name	Tom Heinsohn
width	200
position	Forward / Center
height ft	6
height in	7
weight lb	218
number	15
birth date	August 26, 1934
birth place	Jersey City, New Jersey
nationality	American
high school	Saint Michael's (New Jersey)
college	Holy Cross (1953–1956)
draft pick	Territorial Pick
draft year	1956
draft team	Boston Celtics
career start	1956
career end	1965
years1	1956–1965
team1	Boston Celtics
cyears1	1969–1978
cteam1	Boston Celtics
highlights	As Player: 8× NBA Champion (1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965) 6× NBA All-Star (, –) NBA Rookie of the Year () 4× All-NBA Second Team (–) Consensus NCAA All-American First Team (1956) #15 Retired by the Boston Celtics As Coach: 2× NBA Champion (1974, 1976) NBA Coach of the Year (1973)
stat1label	Points
stat1value	12,194 (18.6 ppg)
stat2label	Rebounds
stat2value	5,749 (8.8 rpg)
stat3label	Assists
stat3value	1,318 (2.0 apg)
bbr	heinsto01
letter	h
hof player	thomas-w-tommy-heinsohn }}

Thomas William "Tom" Heinsohn (born August 26, 1934 in Jersey City, New Jersey) is a former professional basketball player, known for his time as a player on the Boston Celtics National Basketball Association (NBA) team. He also coached the team from 1969 to 1978. He has been granted Hall of Fame Status for his success as both a player and a coach. He helped form the NBA players union. He is the only person to have the distinction of being involved in an official team capacity in each of the Celtics' 17 championships, as well as each of their 21 NBA Finals appearances. He is currently the color commentator on the Celtics' television broadcasts on CSN New England.

Biography

College career

Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, Heinsohn was a standout at St. Michael's High School in nearby Union City. He accepted a scholarship to Holy Cross and became the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,789 points, an average of 22.1 points per game. During his senior year, Heinsohn scored a school record 51 points in a game against Boston College.

Professional career

In 1956, Heinsohn was chosen as the Boston Celtics 'regional', or 'territorial', draft pick. In his first season, Heinsohn played in an NBA All-Star Game, was named the NBA Rookie of the Year, and won his first championship ring. He was part of a Celtics squad that won eight NBA titles in nine years, including eight in a row between 1959 and 1966. In NBA history, only teammates Bill Russell and Sam Jones won more championship rings during their playing careers. During his playing career, Heinsohn was named to six All-Star teams. On the day his teammate and fellow Holy Cross Crusader Bob Cousy retired, Heinsohn scored his 10,000^th career point. His number 15 was retired by the Celtics in 1965.

Off the court, Heinsohn played an important leadership role in the NBA Players Association. He was the association's second president (following founding president Bob Cousy), and was instrumental in the league's acceptance of free agency following a showdown at the All-Star game in 1964, in which the All-Star players, led by Heinsohn, threatened to strike.

Coaching career

Heinsohn became the Celtics' head coach beginning in the 1969–70 season. He led the team to a league best 68–14 record during the 1972–73 season and was named Coach of the Year, although Boston was upset in the playoffs. The next season Heinsohn and the Celtics won the championship, and they claimed another title in 1976. He accumulated a career coaching record of 427–263.

Broadcasting career

Heinsohn's broadcasting career began in 1966, calling play-by-play for WKBG's Celtic broadcasts. He would spend three seasons in this role before becoming coach in 1969. From 1990–1999, Heinsohn was the Celtics road play-by-play man on WFXT, WSBK, and WABU.

In 1981, Heinsohn joined Mike Gorman as color commentator in the Celtics' TV broadcasts; they have since become one of the longest-tenured tandems in sports broadcasting history. Occasionally, Bob Cousy makes appearances with the tandem of Gorman and Heinsohn. Until 1999, the tandem of Gorman and Heinsohn were only exclusive for the Celtics' home schedule, except for several CBS games where Heinsohn is also involved. For a time in the 1980s, he was in the same capacity during CBS' coverage of the NBA Finals (with Dick Stockton) calling four Finals from 1984 to 1987, three of which involved the Boston Celtics against the Los Angeles Lakers, the rivalry that revived the NBA in the 1980s.

He also points out players who display extra hustle and are willing to "risk life and limb" to help the team by giving them "Tommy Points". One player in each game has exceptional play and hustle highlighted for the "Tommy Award". During broadcasts he is known for his sense of humor and indignantly questioning game officials when calls against the Celtics appear to be made in error.

Away from the court, Heinsohn enjoys painting and playing golf; he once headed a life insurance company.

Recently, Heinsohn has worked fewer road games due to age and health issues. Donny Marshall, the Celtics' studio analyst, fills in for Heinsohn during his absences. Heinsohn takes Marshall's place in the studio when Marshall is on the road with Mike Gorman.

Achievements

1957 Rookie of the Year

Six-time NBA All-Star

1973 Coach of the Year

Named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 1986

Recipient of the 1995 Jack McMahon Award by the National Basketball Coaches Association

Recipient of the 2009 Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award by the NBA Coaches Association

See also

List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 30 or more rebounds in a game

External links

Tommy Heinsohn's Basketball Hall of Fame profile

Heinsohn's bio at NBA.com

A story from ''SportsCentral'' about Heinsohn

Tom Heinsohn Statistics

Category:1934 births Category:Living people Category:People from Jersey City, New Jersey Category:Basketball players from New Jersey Category:Boston Celtics draft picks Category:National Basketball Association players with retired numbers Category:Boston Celtics players Category:Boston Celtics head coaches Category:Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Category:National Basketball Association broadcasters Category:National Basketball Association head coaches Category:Holy Cross Crusaders men's basketball players Category:College of the Holy Cross alumni Category:National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees

de:Tom Heinsohn es:Tom Heinsohn fr:Tom Heinsohn gl:Tom Heinsohn it:Tom Heinsohn he:טום היינסון ja:トム・ヘインソーン pl:Tom Heinsohn pt:Tom Heinsohn ru:Хейнсон, Том fi:Tom Heinsohn tr:Tom Heinsohn

name	Mendy Rudolph
birth date	March 08, 1926
birth place	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
death date	July 04, 1979
death place	New York City, New York
league	National Basketball Association
year active	1953–1975
position	Sportscaster (1975–1977)
religion	Jewish
spouse	Susan (1973-his death)
nationality	American
hof	marvin-rudolph }}

Marvin "Mendy" Rudolph (March 8, 1926 – July 4, 1979) was a professional basketball referee in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 22 years, from 1953 to 1975. Regarded as one of the greatest officials in NBA history, Rudolph officiated 2,112 NBA games (a record held at retirement) and was the first league referee to work 2,000 games. He was also selected to referee eight NBA All-Star Games and made 22 consecutive NBA Finals appearances.

Following his career as a referee, he was a color commentator for CBS Sports' coverage of the ''NBA on CBS'' for two seasons from 1975 to 1977 and he appeared in a television advertisement for Miller Lite. He was a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2007.

Personal life

Early life and family

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Rudolph was raised in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. His father, Harry Rudolph, was a prominent basketball referee and baseball umpire. Mendy Rudolph played basketball as a child and eventually chose the same profession as his father. Upon graduating from James M. Coughlin High School, he began officiating basketball games at the Wilkes-Barre Jewish Community Center and later worked scholastic games. At age 20, he was recruited to referee games alongside his father, who served as Eastern Professional Basketball League (Eastern League) President from 1956 to 1970. During his career in the Eastern League, he officiated his first Eastern League President's Cup championship series in 1948 and was selected as a referee in at least one game in every President's Cup playoff and championship series between 1949 and 1953. At the same time, he also served in the United States Air Force during the Korean War.

Rudolph was married twice during his life. His first marriage was to his childhood sweetheart and together they raised three children. But the relationship became troubled and eventually ended. In 1961, Mendy Rudolph met Susan, a receptionist at the WGN office in New York City, while both worked for the station. At the time, Rudolph worked at WGN as an additional job outside of officiating, which was common among referees from his era. Mendy and Susan Rudolph were married in 1973. Two years later, their first child, Jennifer Rudolph, was born.

Gambling problem

Throughout his life, Rudolph suffered from gambling problem and was labeled a "compulsive gambler". He would often spend his leisure time placing bets at race tracks and Las Vegas, Nevada and Puerto Rico casinos. At that time, NBA referees were allowed to gamble, but this practice has since been prohibited. As he incurred gambling losses, Rudolph was once offered by a Las Vegas gambler to erase his outstanding debt by participating in point shaving. However, he refused to accept the offer and said to his wife, "It goes against all my principles. I love the game too much, respect it too much. I couldn't do it to you. I couldn't do it to the memory of my father, and I couldn't do it to myself. If I have to go into bankruptcy, something I'd hate to do, I'd do it," according to in a 1992 ''New York Times'' interview with Susan Rudolph. Rudolph had cashed in his $60,000 pension fund to pay debts and he still owed an additional $100,000. While he refused to seek professional help, Rudolph cut back on his gambling habit later in his life.

NBA officiating career

Early years

Rudolph was recommended by Eddie Gottlieb, coach and owner of the NBA's Philadelphia Warriors at the time, to then-NBA commissioner Maurice Podoloff, after observing Rudolph officiate an exhibition game. Rudolph was hired by the NBA in February 1953, midway through the 1952-53 NBA season and he became the youngest official in the league. In his early years with the NBA, Rudolph quickly became an established official as he worked playoff games within his first two years in the league.

Memorable NBA Finals games

Rudolph officiated the 1955 NBA Finals between the Syracuse Nationals and Fort Wayne Pistons, which was notable for its actions by fans, fights between players, and attacks on referees. Game 3 of the series, played in Indianapolis, Indiana, was interrupted by a fan who threw a chair on the floor and ran on the court to protest calls made by Rudolph and referee Arnie Heft. Six years later, he made history by officiating the entire 1961 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and St. Louis Hawks with his colleague Earl Strom.

Rudolph and Strom officiated another notable game in the 1964 NBA Finals. In Game 5 of the championship series, Wilt Chamberlain, playing for the San Francisco Warriors, knocked out Clyde Lovellette of the Boston Celtics with a punch. Celtics head coach Red Auerbach stormed onto the court and demanded that Chamberlain be thrown out of the game. The latter told Auerbach if he did not "shut up", he would be knocked down to the floor with Lovellette. Auerbach countered the threat, "Why don't you pick on somebody your own size." Rudolph intervened the discussion and told Auerbach, "Red, do you have any other seven-footers who'd like to volunteer?"

Head of officials

As his career progressed in the league, Rudolph took on responsibilities beyond officiating. In 1966, he was named ''referee-in-chief'' and worked alongside Dolph Schayes, who was hired as the league's supervisor of officials that year to replace Sid Borgia. In this position, he oversaw areas that pertained to referee mechanics, techniques, and rule interpretations. It was in this role that he authored the ''NBA Official’s Manual and Case Book''.

While he served as head of officials, the NBA lost four veteran officials—Norm Drucker, Joe Gushue, Earl Strom, and John Vanak to the rival American Basketball Association (ABA) in 1969 over salary and benefits. At the time of transaction, Rudolph told Strom, "(Deputy Commissioner) Carl [Scheer], (NBA Commissioner) Walter [Kennedy], and I were prepared to offer you guys the greatest contract in the history of pro basketball."

By the early 1970s, Rudolph successfully encouraged the league to adopt a plain gray referee uniform over the traditional "zebra" shirt to de-emphasize the presence of officials in games.

Final years

By 1975, Rudolph's health condition began to deteriorate and he was forced to retire after suffering a blood clot in his lung during a 1975 NBA playoff game between the Buffalo Braves and Washington Bullets, played April 25, 1975. In his final game, he had to be carried off the court. On November 9, 1975, Rudolph officially ended his career as a referee in the NBA, in which he officiated more games (2,113) than any official in league history at the time. Earl Strom later broke Rudolph’s record and officiated over 2,400 games in his 30-year career.

Post-officiating career

Broadcasting

Following his officiating career, Rudolph transitioned to a career in broadcasting. During the 1975-76 and 1976-77 NBA seasons, he worked as a television analyst for CBS Sports covering ''The NBA on CBS''. During his first season, he was paired with Brent Musburger and Rick Barry for the 1976 NBA Finals. This championship series was most memorable for a triple-overtime Game 5, which has been labeled the "greatest game" in NBA history. In this game, Celtic John Havlicek made an apparent game-winning field goal at the conclusion of the second overtime. The game clock had expired, but Rudolph, along with Musburger and Barry, noted that the shot was made with two seconds remaining. Referee Richie Powers, however, decided that one second remained in the second overtime period.

Television commercial

In 1976, Rudolph was featured in a Miller Brewing Company television advertisement along with then-Celtics head coach Tom Heinsohn to promote Miller Lite's "Tastes Great, Less Filling" advertising campaign. Rudolph and Heinsohn debated whether Miller Lite was less filling or tastes great in a bar room scene. After Heinsohn refused to agree that Lite was, first and foremost, less filling, Rudolph threw his thumb in the air and screamed, "You're out of the bar." This advertisement popularized Miller's campaign slogan and the campaign was named eighth best of the 20th century by ''Advertising Age'' in 1999.

Legacy

Rudolph died on July 4, 1979 from a heart attack in New York City. Mendy and Susan Rudolph were standing outside a movie theatre entrance when Mendy collapsed. After unsuccessful attempts at mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, he was taken to a hospital where he died an hour after arrival. At the time of his death, then-NBA Commissioner Larry O'Brien said of Rudolph, "Mendy's contributions to the integrity of pro basketball are legendary." Officials wore a patch with Rudolph's uniform number, 5, on their sleeves the following season after his death, the 1979-80 NBA season, to honor him. No other official in the NBA has worn this number to the present day.

Known for his charisma, personality, and iconic stature on the court, Rudolph symbolized NBA officiating during the early years of the NBA to fans of professional basketball and became the most recognizable official during the NBA's first four decades. Bob Ryan of ''The Boston Globe'' said of Rudolph, "If any man other than Red Auerbach ever earned the title of NBA institution, it was certainly Mendy Rudolph." Upon retirement, he set a precedent for the standards that future referees are judged. Early in his officiating career, Joe Crawford (later hired by the NBA in 1977) attended games that Rudolph worked in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and studied his style and approach. Earl Strom credited Rudolph for being an influence on the development of his career in the NBA. In his autobiography, ''Calling the Shots'', Strom described Rudolph as "one of the most prominent referees because of his style, courage, and judgment. He had excellent judgment. He made the call regardless of the pressure, whom it involved, or where it was." Strom later told the ''New York Times'' that "Mendy Rudolph was simply the greatest referee of all time."

Strom was also an advocate to get Rudolph enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. On April 2, 2007, Rudolph was announced as one of the seven members of the Basketball Hall of Fame's Class of 2007 to be enshrined in September 2007, twenty-eight years after his death. It was reported that the length of time for Rudolph to become elected was the result of his gambling lifestyle. He became the thirteenth referee to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

References

External links

Category:1926 births Category:1979 deaths Category:American Jews Category:American military personnel of the Korean War Category:Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Category:Jewish American sportspeople Category:National Basketball Association broadcasters Category:NBA referees Category:People from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Category:People from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

Michael "Mike" Gorman (born November 24, 1947, in Dorchester, Massachusetts) is a television play-by-play commentator for the Boston Celtics basketball team, currently broadcasting on the Comcast Sportsnet New England or the New England Sports Network cable channel. Gorman is a graduate of Boston Latin School and Boston State College (now University of Massachusetts-Boston).

Biography

He and color commentator Tom Heinsohn form one of the longest-tenured broadcast tandems in professional sports. They have been broadcasting Celtics games for thirty years.

During the NBA offseason, Mike Gorman does some television broadcasts for the Connecticut Sun of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).

A five-time Emmy award winner, Gorman was inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004.

A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Gorman began his broadcasting career at WNBH in New Bedford, Massachusetts and WPRO radio in Providence, Rhode Island. Gorman served as sports director at WPRI-TV in Providence; as the voice of the University of Rhode Island on WPRO; and as television play-by-play man for the Providence College Friars.

During the 1980s, Gorman was the primary announcer for ESPN's "Big Monday" Big East Game of the Week. He has called the NCAA basketball tournament on CBS; tennis at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics with Bud Collins on NBC; and the NBA Playoffs on TBS.

Mike is married to Teri Schindler, Executive Vice-President of brand strategy firm Patrick Davis Partners. Their daughter, Kristen, works in theater/television.

References

Category:Boston Latin School alumni Category:National Basketball Association broadcasters Category:Living people Category:1947 births Category:People from Boston, Massachusetts Category:Boston Celtics personnel Category:College basketball announcers in the United States Category:College football announcers Category:University of Massachusetts Boston alumni Category:Tennis commentators

Dick Stockton (born in 1942 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American sportscaster. He is currently employed by Fox Sports and Turner Sports as a football, baseball, and basketball play-by-play announcer.

Biography

Early life and career

Stockton attended Syracuse University, where he received his degree in political science in 1964. In 1965, he began his sportscasting career at local radio and television stations in Philadelphia. He became sports director at KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh in 1967, and moved to WBZ-TV and WBZ radio in Boston in 1971. Three years later, he began calling Boston Celtics telecasts for WBZ, and the following year he became the lead announcer for Boston Red Sox games on WSBK-TV. Stockton was part of the broadcast crew for NBC Sports' coverage of the 1975 World Series, and called, on TV, Carlton Fisk's famous, game-winning home run in Game 6 of that series. In 2001, he was inducted as a broadcaster into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Stockton has been named as one of the top 50 network sportscasters of all time.

Broadcasting career

CBS Sports

Stockton started freelancing for CBS Sports in the late 1960s, while still doing local television in Pittsburgh. In 1978 (following a two-year stint calling NFL games for NBC), he joined CBS full-time, and from then until 1994 covered a variety of sports for that network, including the NFL, the NBA (for which Stockton was the lead play-by-play man from 1981-1990), Major League Baseball (with Jim Kaat from 1990-1992. Stockton was the number #2 play-by-play man behind Jack Buck and Sean McDonough in 1992.), college basketball including ten years as a play-by-play broadcaster of the NCAA Regional Finals. Stockton also was the host at the famous upset of Villanova over Georgetown in 1985.

In addition, he was the host of the Pan American Games in San Juan in 1979, and covered swimming and diving at the Pan American Games in Edmonton and Caracas. Stockton also broadcast the World Swimming and Diving Championships in Guayaquil, Ecuador, the World Basketball Championships in Cali, Colombia, and the World Figure Skating Championships in Helsinki in the first year that CBS acquired the rights. When CBS began covering the Winter Olympics, Stockton was assigned to cover men's alpine skiing in France in 1992 and two years later, called the speed skating events in the 1994 Norway Games including Dan Jansen's record-breaking triumph of the 1000 meter gold medal as well as the gold medal victories of Bonnie Blair.

Fox Sports

Stockton left CBS in 1994 for Fox Sports, which continues to employ him on NFL and Major League Baseball telecasts. From the time he was hired until 2006, he was the Fox's second-team announcer for NFL games (behind Pat Summerall and later, Joe Buck), working alongside Matt Millen then Troy Aikman, Daryl Johnston, and Tony Siragusa. For Fox's MLB coverage, he has worked with Eric Karros, Joe Girardi, Mark Grace and Tim McCarver.

Turner Sports

Since 1995, Stockton has called NBA telecasts for Turner's TNT channel. Since , Stockton has called postseason Major League Baseball games on TBS. That year, he partnered with Ron Darling to call the National League Division Series for the network. In , he called the AL Cental tiebreaker game with Darling and Harold Reynolds, followed by the NLDS with Darling and Tony Gwynn. In , he teamed with Bob Brenly to call the NLDS for TBS, as well as the 2010 National League Division Series. Stockton split play-by-play duties during the regular season on TBS with ''NBA on TNT'' studio host Ernie Johnson, Jr. and Milwaukee Brewers announcer Brian Anderson.

Other

From 1993 to 1995, Stockton also called local TV broadcasts of the Oakland Athletics. In 2004, he began doing part-time local television work for the San Antonio Spurs. Stockton commentated on Super Bowl XXXVIII alongside Daryl Johnston and Super Bowl XLII alongside Sterling Sharpe on the international feed, provided by the NFL Network. This is the feed used by the BBC and certain other English-language broadcasters outside North America. Starting in 2010, Dick assumed play-by-play duties for Miami Dolphins preseason games on WFOR; he substituted for Jimmy Cefalo as play-by-play on the Dolphins' radio call of the team's ''Monday Night Football'' game against the New England Patriots on October 4, 2010.

Stockton provides the play-by-play commentary for ''Madden NFL Fever 2000'' alongside Matt Millen.

Personal

Stockton was married to sportscaster Lesley Visser from 1983 to 2010. Visser and Stockton met at the sixth game of the 1975 World Series, where Stockton (as previously mentioned) called Carlton Fisk's iconic home run for NBC and Visser was covering for ''The Boston Globe''. Unlike Tim Ryan became a widower because his wife Lee died, Stockton and Visser were divorced.

Career timeline

1974–1976: Boston Celtics TV play-by-play (WBZ-TV)

1975–1978: Boston Red Sox TV play-by-play (WSBK-TV)

1976–1977: ''NFL on NBC'' play-by-play

1978–1993: ''NFL on CBS'' play-by-play 1981–1990: ''NBA on CBS'' lead play-by-play 1990–1992: ''Major League Baseball on CBS'' #2 play-by-play 1992–1994: ''Olympics on CBS'' announcer 1993–1995: Oakland Athletics TV play-by-play (KRON-TV) 1994–present: ''NFL on Fox'' play-by-play 1995–present: ''NBA on TNT'' play-by-play 1995: ''NHL on Fox'' play-by-play 2003–present: ''Major League Baseball on Fox'' play-by-play (#2 since 2010)

2004–present: San Antonio Spurs TV play-by-play (part-time)

2007–present: ''Major League Baseball on TBS'' Division Series play-by-play, lead play-by-play

2010–present: Miami Dolphins Preseason TV play-by-play

References

Category:1942 births Category:Living people Category:American radio sports announcers Category:American television sports announcers Category:Baltimore Ravens broadcasters Category:Boston, Massachusetts television anchors Category:Bowling broadcasters Category:College basketball announcers in the United States Category:College football announcers Category:KDKA people Category:Oakland Athletics broadcasters Category:Major League Baseball announcers Category:Miami Dolphins broadcasters Category:National Basketball Association broadcasters Category:National Football League announcers Category:National Hockey League broadcasters Category:People from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Category:San Antonio Spurs broadcasters Category:Syracuse Orange football broadcasters

name	Bob Cousy
position	Point guard
height ft	6
height in	1
weight lb	175
number	14, 19
birth date	August 09, 1928
birth place	New York City, New York
nationality	American
high school	Andrew Jackson (New York)
college	Holy Cross (1946–1950)
draft round	1
draft pick	3
draft year	1950
draft team	Tri-Cities Blackhawks
career start	1950
career end	1970
years1	1950–1963
team1	Boston Celtics
years2	1969–1970
team2	Cincinnati Royals
cyears1	1969-1973
cteam1	Cincinnati Royals
stat1label	Points
stat1value	16,960 (18.4 ppg)
stat2label	Assists
stat2value	6,955 (7.5 apg)
stat3label	Games played
stat3value	924
letter	c
bbr	cousybo01
highlights	6× NBA champion (1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963) NBA Most Valuable Player (1957) 2× NBA All-Star Game MVP (1954, 1957) 13× All-Star (1951–1963) 10× All-NBA First Team (1952–1961) 2× All-NBA Second Team (1962, 1963) NCAA Champion (1947) Consensus NCAA All-American First Team (1950) NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team NBA 35th Anniversary Team NBA 25th Anniversary Team #14 Retired by the Boston Celtics
Hof player	robert-j-bob-cousy }}

Robert Joseph "Bob" Cousy (born August 9, 1928) is a retired American professional basketball player. The 6'1" (1.85-m), 175-pound (79.4-kg) Cousy played point guard with the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Boston Celtics from 1951 to 1963 and briefly with the Cincinnati Royals in the 1969–70 season. Cousy first demonstrated his basketball abilities while playing for his high school varsity team in his junior year. He obtained a scholarship to the College of the Holy Cross, where he led the Crusaders to berths in the 1948 and 1950 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and was named an NCAA All-American for three seasons. Cousy was initially drafted as the third overall pick in the first round of the 1950 NBA Draft by the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, but after he refused to report with the Blackhawks, he was picked up by the Boston Celtics. Cousy had a highly successful career with the Celtics, winning six championship rings, being voted into 13 All-Star and 12 All-NBA First and Second Teams and winning the NBA Most Valuable Player Award in 1957.

In his first 11 seasons in the NBA, Cousy led the league in assists eight consecutive times and introduced a new blend of ball-handling and passing skills, earning him the nicknames "The Cooz," "Houdini of the Hardwood" and—as he was regularly introduced at Boston Garden—"Mr. Basketball." After his player career, he coached the Royals for several years, and even made a short comeback for the Royals at age 41. Afterwards, he became a broadcaster for Celtics games. He was elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1971, and in his honor, the Celtics retired his number 14 jersey and hung it into the rafters of the Boston Garden, where it has remained since. Cousy was named to the NBA 25th Anniversary Team in 1971, the NBA 35th Anniversary Team in 1981, and the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1996, making him one of only four players that were selected to each of those teams.

Early years

Cousy was born as the only son of poor French immigrants living in New York City. He grew up in the Yorkville neighborhood of Manhattan's East Side, in the midst of the Great Depression. His father, Joseph, was a taxi driver who earned extra income by moonlighting. The elder Cousy had served in the German Army during World War I. Shortly after the war, his first wife died of pneumonia, leaving behind a young daughter. The elder Cousy married Julie Corlet, a secretary and French teacher from Dijon. At the time of the 1930 census, the family rented an apartment in Astoria, Queens, for $50 per month. The younger Cousy spoke French for the first five years of his life, and only started speaking English when he started primary school. He spent his early days playing stickball in a multicultural environment, regularly playing with African Americans, Jews and other children from ethnic minorities. These experiences ingrained him with a strong anti-racist sentiment, an attitude that Cousy prominently featured during his professional career. When he was 12, his family moved to a rented house in St. Albans, Queens. That summer, the elder Cousy put a $500 down payment for a $4,500 house four blocks away. He rented the bottom two floors of the three-floor building to tenants, so he could complete his mortgage payments on time.

High school

Cousy took up basketball at the age of 13, as a student at St. Pascal's elementary school, and was "immediately hooked". The following year, he became a student of Andrew Jackson High School in St Albans. His basketball success was not immediate, as he was cut from the school team in his freshman year. Later that year, he joined the St. Albans Lindens of the Press League, a basketball league sponsored by the ''Long Island Press''. He developed his basketball skills and gained much-needed experience. The next year, he was again cut during the tryouts for the school basketball team.

That same year, Cousy fell out of a tree and broke his right hand. It forced him to play left-handed until his hand healed, to a point that he became effectively ambidextrous. In retrospect, Cousy described this accident as a "fortunate event" and cited it as a factor in him becoming a better player. During a Press League game, the high school basketball coach saw Cousy play. He was impressed by the young man's ability to play with both hands. He invited Cousy to come to practice the following day to see if he could make the junior varsity team. Cousy performed well, and he became a permanent member of the team. Cousy continued to practice day and night, and by junior year, he was sure he was going to be on the varsity basketball team. However, he failed his citizenship class, and he was ineligible to play during the first semester. Cousy joined the team midway through the year, scoring 28 points in his first game on the varsity squad. He had no intention of attending college, but after he started to make a name for himself on the basketball court, he started to focus on improving his academics and basketball skills to get into college.

In his senior year, Cousy once again excelled on the basketball court. He led his team to the Queens division championship and became the highest scorer in the city. He was even named captain of the ''Journal-American'' All-Scholastic team. Cousy began to think of his plans for college. His family had wanted him to attend a Catholic school, and he wanted to go somewhere outside New York City. Cousy was recruited by Boston College, and he considered attending the university. However, the university did not have any dormitories, and Cousy was not interested in living as a commuter student. Soon after, he received an offer from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts just outside of Boston. He was impressed by the school, and he accepted a basketball scholarship to attend the school. Cousy spent the summer before college working at Tamarack Lodge in the Catskills and playing in a local basketball league with a number of college basketball players.

College basketball career

Cousy was one of six freshmen on the Holy Cross Crusaders basketball team in 1947. From the start of the season, coach Alvin "Doggie" Julian chose to play the six freshmen off the bench in a two-team system, so that each player would get some time on the court. As members of the "second team", they would come off the bench nine and a half minutes into the game, where they would relieve the "first team" starters. They would sometimes get to play between a third or half the game. Cousy was so disappointed with the lack of playing time, that he went to the campus chapel after practice to pray that Julian would give him more of a chance to show off his basketball talents on the court. Early in the season, Cousy got into trouble with Julian, who accused Cousy of being a showboater. In the mid-1940s, basketball was a static game, depending on slow, deliberate player movement and flat-footed shots, different from Cousy's uptempo, streetball-like game defined by ambidextrous, behind-the-back dribbles, and also by no-look, behind-the-back and half-court passes. Nonetheless, Cousy had enough playing time in games to score 227 points for the season, finishing with the third-highest total on the team. The team, with stars George Kaftan and Joe Mullaney, finished the 1946–47 basketball season with a 24–3 record.

The team entered the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament as the last seed in the 8-team tournament. In the first match, Holy Cross defeated the United States Naval Academy in front of a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden by a score of 55 to 47. Mullaney led the team in scoring with 18 points, due mostly in part to Navy coach Ben Carnevale's decision to have his players back off from Mullaney, who was reputed as being more of a playmaker than a shooter. In the semi-final match, Holy Cross faced the City College of New York (CCNY), coached by Nat Holman, one of the game's earliest innovators. The Crusaders, led by Kaftan's 30-point game, easily defeated the Beavers 60–45. In the championship game, Holy Cross faced the University of Oklahoma, behind coach Bruce Drake, in another sold-out game at Madison Square Garden. Kaftan followed up the semi-final match with 18 points in the title game, leading the Crusaders to a 58–47 victory against the Sooners. Cousy played poorly, scoring four points on 2-for-13 shooting from the court. Holy Cross became the first college from the New England area to win a national college basketball title. The team received a hero's welcome when they arrived to a crowd of 10,000 people at Union Station in Worcester, Massachusetts.

The following season, Julian limited Cousy's playing time, to the point that the frustrated sophomore contemplated a transfer. Cousy wrote a letter to basketball coach of St. John's University in New York, Joe Lapchick, informing him that he was considering a transfer to the university. Lapchick replied to Cousy, telling him that Julian was "one of the finest basketball coaches in America," and that he was not restricting Cousy's playing time under bad intentions. He told Cousy that Julian would use him more often during his later years with the team. Lapchick wrote that transferring was very risky, and according to NCAA rules, Cousy would have to wait a year before becoming eligible to play on the university basketball team.

Cousy's fate changed in a match against Loyola of Chicago at the Boston Garden. With five minutes left to play and Holy Cross trailing, the crowd started to chant "We want Cousy! We want Cousy!" until coach Julian relented. In these few minutes, Cousy scored 11 points and hit a game-winning buzzer beater after a behind-the-back dribble. The performance established him on the school team, and he led Holy Cross to 26 consecutive wins and second place in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) and became a three-time All-American.

Boston Celtics

The first years (1950–56)

Cousy turned professional and made himself available for the 1950 NBA Draft at a time when the local Boston Celtics had just concluded the 1949–50 NBA season with a poor 22–46 win-loss record and had the first draft pick. It was strongly anticipated that they would draft the highly coveted local favorite Cousy. However, coach Red Auerbach snubbed him in favour of center Charlie Share, commenting: "I'm supposed to win, not go after local yokels". The local press strongly criticised Auerbach, but other scouts were also sceptical about Cousy, viewing him as being flamboyant but ineffective. One scout wrote in his report: "The first time he tries that fancy Dan stuff in this league, they'll cram the ball down his throat."

As a result, the Tri-Cities Blackhawks drafted Cousy, but the point guard was unenthusiastic about his new employer. Cousy was trying to establish a driving school in Worcester, Massachusetts and did not want to move into a left field consisting of three small towns of Moline, Rock Island and Davenport. As compensation for having to give up his driving school, Cousy demanded a salary of $10,000 from Blackhawks owner Bob Kerner. When Kerner only offered him $6,000, Cousy refused to report. The latter was then picked up by the Chicago Stags, but when they folded, league Commissioner Maurice Podoloff declared three Stags available for a dispersal draft: Stags scoring champion Max Zaslofsky, Andy Phillip and Cousy. Walter A. Brown, owner of the Boston Celtics, was one of the three club bosses invited. He later made it clear that he was hoping for Zaslofsky, would have tolerated Phillip, and did not want Cousy. When the Celtics drew Cousy, Brown confessed: "I could have fallen to the floor." Hence, Cousy became a Celtic, with Brown reluctantly giving him a $9,000 salary.

It was not long before both Auerbach and Brown changed their minds. With an average of 15.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and 4.9 assists a game, Cousy received the first of his 13 consecutive All-NBA Team call-ups, and led a Celtics team with future Hall-of-Famer Ed Macauley and Bones McKinney to a 39–30 record in the 1950–51 NBA season. However, in the 1951 NBA Playoffs, the Celtics were beaten by the New York Knicks. The next year, the Celtics added future Hall-of-Fame guard Bill Sharman in the 1951 NBA Draft, and by averaging 21.7 points, 6.4 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game, Cousy earned his first All-NBA First Team nomination. Nonetheless, the Celtics stranded again against the Knicks in the 1952 NBA Playoffs.

In the following season, Cousy made further progress. Averaging 7.7 assists per game, he won the first of his eight consecutive assists titles. These numbers were made despite the fact that the NBA had not yet introduced the shot clock, making the game static and putting prolific assist givers at a disadvantage. Powered by Auerbach's quick fastbreak-dominated tactics, the Celtics won 46 games and beat the Syracuse Nationals 2–0 in the 1953 NBA Playoffs. The second match ended 111–105 in a quadruple-overtime thriller, in which Cousy had a much-lauded game. Despite nursing an injured leg, he scored 25 points in regulation time, scored 6 of his team's 9 points in first overtime, hit a clutch free shot in the last seconds, and scored all four Celtics points in the second period of overtime. Cousy scored another 8 in the third, among them a buzzer beater, and in the fourth overtime, he scored 9 of 12 Celtics points. Cousy ended the game playing 66 minutes, and scoring 50 points after making a still-standing record of 30 free throws in 32 attempts. This game is regarded by the NBA as one of the finest scoring feats ever, in line with Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game. However, for the third time in a row, the Knicks defeated the Celtics in the next round.

In the next three years, Cousy firmly established himself as one of the best point guards of the league. Leading the league in assists again in all three seasons, and averaging 20 points and 7 rebounds, the versatile Cousy earned himself three further All-NBA First Team and All-Star honors, and was also Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the 1954 NBA All-Star Game. In terms of playing style, Cousy introduced an array of visually attractive street basketball moves, described by the NBA as a mix of ambidextrous, behind-the-back dribbling and "no-look passes, behind-the-back feeds or half-court fastbreak launches". Cousy's modus operandi contrasted with the rest of the NBA, which was dominated by muscular low post scorers and deliberate flat-footed set shooters. Soon, he was called "Houdini of the Hardwood" after the magician Harry Houdini. Cousy's crowd-pleasing and effective play drew the crowd into the Boston Garden and also won over coach Auerbach, who no longer saw him as a liability, but as an essential building block for the future.

The Celtics eventually added two talented forwards, namely future Hall-of-Famer Frank Ramsey and defensive specialist Jim Loscutoff. Along with Celtics colleague Bob Brannum, Loscutoff also became Cousy's unofficial bodyguard, retaliating against opposing players who would try to hurt him. The Celtics were unable to make their mark in the 1954, 1955 and 1956 NBA Playoffs, where they lost three times in a row against the Nationals of Hall-of-fame forward Dolph Schayes. Cousy attributed the shortcomings to fatigue, stating: "We would get tired in the end and could not get the ball". As a result, Auerbach sought a defensive center who could both get easy rebounds, initiate fastbreaks and close out games.

Dynasty years (1956–63)

In the 1956 NBA Draft, Auerbach acquired three future Hall-of-Famers: forward Tom Heinsohn, guard K.C. Jones and defensive center Bill Russell. Powered by these new recruits, the Celtics went 44–28 in the regular season, and Cousy averaged 20.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and a league-leading 7.5 assists, earning his first NBA Most Valuable Player Award; he also won his second NBA All-Star Game MVP award. The Celtics reached the 1957 NBA Finals, and powered by Cousy on offense and rugged center Russell on defense, they beat the Hawks 4–3, who were noted for future Hall-of-Fame power forward Bob Pettit and former teammates Macauley and Hagan. Cousy finally won his first title.

In the 1957–58 NBA season, Cousy had yet another highly productive year, with his 20.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 8.6 assists per game leading to nominations into the All-NBA First Team and the All-Star team. He again led the NBA in assists. The Celtics reached the 1958 NBA Finals against the Hawks, but when Russell succumbed to a foot injury in Game 3, the Celtics faded and bowed out four games to two. This was the last losing NBA playoff series in which Cousy would play.

In the following 1958–59 NBA season, the Celtics took revenge on their opposition, powered by an inspired Cousy, who averaged 20.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and a league-high 8.6 assists a game, won yet another assists title and another pair of All-NBA First Team and All-Star team nominations. Late in the season, Cousy reasserted his playmaking dominance by setting an NBA record with 28 assists in a game against the Minneapolis Lakers. While this record was eventually broken some 19 years later, Cousy's 19 assists in a single half has never been surpassed. The Celtics stormed through the playoffs and, behind Cousy's 51 total assists (still a record for a four-game NBA Finals series), defeated the Minneapolis Lakers in the first 4–0 sweep ever in the NBA Finals.

In the 1959–60 NBA season, Cousy was again productive, his 19.4 points, 4.7 rebounds and 9.5 assists per game earning him his eighth consecutive assists title and another joint All-NBA First Team and All-Star team nomination. Again, the Celtics defeated all opposition and won the 1960 NBA Finals 4–3 against the Hawks. A year later, the 32-year-old Cousy scored 18.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game, winning another pair of All-NBA First Team and All-Star nominations, but failing to win the assists crown after eight consecutive seasons. However, the Celtics won the 1961 NBA Finals after convincingly beating the Hawks 4–1.

In the 1961–62 NBA season, the aging Cousy slowly began to fade statistically, averaging 15.7 points, 3.5 rebounds and 7.8 assists, and was voted into the All-NBA Second Team after ten consecutive First Team nominations. Still, he enjoyed a satisfying post-season, winning the 1962 NBA Finals after two closely fought 4–3 battles against two upcoming teams, the Philadelphia Warriors of Wilt Chamberlain and then the Los Angeles Lakers of Hall-of-Famers Elgin Baylor and Jerry West. The Finals series against the Lakers was especially dramatic, because Lakers guard Frank Selvy failed to make a last-second buzzer beater shot in Game 7 which would have won the Los Angeles the title. Finally, in the last season of his career, Cousy averaged 13.2 points, 2.5 rebounds and 6.8 assists, and collected one last All-Star and All-NBA Second Team nomination. In the 1963 NBA Finals, the Celtics again won 4–2 against the Lakers, and Cousy finished his career on a high note: in the fourth quarter of Game 6, Cousy sprained an ankle and had to be helped to the bench. He went back in with the Celtics ahead by only a point. Although he did not score again, his was credited with providing an emotional lift that carried the Celtics to victory 112–109. The game ended with Cousy throwing the ball into the rafters.

At age 35, Cousy ended his playing career. The ceremony in a packed Boston Garden became known as the Boston Tear Party, when the crowd's response overwhelmed Cousy, left him speechless, and caused his planned seven minute farewell to go on for 20. Joe Dillon, a water worker from South Boston, Massachusetts and a devoted Celtics fan screamed "We love ya, Cooz," breaking the tension and the crowd went into cheers. As a testament to Cousy's legacy, President John F. Kennedy wired to Cousy: "The game bears an indelible stamp of your rare skills and competitive daring."

Post-player career

After retiring as a player, Cousy published his autobiography ''Basketball Is My Life'' in 1963, and in the same year, he became coach at Boston College. In his six seasons there, he had a record of 117 wins and 38 losses and was named New England Coach of the Year for 1968 and 1969. Cousy led the Eagles to three NIT appearances including a berth at the 1969 NIT Championship and two National Collegiate Athletic Association tournaments including a berth at the 1967 Eastern Regional Finals. However, he grew bored with college basketball and made his return to the NBA as coach of the Cincinnati Royals, team of fellow Hall-of-Fame point guard Oscar Robertson. He later said about this engagement: "I did it for the money. I was made the offer I couldn't refuse." In 1970, the 41-year-old Cousy even made a late-season comeback as a player to boost ticket sales. Despite his meager output of a cumulative 5 points in 34 minutes of play time in seven games, ticket sales jumped by 77 percent. However, Cousy stepped down as coach early in the 1973–74 NBA season with a mediocre 141–209 record. In later life, Cousy was Commissioner of the American Soccer League from 1974 to 1979, and he has been a color analyst on Celtics telecasts since the 1980s." In addition, he had a cameo role in the basketball film ''Blue Chips'' in 1993. A memorable scene from the film, in which Cousy played a college athletic director, featured a conversation between Cousy and the team's head coach, played by Nick Nolte. In one long, unbroken take, Cousy talked with Nolte while sinking foul shot after foul shot, prompting Nolte to say, in an unscripted line, "Don't you ever miss?" Today, he is a marketing consultant for the Celtics, and occasionally makes broadcast appearances with Mike Gorman and ex-Celtic teammate Tom Heinsohn.

Coaching record

College coaching record

NBA coaching record

|- | align="left" |Cincinnati | align="left" | |82||36||46||.439|| align="center" |5th in Eastern||—||—||—||— | align="center" |Missed Playoffs |- | align="left" |Cincinnati | align="left" | |82||33||49||.402|| align="center" |3rd in Central||—||—||—||— | align="center" |Missed Playoffs |- | align="left" |Cincinnati | align="left" | |82||30||52||.366|| align="center" |3rd in Central||—||—||—||— | align="center" |Missed Playoffs |- | align="left" |Kansas City-Omaha | align="left" | |82||36||46||.439|| align="center" |4th in Midwest||—||—||—||— | align="center" |Lost in First Round |- | align="left" |Kansas City-Omaha | align="left" | |22||6||16||.273|| align="center" |(fired)||—||—||—||— | align="center" |— |-class="sortbottom" | align="left" |Career | ||350||141||209||.403|| ||—||—||—||—

Legacy

In 1954, the NBA had no health benefits, no pension plan, no minimum salary, and the average players salary was $8,000 a season. To combat this, Cousy organized the National Basketball Players Association — the first trade union among those in the four major North American professional sports leagues. Cousy served as its first president until 1958.

In his 13-year, 924-game NBA playing career, Cousy finished with 16,960 points, 4,786 rebounds and 6,955 assists, translating to averages of 18.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game. He was regarded as the first great point guard of the NBA, winning eight of the first 11 assist titles in the league, all of them en bloc, and had a highly successful career, winning six NBA titles, one MVP award, 13 All-Star and 12 All-NBA First and Second Team call-ups and two All-Star MVP awards. With his eye-catching dribbling and unorthodox passing, Cousy popularised modern guard play and raised the profile of the Boston Celtics and the entire NBA. His fast-paced playing style was later emulated by the likes of Pete Maravich and Magic Johnson.

In recognition of his feats, Cousy was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1971 and was honored by the Boston Celtics franchise which retired his number 14 jersey. Celtics owner Walter Brown said: "The Celtics wouldn't be here without him [Cousy]. He made basketball in this town. If he had played in New York he would have been the biggest thing since [New York Yankees baseball legend] Babe Ruth. I think he is anyway." In addition, on May 11, 2006, ESPN.com rated Cousy as the fifth greatest point guard of all time, lauding him as "ahead of his time with his ballhandling and passing skills" and pointing out he is only one of four point guards ever to win a NBA Most Valuable Player award.

On November 16, 2008 Cousy's college number of 17 was hoisted to the Hart Center rafters. During halftime of a game between the Holy Cross Crusaders and St. Joseph's Hawks, Cousy, George Kaftan, Togo Palazzi, and Tommy Heinsohn's numbers became the first to hang from the gymnasium's ceiling.

Personal life

Cousy married his college sweetheart Missie Ritterbusch in December 1950, who has since been his spouse for over 50 years. They live in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Cousy was well-known, both on and off the court, for his anti-racist attitude, a result of his upbringing in a multicultural environment. In 1950, the Celtics played a match in the then-segregated city of Charlotte, North Carolina, and teammate Chuck Cooper — the first African-American in NBA history to be drafted—would have been denied a hotel room. Instead of taking the hotel room, Cousy insisted on travelling with Cooper on an uncomfortable overnight train. He described their visit to a segregated men's toilet—Cooper was prohibited to use the clean "for whites" bathroom and had to use the shabby "for colored" facility—as one of the most shameful experiences of his life. He also sympathized with the plight of black Celtics star Bill Russell, who was frequently a victim of racism. In addition, Cousy was close friends with his Celtics mentor Red Auerbach and was one of the few people who could call him "Arnold" (his real first name) instead of "Red".

See also

List of National Basketball Association career assists leaders

List of National Basketball Association career free throw scoring leaders

List of National Basketball Association career playoff assists leaders

List of National Basketball Association players with most assists in a game

List of National Basketball Association players with 50 or more points in a playoff game

References

External links

Bob Cousy on nba.com

Bob Cousy Statistics

Bob Cousy in 1940s newspaper clippings

Category:1928 births Category:Living people Category:American basketball coaches Category:American basketball players Category:American sports announcers Category:American people of French descent Category:Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Category:Basketball players from New York Category:Boston Celtics players Category:National Basketball Association players with retired numbers Category:Boston College Eagles men's basketball coaches Category:Cincinnati Royals head coaches Category:Cincinnati Royals players Category:College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Category:College of the Holy Cross alumni Category:Holy Cross Crusaders men's basketball players Category:Kansas City-Omaha Kings head coaches Category:National Basketball Association broadcasters Category:National Basketball Association head coaches Category:National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Category:People from Worcester, Massachusetts Category:Player-coaches Category:Point guards Category:Sportspeople from Manhattan Category:Tri-Cities Blackhawks draft picks

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