Red Auerbach Dies at 89

[Valerie]

i have such wonderful memories of this character. i spent a lot of time at celtic games in the '50s. what an interesting guys he was.

[moneyp]

Damned, depressing news. Loved the guy. A great coach, a great character. One of my prized sports-related possessions is a copy Sport magazine interviewing him from the last year he coached the Celtics. Very interesting stuff that delved into how he motivated his players.

RIP, Red.

[GoodSpeak]

A round-ball icon.

RIP, Red.

[Ron Thorne]

They don't make 'em like that anymore.

R.I.P. Arnold "Red" Auerbach~

[Mike Schwartz]

A groundbreaker in many ways...
The greatest pro basketball coach of them all hands down, and the best talent scout ever as well!

9 NBA championships (8 consecutive) 16 or 17 combined as the GM & coach.

The ultimate sports character.
The guy was the face of the franchise my entire life.Wow!

The lighting of the victory cigar........opposing players and coaches must have HATED that routine.

The age of the George Halas', the Paul Browns, and the "Red" Auerbach's is gone.

[Steve Reynolds]

RIP, Arnold


must be a tough day for the family and expecially for Cousy & Russell.


after Vince the greatest team coach in the history of American Sports.

must be a little tough on my mom - she had the team as patients in the 60's.


will call today....

[Gordon B]

Originally Posted by Steve Reynolds

RIP, Arnold


must be a tough day for the family and expecially for Cousy & Russell.


after Vince the greatest team coach in the history of American Sports.

must be a little tough on my mom - she had the team as patients in the 60's.


will call today....

Red and Vince were great but not greater than John Wooden, still with us at age 96.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

The magical leprachaun is gone? Say it isn't so!

I was a Celtics season ticket holder during the Bird years. Me and my friend Paul used to always see if Red was at the game. He sat in the same spot all the time. I once went into his section to see him. I don't know what I was thinking, just that I'd like to thank him. I actually got to sit down a few rows behind him. No one came and kicked me out, so I watched the rest of the game down there. I never did get to talk to him, but I did hear him talking about the game as it was being played. He was complaining about the refs.

As you grow older, it really doesn't hit you how long you've been on this planet until people you admired start to pass away. Another person responsible for a lot of my great memories is gone.

RIP Red.

Kevin

[Gentle Giant]

One of a kind doesn't even begin to express it. Here's a lengthy but well worth reading appreciation from today's Globe.

RIP Red, and thanks for all the great players, teams, and championships you brought to Boston.

Edit: This timeline details some of his amazing deals (Rick Robey for Dennis Johnson!) and other colorful moments from his career.

[Gentle Giant]

Originally Posted by Mike Schwartz

A groundbreaker in many ways....

Don't forget he drafted the NBA's first black player, was the first to present an all-black starting five, and hired the league's first black coach (in fact, the Celtics have had three: Bill Russell, Satch Sanders, and KC Jones).

[hornplayer]

I was such a Celtics fan in the Auerbach years I used to listen to the games on the RADIO! What a team.. and what a pioneer.

Not to take anything away from Wooden, but THIS is Auerbach's thread. and he was a real trailblazer. in sports and in life. Just ask Bill Russell. or John Havlicek.

Rest in peace, Red. Thanks for the memories.

[Mike Schwartz]

Originally Posted by hornplayer

I was such a Celtics fan in the Auerbach years I used to listen to the games on the RADIO! What a team.. and what a pioneer.

Not to take anything away from Wooden, but THIS is Auerbach's thread. and he was a real trailblazer. in sports and in life. Just ask Bill Russell. or John Havlicek.

Rest in peace, Red. Thanks for the memories.

Also, other names mentioned were all in the pro ranks.

Demise of the mighty Celtics came after the sudden death of Len Bias, who Red drafted...a player that the Bird, McHale, Parrish group would have passed the torch to into te '90s.

On an ironic note, this coming Wednesday the C's are introducing the new chearleading squad, something they've never had which Auerbach was opposed to and said would not happen while he was around.

[hornplayer]

oh gee, Mike... what memories you've dredged up! I remember exactly where I was when I heard on my car radio that Len Bias had been found dead.... and i believe you're right.

as for the cheerleaders... when you have a team of the caliber of those Auerbach coached, you don't need any extraneous distractions. The game was the whole thing. Today's pro basketball is (imho) but a shadow of the fabulous sport it was in the "old days." and Im not going back all that far to call it "the old days!'' just 10 - 15 years. It doesn't seem much like a team sport to me any more.

[walto]

As I mentioned on another thread, I have an instructional video he made. You can tell his relationship with Bird is very good. There's a lot of mutual respect there. He was also willing to change with the game. Not down on slam dunks, between the legs dribbling, behind the back passes, etc.--except when they don't benefit the player/team.

[moneyp]

Originally Posted by Gordon B

Red and Vince were great but not greater than John Wooden, still with us at age 96.

I wouldn't say that definitively. No offense to Mr. Wooden, a very classy guy, but some of the best high school players were shunted to UCLA by Sam Gilbert, including Kareem and Walton, in a manner that would raise a lot of eyebrows today. Not that Wooden wasn't a great coach, but he probably had more help than he should have had.

[crawjo]

He was also a huge benefactor for his alma mater, George Washington.

[Valerie]

a bit off track: but i find it interesting that some of my very best friends are the ones posting here! not that i didn't already know that we have a lot in common!

back on track: red was so interesting to me for many reasons but maybe mostly because he acted so rough and gruff and had a heart of gold. so much of what he did for people was never even publicized. just a great human being.

[Captain Hate]

Originally Posted by crawjo

He was also a huge benefactor for his alma mater, George Washington.

I thought it was interesting that he personified the Celtics but was always a DC resident.

[Lenny D.Guitarist]

Mr. Auerbach, Mr. Wooden, and Mr. Holzman... the three legends of coaching basketball.

[moneyp]

Originally Posted by Captain Hate

I thought it was interesting that he personified the Celtics but was always a DC resident.

My favorite anecdote was the story of him lighting up one of his trademark cigars in a D.C. restaurant. A woman at the next table asks him to put it out, pointing out on the menu where it says that there's no smoking allowed. He, in turn, points out the small print below that where it says, "except for Red Auerbach."

[Captain Hate]

^Great story; here's some pre-Celtic info that I picked from another bbs: Just to fill you guys in on the Duke-Auerbach connection: Red was already a successul NBA coach in the late 1940s -- he drafted Bones McKinney out of UNC for Washington after the 1946 season.

After the 1949 season, Duke coach Gerry Gerard was diagnosed with cancer. Duke went out and hired Auerbach to come in as an assistant and to succeed Gerard when he died. Red was at Duke for six months, although he never coached a game as an assistant coach, leaving just before the 1949-50 season. Auerbach always said that he left because Gerard was the finest man he'd ever met and he couldn't stand to sit around and watch him die to get his job.

Auerbach did leave Duke a small legacy -- he mentored a young guard from western Pa. Dick Groat, who became a two-time All-American (and a future National League MVP as shortstop of the Pirates), said he learned more in six months working with Auerbach than from all his other basketball teachers combined.

Of course, Auerbach made his reputation with the Celtics. It's worth noting that his success was due to one of the gutsiest personnel decisions anybody ever made. He traded all-star center Easy Ed McCauley, who was in his prime, and the rights to Kentucky All-American Cliff Hagan (who became an all-pro) to St. Louis for the rights to San Francisco center Bill Russell.

It seems a no-brainer in hindsight (after Russell anchored 11 title teams in the next 13 years), but at the time, Auerbach was the only NBA exec to really see Russell's potential -- Syracuse had the first pick in the draft and passed over him ... St. Louis, with the second pick, didn't want him. Auerbach did ... and he got his reward. Perhaps not coincidentally, St. Loo and Syracuse haven't had franchises for quite a while.

It's worth noting that after retiring as a coach with nine titles, Red put together seven more title teams as Boston's GM, building championship teams around Dave Cowens, Jo Jo White and John Havlicek; then around Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parrish.

It's worth noting that he got White and Bird through an old NBA rule that allowed teams to draft fifth-year college players, then have a year to sign them. He drafted White and Bird, then waited a season to get them -- after Bird, the NBA changed the rule even though Auerbach was the only NBA exec smart enough to use it.

I think Red would have built yet another title team in the late 1980s, except for two exceptional pieces of bad luck -- the deaths of Len Bias and Reggie Lewis.

[Valerie]

Here's his AP obit, from the Toronto Globe & Mail:

Red Auerbach: 1917-2006

Associated Press

Washington — His genius was building a basketball dynasty in Boston, his gift was straight talk, his signature was the pungent cigar he lit up and savored after every victory.

Red Auerbach, the Hall of Famer who guided the Celtics to 16 championships — first as a coach and later as general manager — died Saturday. He was 89.

Auerbach died of a heart attack near his home in Washington, according to an NBA official, who didn't want to be identified. His last public appearance was on Wednesday, when he received the Navy's Lone Sailor Award in front of family and friends at a ceremony in the nation's capital.

Auerbach's death was announced by the Celtics, who still employed him as team president. Next season will be dedicated to him, they said.

"He was relentless and produced the greatest basketball dynasty so far that this country has ever seen and certainly that the NBA has ever seen," said Bob Cousy, the point guard for many of Auerbach's championship teams who referred to his coach by his given name. "This is a personal loss for me. Arnold and I have been together since 1950. I was fortunate that I was able to attend a function with him Wednesday night. ... I am so glad now that I took the time to be there and spend a few more moments with him."

Tom Heinsohn, who played under Auerbach and then coached the Celtics when he was their general manager, remembered his personal side.

"He was exceptional at listening and motivating people to put out their very best," Heinsohn said. "In my playing days he once gave me a loaded cigar and six months later I gave him one. That was our relationship. We had a tremendous amount of fun and the game of basketball will never see anyone else like him."

Auerbach's 938 victories made him the winningest coach in NBA history until Lenny Wilkens overtook him during the 1994-95 season.

"Red Auerbach was the consummate teacher, leader, and a true pioneer of the sport of basketball," commissioner David Stern said on NBA.com. "The NBA wouldn't be what it is today without him."

Auerbach's nine titles as a coach came in the 1950s and 1960s — including eight straight from 1959 through 1966 — and then through shrewd deals and foresight he became the architect of Celtics teams that won seven more championships in the 1970s and 1980s.

"Red was a true champion and one whose legacy transcends the Celtics and basketball," Sen. Ted Kennedy said. "He was the gold standard in coaching and in civic leadership, and he set an example that continues today. We all knew and loved Red in the Kennedy family."

Auerbach was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1969. The jersey No. 2 was retired by the Celtics in his honor during the 1984-85 season.

"He was a unique personality, a combination of toughness and great, great caring about people," said author John Feinstein, who last year collaborated on a book with Auerbach on the coach's reflections of seven decades in basketball. "He cared about people much more than it showed in his public face, and that's why people cared about him."

With the Celtics, he made deals that brought Bill Russell, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale to Boston. He drafted Larry Bird a year early when the Indiana State star was a junior to make sure Bird would come to Boston.

He coached championship teams that featured players such as Russell, Cousy, Heinsohn, Bill Sharman, K.C. Jones and Sam Jones, all inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Phil Jackson matched Auerbach's record nine championships when the Los Angeles Lakers won the title in 2001-02.

After stepping down as general manager in 1984, Auerbach served as president of the Celtics and occasionally attended team practices into the mid-1990s, although his role in the draft and personnel decisions had diminished.

"Red was a guy who always introduced new things," Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca told The Associated Press in an interview this month. "He had some of the first black players in the league and some people didn't like that, but you've got to do what's right for the fans."

When Rick Pitino took the president's title when he became coach in 1997, Auerbach became vice chairman of the board. After Pitino resigned in 2001, Auerbach regained the title of president and remained vice chairman. When the team was sold in 2002 to a group headed by Wyc Grousbeck, Auerbach stayed on as president.

Through all those changes and titles, Auerbach didn't lose his direct manner of speaking, such as when he discussed the parquet floor of the Boston Garden shortly before the Celtics' longtime home closed in September 1995.

"The whole thing was a myth," Auerbach said. "People thought not only that there were dead spots, but that we knew where every one was and we could play accordingly.

"Now, did you ever watch a ballplayer go up and down the court at that speed and pick out a dead spot?" he asked. "If our players worried about that, thinking that's going to help them win, they're out of their cotton-picking mind. But if the other team thought that: Hey, good for us."

As Celtics president, Auerbach shuttled between Boston and his home in the nation's capital, where he led an active lifestyle that included playing racquetball and tennis into his mid-70s.

Auerbach underwent two procedures in May 1993 to clear blocked arteries. He had been bothered by chest discomfort at various times beginning in 1986.

Auerbach was also hospitalized a year ago, but he was soon active again and attended the Celtics' home opener. Asked that night what his thoughts were, he replied in his usual blunt manner: "What goes through your mind is, 'When the hell are we going to win another one? I mean, it's as simple as that."

Auerbach had planned to be at the Celtics' opener this season, in Boston next Wednesday against the New Orleans Hornets.

In his 16 seasons as the Celtics' coach, Auerbach berated referees and paced the sideline with a rolled-up program in his clenched fist. The cigar came out when he was sure of another Celtic triumph.

He had a 938-479 regular-season coaching record and a 99-69 playoff mark.

Auerbach had a reputation as a keen judge of talent, seemingly always getting the best of trades with fellow coaches and general managers.

In 1956, he traded Ed Macauley and Cliff Hagan to St. Louis for the Hawks' first-round pick and ended up with Russell — probably the greatest defensive center of all time and the heart of 11 championship teams.

In 1978, he drafted Bird in the first round even though he would have to wait a year before Bird could become a professional.

Before the 1980 draft, the Celtics traded the No. 1 overall selection to Golden State for Parish and the No. 3 pick. The Warriors took Joe Barry Carroll. The Celtics chose McHale.

In 1981, Boston chose Brigham Young guard Danny Ainge in the second round. Ainge was playing baseball in the Toronto Blue Jays organization at the time, but was freed after a court battle to play for the Celtics.

In June 1983, another one-sided deal brought guard Dennis Johnson from Phoenix for seldom-used backup center Rick Robey.

Born Arnold Auerbach in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Sept. 20, 1917, he attended Seth Low Junior College in New York and George Washington University. His playing career was undistinguished. In three seasons at George Washington he scored 334 points in 56 games. He would often attend games at GW's Smith Center, where the court is named in his honor.

As a coach, he was an instant success, posting the best record of his career in his first season. He led the Washington Capitols to a 49-11 mark in 1946-47, the NBA's debut season, and took them to the playoff semifinals.

The Capitols had winning records the next two seasons under Auerbach, who moved on to the Tri-Cities Blackhawks for one season in 1949-50. They had a 28-29 mark, Auerbach's only losing record in 20 years as an NBA coach.

In the NBA's first four seasons, the Celtics never had a winning record. But Auerbach changed that dramatically when he succeeded Alvin "Doggy" Julian as Boston's coach for the 1950-51 campaign.

They went 39-30 that year, and the Celtics never had a losing record in his 16 seasons on the bench. Boston's lowest winning percentage was .611 in his last 10 seasons.

His last game as coach was on April 28, 1966, when Boston edged the Lakers 95-93 in Game 7 of the finals to win the NBA title. He was just 48 years old, but ready to move on.

On Feb. 13 of that season, Auerbach was honored at halftime of a loss to Los Angeles at Boston Garden.

"They say that losing comes easier as you grow older," he said after the game. "But losing keeps getting harder for me. I just can't take it like I used to. It's time for me to step out."

Russell became player-coach the next season, while Auerbach concentrated on his job as general manager. Russell was the first of five Boston coaches who had played for Auerbach.

Auerbach is survived by his two daughters, Nancy Auerbach Collins and Randy Auerbach; his granddaughter, Julie Auerbach Flieger, and three great-grandchildren.

[Dr Dave]

Somewhere there's a poster of Red posing on the front of a box of Wheaties, but instead of "Breakfast of Champions" it says "Champion of Fast Breaks."

Red did hate to lose. He must have been deeply frustrated by the last few editions of the Celtics. (An emotion I share with him.)

[Gentle Giant]

Just think about the fact that at the height of the Celtics' success, Red was able to score a high-enough pick to take Len Bias. They had been to the finals each of the previous two seasons and there they were picking ahead of almost everyone else.

We'll never know what Bias could've meant to the team, but it took a lot out of Auerbach and the team, neither of which could be said to be up to its previous level after that.

[Chris D]

His relationship with Bill Russell I think spoke volumes about both men. Winners and trailblazers.

[steve(thelil)]

As a Knick fan, I could never stand him, but I understand that he did some fine things over the course of a good life.

A few years ago, my brother (another Knick fan) and I were walking outside Madison Square Garden when Red walked out and walked by us. My brother, using an intentionally exagerated NY accent, yelled out "Heyya Red over there". Red gave a sheepish and acknowledging smile while making face that made it look like he was expecting some type of insult. When Robbie said (only) "Nice to see yah" Red looked relieved and vulnerable. Now it seems like a nice moment.

[Jon Abbey]

a great piece by Bill Simmons:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...simmons/061030

[Gentle Giant]

Reports are that Russell kissed Red's closed coffin last night. Asked how he felt when he heard the news, Russell replied, "I can't talk about that yet."

Considering Russ's rep as an often-angry, prideful man, someone who often doesn't show up for the occasional big events that other Celtics legends all fly in for, it speaks volumes about the ability of a short, stout, white Jewish man to engender such love and respect from the greatest team athlete in pro sports history.

[Noj]

Originally Posted by Jon Abbey

a great piece by Bill Simmons:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...simmons/061030

Great article, thanks for posting it Jon. RIP Red.

[hornplayer]

Originally Posted by Noj

Great article, thanks for posting it Jon. RIP Red.

Ditto.