain our local reporting and keep it free for all New Yorkers. Donate to THE CITY today.
The post It’s the First Ticker-Tape Parade Ever for the Knicks — Here’s Why appeared first on The City Reporter.
