On this day in Boston Celtics history, Boston alumnus point guard Kenny Anderson was born in Queens, New York in 1970. Anderson was a highly sought-after recruit as a teenager and would play his college ball with Georgia Tech, where he would earn two consecutive All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors among several others.
He was taken with the second overall pick of the 1991 NBA draft by the (then) New Jersey (now, Brooklyn) Nets, where he would play five seasons before being dealt to the Charlotte Hornets in January of 1996. He would sign with the Portland Trail Blazers at the end of that season as a free agent, who would later deal him to the Toronto Raptors in 1998.
Buy Celtics TicketsAnderson would finally find his way to Boston when the Raps dealt him to the Celtics five days later with Popeye Jones and Žan Tabak for Chauncey Billups, Dee Brown, Roy Rogers, and John Thomas.
He would play five seasons with Boston, becoming a fan favorite along with Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker.
Despite this, the Georgia Tech alum was traded yet again in 2002 with Joseph Forte and Vitaly Potapenko to the Seattle SuperSonics for Vin Baker and Shammond Williams.
He averaged 11.3 points, 3 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and 1.6 steals per game with the team.
It is also the birthday of ex-Celtic shooting guard Jerome Anderson (no relation), who came into this world on this date in 1953 in Mullens, West Virginia.
A native of Mullens, West Virginia, Anderson was selected by Boston with the 53rd pick of the 1975 NBA draft.
He would play two seasons with the Celtics, winning a title his sophomore and final season in the NBA in a reserve role, averaging 2.6 points per game in his career with Boston.
The Andersons share their birthday with former Celtic forward Bill (also known as Henry) Walker, who was also born in West Virginia in Huntington on this day in 1987.
Walker played for Kansas State collegiately before being taken 47th overall by the Washington Wizards in the 2008 NBA draft, for whom he never actually played.
His rights would be sold to Boston that same night, and the Huntington native would play 37 games over two seasons for the Celtics, averaging 2.6 points and 0.9 rebounds per game with the team.
It is also the birthday of former Celtics center Arnie Risen, born in Williamstown, Kentucky on this date in 1924. Risen played his final three seasons in the NBA with the Celtics and would win a title with the team in 1957.
He averaged 7.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game with Boston. The big man had spent his entire career with the Rochester Royals (now, Sacramento Kings), his rights dealt to Boston in 1955.
NBA: Kenny Rollins, age 89, played w '48-50 Chicago Stags, '52-3 Boston Celtics. '48 Kentucky NCAA Champs. '48 Olympic Gold
— SportsDeaths (@sportsdeaths) October 11, 2012
Finally, it is also the date of the passing of former Celtics point guard Kenny Rollins, who left us on this day in 2012.
Brother of fellow NBA guard Phil Rollins, Kenny played collegiately at Kentucky, where he won an NCAA title in 1948 after returning from a pause in his schooling to serve in the US Navy in the Second World War.
Happy birthday in heaven Kenny Rollins. #Celtics pic.twitter.com/37KT2Cd6gU
— Honest☘️Larry (@HonestLarry1) September 14, 2021
He also won Gold in the 1948 London Olympics for the US before trying his hand at the pro game with the (now defunct) Chicago Stags of the Basketball Association of America (BAA — a precursor league to the NBA) and Louisville Alumnites of the National Professional Basketball League (NPBL — a professional league that competed with the nascent NBA for one season).
Signing with the Celtics in 1952 as a free agent, Rollins played a total of 43 games for Boston in the 1952-53 season, recording 2.3 points and 1.1 assists per game while with the franchise, retiring from the sport at the end of the season.
Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi
YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ
