On this day in 1966: The Chicago Bulls win their first NBA game

Sixty years ago on October 15, the Chicago Bulls played their first NBA game — and won it. On the road at St. Louis Arena, the expansion club beat the St. Louis Hawks 104-97, with Guy Rodgers pouring in 36 points in 44 minutes. The night also belonged to Bill Russell’s coaching debut in Boston; for Chicago, it was the first line in a franchise ledger that still has not closed.

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An expansion team that refused a soft landing

The NBA had granted Chicago its 10th franchise — and its first true expansion club — to a group led by Dick Klein. Johnny “Red” Kerr, a Tilden High product and former Illinois star, took the bench. The roster was built from an expansion draft and a September trade that sent Jim King and Jeff Mullins to the San Francisco Warriors for Rodgers, a Temple product and established playmaker. Jerry Sloan, Bob Boozer, Don Kojis and Len Chappell filled out the opening-night mix.

According to Basketball-Reference, Rodgers went 13-of-23 from the field and 10-of-11 from the line that night, adding four rebounds and five assists. Erwin Mueller scored 13; Boozer and McCoy McLemore each had 15. Sloan, in 29 minutes, finished with eight points and four rebounds. For the Hawks, Richie Guerin scored 25, Lenny Wilkens 22 and Bill Bridges 21 with 21 rebounds. Guerin’s prediction that the Bulls would not win 10 games that season — recounted in the team’s official 1960s history — did not age well.

Three wins, then a playoff berth

Chicago did not tip-toe into the league. The Bulls won their first three games — St. Louis on October 15, San Francisco on October 18, and the Lakers on October 19 — still cited by the franchise as the best opening stretch by an NBA expansion team. They finished the 1966-67 season 33-48, fourth in the Western Division, and became the first expansion club to reach the NBA playoffs in its inaugural year. St. Louis swept them 3-0 in the Western Division semifinals.

Rodgers averaged 18.0 points and a league-leading 11.2 assists. Sloan averaged 17.4 points and 9.1 rebounds. Both made the All-Star team. Kerr was named Coach of the Year. Home games were staged at the International Amphitheatre, where, the team’s history notes, courtside seats went for four dollars and Jack Brickhouse called the early broadcasts.

Why the debut still matters

October 15, 1966, is crowded with league history — Russell’s first night as the NBA’s first Black head coach, Matt Guokas Jr. joining his father’s lineage in Philadelphia. The Bulls’ win in St. Louis is the quieter milestone: a new market, a patched-together roster, and a 36-point night from a veteran point guard that announced Chicago was not going to wait politely for respect.

Sloan’s No. 4 would later become the first jersey the franchise retired. Rodgers’ assist title still sits on the 1966-67 leaderboard. Sixty years on, as another preseason winds down and tip-off approaches, the box score from St. Louis Arena remains the simplest origin story in Bulls history: first game, first win, and a franchise that made the playoffs before anyone expected it to.

Sources: Basketball-Reference (box score Oct. 15, 1966; 1966-67 Bulls schedule and stats; league assists leaders; Red Kerr coaching record); Chicago Bulls official history (1960s franchise feature); NBA.com This Date in the NBA: October; Chicago Bulls (X).