How did the Los Angeles Lakers get their name?
The Los Angeles Lakers franchise started out in Detroit in 1946 as the Gems. After one season in Detroit the team was sold and relocated to Minneapolis, Minnesota and the team’s name changed to the Minnesota Lakers. The motto of the state of Minnesota is the ‘Land of 10,000 Lakes”, hence the nickname Lakers for the team. The team again relocated, this time to Los Angeles, in 1960 and retained the nickname Lakers.But,actually,the name Lakers didn’t come out of nowhere.The new owner of the Minnesota team,Max Winter,approached local sportscaster,Jack Horner,whose television sportscast was the highest-rated television show of its time,and asked Jack to host a team-naming contest on his show.Jack obliged and thus the name Lakers was chosen from the many thousands of entries.
