On this day: Celtic Champ Andy Phillip born; Dominique Wilkins hits 25k points

On this day in Celtics history, Dominique Wilkins hit the 25,000-point plateau, and Boston Hall of Fame point guard Andy Phillip was born.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, former Boston Celtics point guard Andrew Michael Phillip was born in Granite City, Illinois in 1922. Phillip played his college ball with the Illinois Fighting Illini on both sides of a tour in the U.S. Marine Corps at Iwo Jima during the Second World War. He was drafted by the (now defunct) Chicago Stags of the Basketball Association of America (BAA — a precursor league of the NBA) with the 31st pick of the 1947 BAA draft.

He would play for that team, the (then) Philadelphia Warriors (now, Golden State), and the (then) Fort Wayne Pistons (now, Detroit) before coming to the Celtics.

After Boston claimed him off of waivers from the Pistons, that is.

Complete list of Boston Celtics in the Basketball Hall of Fame

Celtics Wire celebrates the 48 members of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame with ties to the Boston Celtics franchise.

The Boston Celtics are one of the bedrock franchises in professional sports. Legends such as Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Tommy Heinsohn, Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett dazzled fans with their athletic exploits and won the NBA championship in Boston.

A couple of hours down the Mass Pike in Springfield, no fewer than four dozen players, coaches, and contributors with ties to the Celtics franchise have been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame over the years, spanning the decades from the first years of the storied ball club’s existence up to the team’s last era of contention.

Below, Celtics Wire celebrates the 49 members of the Hall of Fame with Celtics connections in a photo gallery.

Every player in Boston Celtics history who wore No. 17

Today’s installment focuses on the 11 players who wore No. 17 over the years as of September 2023.

The Boston Celtics have more retired jerseys than any other team in the NBA, but that doesn’t mean the rest of their jerseys have little history of interest tied to them.

In fact, with 17 titles to their name and decades of competitive basketball, their unretired jersey numbers pack some of the most history not hanging from the rafters of any team in the league. To that end, we have launched our accounting of that history with every player in every jersey worn by more than one Celtics player in the storied franchise’s history accounted for.

Today’s installment focuses on the 11 players who wore No. 17 over the years as of September 2023.