New Milwaukee Buck: A Kha$h Middleton Note

On July 20, 2021, the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Phoenix Suns 105 to 98 to clinch the National Basketball Association’s National Championship in six games. This marked the team’s first NBA championship since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor, led the Bucks to the championship a half century ago. Here, we document one of the first numismatic items produced to celebrate the long-sought victory, a fantasy note featuring shooting guard Khris Middleton.

The $22.00 “Federal Reserve Note” uses a 2020 series note as a template for its front and features a photo of Middleton with a toothy smile at center (Figure 1). The denomination stems from Middleton’s jersey number, 22. The reverse is a stock image of a $1 million U.S. bill (Figure 2). John Rupcich, president of Madison-based Life Style Staffing, created the bill using images downloaded from the Internet to recognize the significant role Middleton, whose nickname is ‘Kha$h Money,’ played in the Bucks’ championship win. The bills were formatted, printed, and cut to size by Frankie Anderson, a Life Style Staffing employee, at a local printshop, with a total production of 3,000. Most of the bills were distributed to fans celebrating in the ‘Deer District’ in downtown Milwaukee on the night of the Bucks’ victory, providing the local crowd an opportunity to flash their Kha$h money (Figure 3), imitating a Suns fan who was caught on camera flaunting a stack of $100 bills courtside during a previous matchup.

It is no surprise that devoted fans would create souvenirs to commemorate such a win. In talking with reporters about the team’s historic victory, Middleton stated, “For the city, I’m sure it means everything. They’ve seen the work that we put in over the years for them to get to this point.” Indeed, Milwaukeeans erupted into joy at the sound of the buzzer and “fans danced, high fived, embraced and chanted “Bucks in six.”

Two-days later, following the Bucks’ victory celebration, Middleton and his teammate Jrue Holiday boarded a plane to Tokyo where they helped lead the U.S. Team to an Olympic gold medal. While various commercial enterprises are now selling commemorative tokens and other exonumia to recognize the Buck’s win, with more likely to come for the Olympic victory, the fantasy note we profile here will remain a truly limited edition, fan-created collectible.

References

Bentley, Drake, Hannah Kirby, and Ricardo Torres. 2021 “'Amazing': Milwaukee erupts in celebration after Bucks win the 2021 NBA Championship.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (July 21, 2021).

Deb, Sopan. 2021. “The Milwaukee Bucks win the N.B.A. Championship.” The New York Times (July 20, 2021).

Deveney, S. 2021. “‘Money Man’ Suns fan goes viral for using 100s to troll Giannis.” Heavy.com. (18 August 2021)

Fox Sports Wisconsin. 2021. “Bucks’ Middleton showing why he earned that Khash money.” www.foxsports.com. (January 16, 2020).

Mahoney, Brian. 2021. “Bucks' 50-year wait ends with a title behind 50 from Giannis.” Associated Press (July 21, 2021). Online at https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/bucks-50-year-wait-ends-title-50-giannis-78960416.

Owczarski, Jim. 2021. “Newly minted champions, Milwaukee Bucks' stars Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday head to Olympic Games.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (July 23, 2021).

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