Tag: Red Auerbach

Red Auerbach’s Boston Celtics victory cigar-smoking ritual origin story

The story of how the cigar-smoking, end-of-game ritual got started, told by the man himself.

Ever wonder where the famous ritual of Red Auerbach smoking a cigar at the end of a game came from?

The iconic Boston Celtics team president and coach actually shared the origin story of the Celtics’ “Gino Time” moment prototype, when Auerbach would spark a stogie to demonstrate to foes and fans alike that he believed the game was finally out of reach for the Celtics’ opponents. Always gravitating to the demonstrative, Red decided to turn a negative situation with the league office into an opportunity for showmanship, bending what had initially irritated him into a ploy to enrage opposing teams.

Watch the video embedded below dug up by our friends over at CLNS Media to hear the story from the man himself — Auerbach was leader in the league like no other.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

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Can you name all six Hall of Fame coaches of the Boston Celtics?

Better yet, can you do it in order?

The Boston Celtics have plenty of former players in Springfield, Massachusetts Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame, and plenty more who may yet one day help people in its ranks. But the storied franchise has had plenty of stellar leadership on the other side of the clipboard as well, with six former coaches having earned immortalization in basketball’s Mount Olympus.

Celtics fans may not be very crazy about at least one of the five among the franchise’s least popular alumni, but he still counts and puts Boston among the league’s most decorated teams when it comes to historically recognized coaches on its payroll.

Let’s take a look at those Hall of Fame Celtics coaches, from the evil emperor himself to the greatest head coach in the history of the NBA.

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.

The Boston Celtics have retired 24 jersey numbers – these are the players so honored

It’s no coincidence this team has the most retired jersey numbers with 17 banners hanging alongside them as of Oct. 2023.

There are no teams in the history of the NBA to have more titles than the Boston Celtics — at least not yet — so it makes sense there are no other franchises with more retired numbers to honor the players over the decades who earned and hung those banners.

In fact, there are no teams in any sport with more retired jersey numbers at 24 overall, a reflection of the excellence behind the Celtics mystique built by franchise architect Red Auerbach. From his signing with the team as coach and general manager onward, Boston became one of the premier teams of the greatest basketball league on the planet.

But who were the players for which those jerseys were retired? Let’s take a look at them all as of Oct. 2022.

How many of Boston’s coaches have been named Coach of the Year – and who were they?

Can you name the trio of Celtics coaches who won the award? Even better — can you name the seasons they won it in?

The Boston Celtics have a storied history of NBA championships with plenty of other hardware to go with it, and when it comes to Coach of the Year, their legacy is literally written on the award — more on that shortly.

Over the course of its seven-decade history in the league and its origins in the Basketball Association of America that came before it, the club has garnered three such honors as that annually offered to the best head coach in the NBA as seen such by the media in charge of voting. Most Celtics fans can easily name one of the three, and Boston stalwarts two or even three former Boston coaches so honored.

But can you also name the seasons in which each was so honored? Make your best guess, and then scroll down to see how you did.

Boston’s Danny Ainge recalls how Celtics icon Red Auerbach beat him in racquetball

The three-sport All-American was not, in fact, good at every sport he tried.

Younger fans of the Boston Celtics may not be aware that current team President Danny Ainge was a player with the franchise and won two titles in the mid-1980s.

Fewer still know Ainge was a three-sport All-American, earning national recognition as a high school athlete in his native Oregon while playing basketball, football, and baseball. He played baseball professionally in college before joining the Celtics in 1981. As adept as the future Celtic was at sports in high school, he met his match in another sport in one Red Auerbach, the iconic Boston coach and team president behind the bulk of Boston’s banners.

Ainge was asked if there’s a sport he isn’t good at on a recent episode of the popular New England Sports radio show “Toucher & Rich.”

On this day: legendary Boston Celtics coach, president Red Auerbach born

On this day in Brooklyn, New York in 1917, Boston Celtics icon Red Auerbach was born.

On this day in Boston Celtics history, legendary Boston Celtics head coach and manager Arnold Jacob “Red” Auerbach was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York in 1917. The winningest front office executive in the history of North American professional sports with 16 titles to his name as a coach or general manager, Auerbach was also a socially conscious ally to Black players.

He drafted the first Black player (Chuck Cooper, 1950), fielded the first all-Black starting five (1964), and hired the first Black Head coach (Bill Russell, 1968) in modern North American sports history.

A child of Russian Jewish immigrants, Auerbach was awarded an athletic scholarship to George Washington University. While there, he became a disciple of the fast break while earning an M.A.

HoFer Dominique Wilkins on playing for the Celtics, living in Boston

The Human Highlight Reel opened up about his time in Boston in a recent interview.

Hall of Fame small forward Dominique Wilkins only played for the Boston Celtics, but the storied ball club left quite the impression on the Human Highlight Reel. Speaking in a recent interview with “Vlad TV” podcast host DJ Vlad, ‘Nique opened up about his time in green and white.

Joining the team at the request of iconic team president Red Auerbach, Wilkins related his positive experiences living in Boston and dismissed the oft-repeated claims of racism during his time living there as a player and after he retired from the game. During that era, Boston did not return to their former glory, but they made the playoffs and ultimately lost to the young Orlando Magic team led by Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway.

To hear the story for yourself from Wilkins, take a look at the clip embedded below.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

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Boston’s Larry Bird, Red Auerbach the focus of new, unreleased clip of ‘Winning Time’

Get a glimpse of the moment in the series when the old rivalry may have been reborn in that decade.

For far too long now, the popular HBO series “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” has forced fans of the Boston Celtics to reflect on the Los Angeles-based foe the series was created to document during their heyday in the 1980s.

But Boston fans are very aware in this era the two storied clubs traded body blows as each sought to outdo the others in total title count. The second season of the series follows how the rivalry played out as the Celtics started to come on strong in the middle of the decade.

Among some of the best acting in the series to date has been Sean Patrick Small’s portrayal of Boston Hall of Famer Larry Bird and Michael Chiklis’ portrayal of his iconic general manager.

As the heels of the show, they began the series with a somewhat one-dimensional portrayal that established the heel element of Boston in the series, but as the show has progressed, the portrayal of Bird and Auerbach has grown quite nuanced.

While the general vibe evident in a clip shared recently taken from an interview of Chiklis and Small by For The Win’s Bryan Kalbrosky is not one Lakers fans will likely get ebullient over, it’s certainly worth a look while we wait for the episode to be released.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Winning Time’s Michael Chiklis and Sean Patrick Small on playing Red Auerbach and Larry Bird

The duo opened up about their characters’ mindsets and motivations in the series, and how they prepared to play such larger-than-life figures.

“Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” is on the cusp of releasing a new season of the popular series based on the Jeff Pearlman book of the same name. In a new interview from Screenrant’s Joe Deckelmeier with Michael Chiklis and Sean Patrick Small, actors playing iconic Boston Celtics general manager Red Auerbach and his superstar forward Larry Bird in the Los Angles Lakers docudrama, the two actors had plenty to say about their Celtics characters.

Set in the 1980s when the Celtics and Lakers dominated the NBA Finals, the duo opened up about their characters’ mindsets and motivations in the series, and how they prepared to play such larger-than-life figures.

Let’s take a look at some of the highlights.