Red Auerbach Memorial Page
The passing of Celtics patriarch Red Auerbach has left many of us looking back at his long and full life. We have created this page in order to give readers and writers alike the opportunity to share their thoughts, and the thoughts of others, in one central location.
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Biography
Arnold "Red" Auerbach was one of the most well-known coach-executives in basketball history, and one of the most successful coaches in the history of North American professional sports. As coach of the NBA's Boston Celtics from 1950 to 1966, he not only won eight straight titles - a record in North American professional sports - but he helped to create the National Basketball Association. When he took the team over in 1950, he built a fanbase for the bankrupt Celtics by barnstorming all over New England, making basketball a cornerstone of New England sports. He would eventually win 938 regular-season games and nine titles as Head Coach.
As an executive, Auerbach continued to be directly involved in the Celtics franchise. He was notorious as a dealmaker in the NBA, doing whatever he could to get the best players for the Celtics. In that sense, he was loved and loathed in much the same way as current Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. In many ways, Auerbach was a polarizing figure, but he contributed a great deal to basketball and the NBA.
Auerbach was also a pioneer in race relations - but it was more incidental than anything else. He cared so much about winning that everything else was irrelevant; he was color-blind in an era when racial bigotry was the norm. As such, Auerbach selected Chuck Cooper was the first African-American player in the NBA, and fielded the first all African-American starting lineup in the NBA in 1963-64: Bill Russell, K.C. Jones, Tom Sanders, Sam Jones, and Willie Naulls. Moreover, when Auerbach named Russell as his successor as head coach in 1966, he hired the first African-American coach of a major-level professional American team.
Auerbach's legacy is diverse, controversial, and colorful, but the enormous impact he made on the NBA and basketball - even professional sports in general - is inarguable.
Quotes
From Red
“The only correct actions are those that demand no explanation and no apology.”
“Just do what you do best.”
“Basketball is like war in that offensive weapons are developed first, and it always takes a while for the defense to catch up.”
“Phil [Jackson] is obviously a good coach. You don't win that many games without being a damn good coach...Remember one thing: He's been very fortunate. He picks his spots. That's all I can say.”
"I can't stand a ballplayer who plays in fear."
"To be a successful coach you should be and look prepared. You must be a man of integrity. Never break your word. Don't have two sets of standards. Remember you don't handle players--you handle pets. You deal with players. Stand up for your players. Show them you care--on and off the court. Very important--it's not 'how' or 'what' you say but what they absorb."
"The Boston Celtics are not a basketball team, they are a way of life."
About Red
"I never knew anyone who played for Red who didn't like him...Of course, I never knew anyone who played against him who did like him." - Bill Russell
"The Yankees won 25 championships. What did it take them, a hundred years? Red won nine in 10. He was the best coach in the history of professional sports. Period." - Bill Russell
"He's the greatest manager of men, in all walks of life." - John Thompson
"He had a touch with people and could get them committed to what he was doing. He made the Celtics into basketball's Cosa Nostra. We believed it was our thing." - Tommy Heinsohn
"He always let me know that more than anybody else, he knew what I was doing. I really loved working with him. It was almost like we were soul mates." - Bill Russell
"He's the Godfather of the Celtics." - John Havlicek
"[Red] knew how to judge talent, he knew how to acquire it, and he knew how to motivate it." - Bob Cousy
"The world thought he was tough and mean and gruff and all that - and underneath he was really a pussycat, if you knew him well. He'd be mad at me if he knew I said that." - Bob Cousy
"This is not the passing of a man, it's the passing of an institution." - M.L. Carr
"I have a lot of fun and fond memories of Red from early in my career. I don't think there's a legend who was as beloved as Red is in Boston." - Danny Ainge
"I remember the first time I came here, playing in his golf classic. And I sat down and talked to him for about an hour. I was just thinking, 'Red Auerbach is taking time to sit down and talk to me, a rookie who's unproven and hasn't done anything in the NBA. I thought that was something special. I'll remember that for the rest of my life." - Paul Pierce
"He had a great run. He fooled us into thinking it would never end." - NBA Commissioner David Stern
"Red Auerbach was known best for his extraordinary success as an NBA head coach, but his leadership and passion had a profound impact away from the court. Beyond his incomparable achievements, Red had come to be our basketball soul and our basketball conscience. The void left by his death will never be filled. The NBA family extends its sympathy to his daughters Nancy and Randy, and Red's entire family." - NBA Commissioner David Stern's official statement
Articles
Boston Globe:
Other Sources:
- Washington Post Article
- NY Times (Registration Req'd)
- The Onion: NBA To Honor Red By Playing Defense
