The AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals are commemorating their 50th season with a logo that gets at the true meaning behind their nickname. While decades worth of logos have featured various characters in admirals caps, suggesting the nickname derives from some sort of high-ranking naval officer, this new logo features a refrigerator.
It turns out the Admirals nickname derives from Admiral refrigerators, the signature item sold by local businessman and appliance store owner Erwin Merar Frank, who purchased the team in 1970. Per the team, “[Frank] figured if he was going to buy a hockey team at least he could get some publicity for it, and thus, the Milwaukee Admirals were born.”
“Irv was a pioneer in the sports marketing world,” said Admirals President Jon Greenberg. “Back before any team even thought to put a patch on their jerseys, he was advertising on the whole darn thing. This is a great way to pay tribute to Irv and to culminate our 50th Season.”
The refrigerator logo (which is unquestionably great) was designed by Dan Simon of Studio Simon.
The team will wear uniforms featuring the fridge logo April 4 against the Rockford IceHogs. The jerseys will be auctioned off to benefit the Admirals Power Play Foundation.
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