The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The team originated as the Buffalo Bisons in 1946, and the team moved to Moline, Illinois 38 days later, becoming known as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. In 1949, they joined the NBA, and they moved to Milwaukee in 1951, where they became the Hawks. They then moved to St. Louis in 1955, and then to Atlanta in 1968. That year, the team was sold to former Georgia governor Carl Sanders. The franchise's lone NBA championship win was achieved in 1958, during the team's time in St. Louis; and it spent 48 years without advancing past the second round of the playoffs.