Knicks Hold 1st Parade in 80 Years as Ex-Player Helped Block 2 Earlier Celebrations

Q: Will New York's parade finally honor the 1970s Knicks teams who were denied their celebration?

Yes. The parade is mainly for the 2026 Knicks championship team, but it is also functioning as a long-delayed symbolic tribute to the 1970 and 1973 title teams that never received a ticker-tape celebration. The historical reason those teams were denied parades is well documented. Under Mayor John Lindsay, Public Events Commissioner Bud Palmer — himself a former Knick — pushed to sharply limit ticker-tape parades because he felt they had become too routine and unimaginative. As a result, the 1970 champions were honored at the mayoral residence and the 1973 team at City Hall, rather than with a Broadway parade. What makes Thursday’s event different is the explicit inclusion of Knicks history. Walt “Clyde” Frazier, a star of both 1970s championship teams, is scheduled to take part, and he has described the moment as finally getting the ticker-tape parade that team never had. That gives the event a clear restorative meaning, even if the official purpose is to celebrate the current title. So while the city is not staging a separate retroactive parade solely for the 1970s teams, the ceremony will effectively honor them by bringing surviving legends into the franchise’s first-ever championship ticker-tape parade and publicly acknowledging the omission that lasted more than five decades.

3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 18

Thursday’s ticker-tape event is the Knicks’ first in their 80-year history, even though the franchise also won NBA titles in 1970 and 1973.
John Shove “Bud” Palmer — an original Knick who later became New York City’s public events commissioner in 1966 — was partly responsible for those earlier teams not getting parades.
Palmer argued City Hall’s honors had grown stale after 82 ticker-tape parades in the prior decade and pushed Mayor John Lindsay to replace routine celebrations with more selective, rethought ceremonies.
Letters preserved in city archives show Palmer calling the old approach monotonous and Lindsay endorsing the overhaul, helping explain why this championship parade is a franchise first.