Editing Atlanta Hawks (section)

===1954–1965: St. Louis and The Bob Pettit era===
[[File:Bob_Pettit_1961.jpeg|thumb|150px|Bob Pettit]]
In 1954, the Hawks drafted [[Bob Pettit]], a future NBA MVP. Despite this, the Hawks were one of the league's worst teams, and in 1955 the Hawks moved, this time to [[St. Louis]], [[Missouri]], Milwaukee's rival in the beer industry, and became the '''St. Louis Hawks'''. Milwaukee would remain without an NBA team until 1968 when the [[Milwaukee Bucks]] made their debut. 

In 1956, [[Bob Pettit]] captured the league's first official [[NBA Most Valuable Player Award|Most Valuable Player award]], and the St. Louis Hawks drafted legendary [[Bill Russell]] in the first round (second overall pick). They immediately traded Russell to the Boston Celtics for [[Cliff Hagan]] and [[Ed Macauley]], both Hall of Fame members.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nba.com/history/players/russell_bio.html|title=NBA.com: Bill Russell Bio|website=[[NBA.com]]|access-date=February 4, 2016|archive-date=May 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506224620/http://www.nba.com/history/players/russell_bio.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/executives/kernebe99x.html|title=Ben Kerner|work=Basketball-Reference.com|access-date=February 4, 2016|archive-date=June 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200626200132/https://www.basketball-reference.com/executives/kernebe99x.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/russebi01c.html|title=Bill Russell|work=Basketball-Reference.com|access-date=February 4, 2016|archive-date=July 19, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719133807/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/russebi01c.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1957, the Hawks finished four games under .500. However, the Western Division was extremely weak that year; no team in the division had a winning record. They won the division title and a bye to the division finals after defeating the [[Minneapolis Lakers]] and [[Fort Wayne Pistons]] in one-game tiebreakers. They then defeated the Lakers in the division finals to advance to the [[1957 NBA Finals|Finals]], losing to the [[Boston Celtics]] in a double-overtime thriller in game seven. 

[[File:St louis hawks team 1958.jpg|thumb|left|The St. Louis team that won the 1957–58 championship]] 
In 1958, after tallying their first winning record, they again advanced to the [[1958 NBA Finals|Finals]], where they avenged their defeat against the Celtics from the previous year, winning the series 4–2 and giving the Hawks their first and only NBA Championship. Bob Pettit scored 50 points in the final game of the series. The following season Bob Pettit led the Hawks to a Western Division-best 49–23 record, helping him capture his second MVP award.<ref>Basketball Reference [https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_1959.html ''1959 NBA Season''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510071640/http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_1959.html |date=May 10, 2012 }}.</ref>

The Hawks remained one of the NBA's premier teams for the next decade. In 1960, under coach [[Ed Macauley]], the team advanced to [[1960 NBA Finals|the Finals]], but lost to the Celtics in another game seven thriller. The following year, with the acquisition of rookie [[Lenny Wilkens]], the Hawks repeated their success, but met the Celtics in the [[1961 NBA Finals]] again and lost in five games. They would remain contenders for most of the 1960s, advancing deep into the playoffs and also capturing several division titles.