Knicks City
On June 13th, 2026, after the New York Knicks won the NBA Championship, the City unspooled with such joy perhaps not seen since the night Barack Obama was elected president back in November 2008. Threads of the team colors — Knicks orange and royal blue — were sewn together everywhere: on people’s hats, shirts, and shoes; in store windows’ ads, lights, and signs; and, of course, in flags perched on porches, the tailgates of trucks, and on the doors of some churches. Heck, even the New York Historical found it fashionable to fit the likeness of old Abe Lincoln on its staircase with the jersey of New York Knicks’ center (number 23!) Karl-Anthony Towns. And for those not taken with the world of basketball happenings, it was sure something to remember. After all, when New York City’s oldest museum decides to mark a moment in history, you better believe it’s important.
I mean, the Knicks have been around since 1946, but last won the NBA title in 1973 — some 53 years ago! Their only other victory was in 1970, so the team’s drought had become a bane for fans dreaming of better days in the stands at Madison Square Garden. Now, with the dam finally broken, and the waterworks splaying, it’s no wonder most people were in the mood to party. And on June 18th, the City proper was too. It threw the team a ticker-tape parade, the highest of civic honors. And when the Knicks came sweeping up Broadway on floats from Battery Park to City Hall, it was the first time the franchise had ever navigated the famed Canyon of Heroes.
But, wait, why was it only the first? Well, back in 1970, the victors never saw Broadway. Instead, Mayor John Lindsay (1921-2000) invited them to Gracie Mansion, where “short ceremonies, scotch, salami, and Dixieland jazz were the order of the afternoon” as the New York Times observed then. The Mayor gave them medals in front of “several hundred persons;” but afterward, sadly, the players simply “drifted away and broke up entirely.”
Things were no better in 1973. Lindsay (again) held a gathering for the champs at City Hall Plaza. He presented medals to the team, but only “2,000 people” witnessed the scene. To add to the disappointment, the Times notes that their laurels weren’t even “specially minted” or “inscribed for the event.” Instead, the awards Lindsay gave them were actually “leftover diamond jubilee souvenirs.” They were from a citywide event that took place weeks earlier marking the 75th anniversary of the five boroughs becoming the modern City of New York. The Times declared, “Knicks Reap Harvest of Awards.” Some reaping!
But this year, as the kids say, the Knicks got a “glow up.” Instead of the usual odds and ends, Mayor Zohran Mamdani bestowed the “Keys to the City” to the team when the parade finally delivered them to City Hall. And, as the NYPD News declared on Twitter, “more than two million people lined the Canyon of Heroes” to cheer for them — quite an improvement from the 1970s headcount. If so, that would make the Knicks’ 2026 ticker-tape parade — the 211th time New York City’s staged a ticker-tape parade — the most attended of all time!
Photo by Rick Stachura. The New York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West. June 13, 2026.