By Doug Russell Special to OnMilwaukee.com Published Oct 25, 2011 at 6:17 PM

Senator Herb Kohl may be the single most enigmatic figure in Wisconsin sports history.

He spends lavishly on players and coaches he believes will help his Milwaukee Bucks win. When George Karl was hired, for example, he was the highest paid coach in North American professional sports history.

Yet the Senator wears suits he bought in the 1970's and still wears a purple Bucks cap.

Kohl, while being one of the wealthiest individuals in the U.S. Senate, is also probably the most unassuming gentlemen you will ever come across. He is small in physical stature, yet arguably (along with his lifelong friend, Bud Selig) the most powerful figure in Wisconsin sports history.

As our state's political mudslinging has never been less civil, Kohl's demeanor to his political opponents has been always dignified and well above the fray. In the ultimate irony, this nobility comes from the man who currently holds the very same Senate seat once occupied by Joseph McCarthy.

Kohl has saved the Bucks by keeping them in town; however, his stewardship over the team's fortunes has been the most futile in franchise history.

Whereas an appearance in the playoffs was once a foregone conclusion, that is hardly the reality today. In the 18 seasons before Kohl purchased the team, the Bucks made it to the postseason 14 times. Included in that was their only championship (1971) and another NBA Finals appearance (1974). In the 25 years of Kohl's ownership, they have only made the postseason 12 times; five of those seasons were the first five under Kohl. In the last 20 seasons, in a league where more teams make the playoffs than don't, Milwaukee has only played past the regular season seven times. More damning, they have made it out of the first round only once (2001).

At one time, the Bucks were one of the most feared and dangerous franchises in the NBA, making regular appearances on national television. Clearly that has not been the case for some time.

In recent years one can make the argument that the NBA's economic system has been detrimental to smaller markets like Milwaukee. But that doesn't tell the whole story. The decision to save some dollars by giving away Ray Allen in his prime set the franchise on the wrong path for several years. When Kohl finally realized that he jettisoned the wrong guy and fired George Karl, it was already too late. Kohl was saddled with the perceived necessity of grossly overpaying a one-dimensional injury-prone complimentary player in Michael Redd along with a bunch of other team's castoffs.

While it is fair to question some of Kohl's decisions, no one can argue that the man doesn't want to win; quite the contrary. If Herb Kohl had just one wish left in his public career, it would be to bring an NBA championship to the city he loves so dearly.

But that's never going to happen.

Herb Kohl is 76 years old. Father Time is something none of us will escape. Kohl has no direct heirs, but there is believed to be a known succession plan among those within the organization should he pass away in an untimely manner.

Moreover, the Bucks have failed to win a single playoff series in more than a decade, and while injuries have hit this team hard over the last two seasons, there is no reason to believe that they are on the brink of overtaking the Bulls or Heat anytime soon.

As much as Sen. Kohl has done for the Bucks, the time is right to let someone else take over. The problem then becomes a question of who would purchase the team and keep them here in Milwaukee.

The answer might very well be right under our noses, but until August no one had ever asked.

It may be a long shot, but Brewers owner Mark Attanasio did not dismiss the notion of taking ownership of the Bucks when asked about it at a meeting of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, where he was the keynote speaker. Attanasio was careful to say that he has not approached, nor been approached about the possibility of a sale, but also would not rule it out saying "I have learned in life – the great lesson I learned actually from Michael Milken -- is to always keep your options open. I try to keep them open."

Attanasio is a businessman. However, the stark difference between him and Kohl, aside from the 23-year age difference, is that Attanasio has a family that he wants to leave his legacy with. Attanasio is also much more nomadic than Kohl, having east and west coast roots before having been brought to Milwaukee by virtue of his purchase of the Brewers.

Kohl's whole life has been service to Wisconsin. This is honorable and should not go unrecognized. In so many ways Kohl is reminiscent of the late Jane Bradley Pettit. Shortly after Kohl purchased the Bucks in 1985 for $19 million, Pettit announced the donation of $90 million to build a needed new arena as a tribute to her late father, Harry Lynde Bradley, of Allen-Bradley Company fame.

Much in the same way that Jane Pettit donated the construction of the Bradley Center to Milwaukee because it was for the good of the community, Senator Kohl has the chance to do something equally as beneficial for the city he has loved his entire life.

Sell the Bucks to Attanasio for far less than he could get on the open market. Then plant the seed money necessary for the new arena everyone close to the situation agrees is needed.

Does this sound like a pie-in-the-sky solution? Probably, but the same can be said of Mrs. Pettit forking over $90 million for the Bradley Center in 1985.

Just as the University of Wisconsin plays in the Kohl Center, the Bucks could play in Kohl Arena; maybe even enlist his family's former company and sell naming rights to the now-nationwide (but still locally based) Kohl's Department Stores.

While many bristle at the notion of the Bradley Center being old and in need of a replacement, consider this: Of the three other NBA arenas that opened when the Bradley Center did, one has already been demolished (Miami Arena) and another is considered so outdated that its franchise is on the brink of moving (Sacramento's Power Balance Pavilion). The only NBA arenas that are older than the Bradley Center are Oracle Arena in Oakland and Madison Square Garden. Both either have had or are undergoing complete refurbishments. By and large, the Bradley Center looks exactly as it did the day it opened.

In speaking to a colleague this week, we were discussing where the Bucks stood in the pantheon of Milwaukee sports. Of course, coming off of a Brewers playoff season and a Packers Super Bowl championship, coupled with an NBA lockout, the basketball team is unfortunately little more than an afterthought right now.

It needn't be this way. We were all captivated by the "Fear the Deer" Bucks of 2010. Maybe it is because we love winners; perhaps it is because we remember how great some of the Bucks teams of the past were? But we all remember that the Bucks – yes the Bucks – were the talk of the town not that long ago.

Most Milwaukeeans when polled on the street today will give a shrug and a "who cares" response to the prospect of losing a staple of the Milwaukee sports scene for the last 42 years.

But many of those same arguments were said of the Brewers not that long ago.

Could you have imagined this past summer without them?

That's where the Bucks are right now. Saddled with an aging building and a lack of recent success, the casual Bucks fan base; the fans that need to be marketed to the most, has been dwindling.

Herb Kohl has a chance – just as he did in 1985 – to save something he so dearly cares about. Mark Attanasio has demonstrated in his seven years of owning the Brewers that he deeply cares about winning as well as a community that has embraced him and his family.

According to Forbes, the Bucks are worth $258 million, which ranks dead last in the NBA. Certainly if Herb Kohl got out now his original investment will have paid off ten-fold.

With cities such as Omaha, Kansas City, and Louisville all featuring newer and better basketball arenas in which to attract a franchise, Kohl should be lauded endlessly for resisting the temptation to sell, as he had come close to doing in 2003. He has said on occasion that he is open to the concept, but only with the stipulation that the team remain here.

It appears the only way to get that accomplished is to find someone that been through this process before. Mark Attanasio hasn't ruled the possibility out, and he has the wherewithal to make it happen. If you identify the right owner and present him with the one thing the franchise so desperately needs to stay, it can be a win-win for all involved.

Without action, there will come a time when it will be too late. Bucks fans just hope that Senator Kohl realizes this before that time comes.

Doug Russell Special to OnMilwaukee.com

Doug Russell has been covering Milwaukee and Wisconsin sports for over 20 years on radio, television, magazines, and now at OnMilwaukee.com.

Over the course of his career, the Edward R. Murrow Award winner and Emmy nominee has covered the Packers in Super Bowls XXXI, XXXII and XLV, traveled to Pasadena with the Badgers for Rose Bowls, been to the Final Four with Marquette, and saw first-hand the entire Brewers playoff runs in 2008 and 2011. Doug has also covered The Masters, several PGA Championships, MLB All-Star Games, and Kentucky Derbys; the Davis Cup, the U.S. Open, and the Sugar Bowl, along with NCAA football and basketball conference championships, and for that matter just about anything else that involves a field (or court, or rink) of play.

Doug was a sports reporter and host at WTMJ-AM radio from 1996-2000, before taking his radio skills to national syndication at Sporting News Radio from 2000-2007. From 2007-2011, he hosted his own morning radio sports show back here in Milwaukee, before returning to the national scene at Yahoo! Sports Radio last July. Doug's written work has also been featured in The Sporting News, Milwaukee Magazine, Inside Wisconsin Sports, and Brewers GameDay.

Doug and his wife, Erika, split their time between their residences in Pewaukee and Houston, TX.