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RIP Red Auerbach

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Wikipedia

Red Auerbach




Red Auerbach speaks after being honored with the 2006 Lone Sailor Award


Arnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach (September 20, 1917 ?- October 28, 2006) was the president of the NBA's Boston Celtics, and was its coach from 1950 to 1966, including a stretch from 1959 to 1966 when the Celtics won eight straight NBA championships. Prior to coaching the Celtics, Auerbach coached the now-defunct Washington Capitols to two division titles in 1947 and 1949. The 1947 team's 0.817 winning percentage remained the NBA's highest for the next 20 years. In the 1949-50 season, he coached the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. During his twenty years as a coach, he won 938 regular season games, a record that would stand until Lenny Wilkens broke it in the 1994-95 season. Auerbach is tied with Phil Jackson for the most NBA championship rings as a coach with nine. He also won the NBA Executive of the Year award with the Celtics in the 1979-1980 season. Auerbach remained to his death the best-known NBA executive, and was named the greatest coach in the history of the NBA by the Professional Basketball Writers Association of America in 1980. Prior to coaching in the NBA, Auerbach was an assistant coach at Duke University.
Prior to his death, Red Auerbach was still working with youngsters, coaching at the Red Auerbach Basketball School. He was also the chairman of the Red Auerbach Youth Foundation.
Red Auerbach is an alumnus of George Washington University. For several years, the GW Men's Basketball team hosted and participated in the Red Auerbach Classic, going undefeated and winning the championship each year that it was held.
In recent years, Auerbach had been in and out of hospitals for unspecified health problems (Auerbach's family has requested that information on his condition not be released). In the summer of 2005, he was unable to attend his own basketball camp and in September, he was hospitalized again, but was released from the hospital in October.
Auerbach passed away on October 28, 2006 at the age of 89.
 
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RIP Red

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Man, I hated it every time he lit up one of his "victory cigars" on the sideline.

He did a helluva job for the Celtics for a long time.
 
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Being a Boston Celtics fan and watching the Celtics since the early 80's, I know how much he meant to the city of Boston and the game of basketball, the game just lost a legend.

God Bless.

Dispatch

Legendary Celtics coach Auerbach dead at age 89

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Sam Smith
THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE




The cigar has gone out. But the flame of Red Auerbach, who brightened and illuminated the NBA for 57 years, will never be extinguished.
Auerbach, the greatest non-playing figure in professional basketball annals and likely the most successful coach and team executive in NBA history, died yesterday at 89.
An NBA official said Auerbach died of a heart attack near his home in Washington. His death was announced by the Boston Celtics.
Tributes poured in from the sports world for the feisty, competitive Hall of Fame coach and general manager, who went 938-479 primarily coaching the Celtics and building championship teams for four decades. He was the winningest coach in NBA history until Lenny Wilkens overtook him in the 1994-95 season.
"Red Auerbach was the consummate teacher, leader, and a true pioneer of the sport of basketball," commissioner David Stern said. "The NBA wouldn’t be what it is today without him."
Known as much for his familiar cigar, Auerbach was a solid, fundamental coach and brilliant talent evaluator. But he was also an innovator and visionary who popularized the sixth-man role, played the first all-black starting team in major pro sports and hired the first black coach in longtime star Bill Russell.
Cocky and confident and rarely afraid to voice his opinion, Auerbach still was the Celtics’ president at the time of his death.
With players such as Bob Cousy and Russell, Auerbach drove his Celtics to dynasties seldom imagined in professional sports and likely never to be repeated. He guided the Celtics to 16 championships in all as coach and GM.
He coached the Celtics to nine NBA titles in 10 years — including eight straight from 1959 through 1966. Then he turned the team over to Russell, who won two more as player-coach with Auerbach’s players. Through shrewd deals and foresight he became the architect of Celtics teams that won five more championships in the 1970s and 1980s with players such as Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Dave Cowens.
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Sunday, October 29, 2006
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