On this day in Boston Celtics history, legendary Celtics forward John Havlicek died in 2019 after a long fight with Parkinson’s disease at the age of 74 in Jupiter, Florida. Hondo, as he would often be called, was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio, in 1940, and he played his college ball at nearby Ohio State, with which he won the NCAA championship in 1960.
He was drafted seventh overall in the 1962 NBA draft by Boston and played 16 seasons with the Celtics, winning eight NBA championships and being elected to 13 All-Star games, 11 All-NBA teams, and 8 All-Defensive teams among many other honors.
Havlicek’s jersey was retired by Boston immediately after his playing career ended in 1978, and he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1984.
Celtics & The Chuck Cooper Foundation to honor Chuck’s legacy through a fellowship focused on bias prevention/anti-discrimination programs, including “The Playbook Initiative."
Read more: https://t.co/0b9ppheMhJ pic.twitter.com/T9kyEMrzHC— Boston Celtics (@celtics) September 6, 2019
It was on this date in 1950 that Celtics wing luminary Chuck Cooper became the first African American drafted into the NBA, taken out of Duquesne by Boston with the 14th overall pick.
Cooper joined Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton and Earl Lloyd as the first African Americans to play in the league that season, making his debut on Nov. 1 against the (then) Fort Wayne (now, Detroit) Pistons.
Cooper played four seasons for the Celtics, averaging 6.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game over that stretch. He was elected to the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2019.
On the same day, Boston selected Ed Macauley in the St. Louis Bombers dispersal draft, done to distribute the players from that franchise among the other NBA teams in the league after that franchise went under.
Macauley played six seasons with the Celtics and was elected to six All-Star games and four All-NBA teams over that stretch, during which he averaged 18.9 points, 8.1 boards, and 3.7 assists.
“Easy Ed” would later be dealt away with Cliff Hagan’s contract to the St. Louis Hawks for Boston big man luminary Bill Russell.
Fun fact: James Luisi (Lt. Chapman) was drafted by the Celtics and after serving in the US Army during the Korean War, he played with the Baltimore Bullets. https://t.co/yqF88iCFcN pic.twitter.com/0YJOIva4mx
— Honest☘️Larry (@HonestLarry1) December 9, 2021
It is also the date of the 1951 NBA draft, held in New York City, in which the Celtics drafted two players of note.
The first was point guard Jim Luisi, taken 56th out of St. Francis college.
Luisi never played for Boston, instead fighting in the Korean War before returning to play a season for the Baltimore Bullets. He later became an actor.
Boston Celtics rookie Ernie Barrett is featured in this December 1953 Boston Globe cartoon
“Black Jack” played in 59 games in 1953-54, averaging 2.3 PPG
He retired after the season, but came back for one more year in 1955-56 (72 G, 7.0 PPG) before quitting for good pic.twitter.com/xTL8vPxGiH
— Only The Ball Was Brown (@inthelowpost) October 18, 2020
The other was shooting guard Ernie Barrett, selected by the Celtics seventh overall out of Kansas State.
Barret played two seasons for Boston, averaging 4.9 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game in his Celtics tenure.
It is also the anniversary of the 1965 NBA Championship won by Boston over the Los Angeles Lakers. The Celtics ended the best-of-seven series in Game 5 with a 129-96 blowout.
The loss came despite guard Jerry West’s 33 points. Boston legend Russell pulled down 30 rebounds to go with his 22 points.
The peculiar tale of Boston's Danny Ainge getting bit by a Tree https://t.co/SQCAKnmCtm via @thecelticswire
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) April 24, 2020
Finally, it is the anniversary of the famous fight between Tree Rollins of the Atlanta Hawks and current team president and then-Celtics shooting guard Danny Ainge.
Rollins and Ainge were involved in a benches-clearing fight during the 1983 Eastern Conference playoffs’ first round.
During the fight, Rollins was caught chomping on Ainge’s finger. Both were fined for the altercation, leading to one of the greatest headlines in sports history, “Tree Bites Man.”
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