What's a Knickerbocker?

In 1809, legendary author Washington Irving solidified the knickerbocker name in New York lore when he wrote the satiric A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty under the pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker. Later known as Knickerbocker's History of New York, Irving's book introduced the word "knickerbocker" to signify a New Yorker who could trace his or her ancestry to the original Dutch settlers.

With the publication of Irving's book, the Dutch settler "Knickerbocker" character became synonymous with New York City. The city's most popular symbol of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was "Father Knickerbocker", complete with cotton wig, three-cornered hat, buckled shoes, and, of course, knickered pants.

At the same time, the term "Knickerbocker" became indelibly linked to anything and everything New York...from Jacob Ruppert's Knickerbocker Beer to the 1938 Broadway musical Knickerbocker Holiday (which starred Walter Huston and featured the haunting "September Song") to famed society gossip columnists Cholly Knickerbocker (the nom de plume used by Maury Paul and Igor Cassini) and Suzy Knickerbocker (Aileen Mehle).

The Knickerbocker name had its first use in the sports world in 1845, when Alexander Cartwright's Manhattan-based baseball team - the first organized team in baseball history - was named the "New York Knickerbockers" or the "Knickerbocker Nine." The Knickerbocker name stayed with the team even after it moved its base of operations to Elysian Fields at Hoboken, NJ in 1846. (The baseball link may have prompted Casey Stengel to joyously exclaim, "It's great to be back as the manager of the Knickerbockers!" when he was named pilot of the newborn Mets in 1961).

Thus, the Knickerbocker name had been an integral part of the New York scene for more than a century when the Basketball Association of America granted a charter franchise to the city in the summer of 1946. As can best be determined, the final decision to call the team the "Knickerbockers" was made by the club's founder, the legendary Ned Irish.

The late Fred Podesta, the longtime Garden executive who passed away in 1999, once recalled, "The name came out of a hat. We were all sitting in the office one day - Irish, (publicity man) Lester Scott and a few others on the staff. We each put a name in the hat, and when we pulled them out, most of them said Knickerbockers, after Father Knickerbocker, the symbol of New York City. It soon was shortened to Knicks."

In keeping with another New York tradition, the team's colors have always (except for the years from 1979-80 through 1982-83) been orange, blue and white...the official colors of New York City.

So now you know.

Including minor color and style alterations, the Knicks have used only three primary logos in their 64-year history:

Father Knick: The original Knicks logo, used from the inaugural 1946-47 season through 1963-64, was that of a smiling Father Knickerbocker dribbling a basketball, the brainchild of famed sports cartoonist Willard Mullin of the New York World-Telegram.

Old School Classic: For the 1964-65 season, the Knicks unveiled their "classic roundball" logo, created by artist Bud Freeman of the J.C. Bull advertising agency. It was the logo under which the Knicks won both of their NBA Championships, and, with minor color and style alterations, remained in use through 1991-92.

Alterations to the "classic roundball" logo included maroon lettering (1980-81 through 1982-83), and the "brown ball" (1983-84 through 1988-89) and "orange ball" (1989-90 through 1991-92) versions that were introduced to more closely conform to standard PMS colors.

During the late '60s and early '70s, the Knicks also used a secondary "ball-in-the-box" logo on game tickets and selected club merchandise.

The Triangle: On Jun. 17, 1992, the Knicks unveiled a unique, updated version of the club logo, featuring three-dimensional, modernized lettering newly framed in a triangle. The new logo was designed by NBA Marketing, an effort headed by creative director Tom O'Grady. For the 1995-96 season, the logo was altered slightly to include the words "New York" at the top.

And More: While the "triangle" logo remains the Knicks' primary trademark, the club has used three additional secondary logos in recent years: the Golden Anniversary logo in 1996-97, the "Knicks 2000" millennium logo in 1999-2000, and the circular "NYK Subway Token" logo. First introduced in 1995-96, the "NYK" logo was added to the backs of the player's jerseys in 2002-03, and took on additional nostalgic value with the formal retirement of the subway token by the city's Transportation Authority in spring 2003.