On this day, former Boston Celtics big man John Mahnken was born in 1922 in West New York, New Jersey.
A 6-foot-8, 220 lb. alum of Georgetown University, Mahnken would be signed by the Rochester Royals (now known as the Sacramento Kings) of the National Basketball League (NBL — a competing league that would later be absorbed by the NBA) after returning from service in the second world war. The former Hoya signed with the Washington Capitals of the Basketball Association of America (BAA – a precursor league to the NBA) after the war in 1946, where he would see a face that would become quite familiar in his later life.
It just so happened to be coached by a one Red Auerbach, later to be his coach in Boston as well.