J-Speaks: The Passing of a Iconic Celtics' Player, Coach And Broadcaster

 

Whether as a player, coach or broadcaster, there has been one constant in the Boston Celtics dynasty in the 1960s as well as all their 17 NBA championships they won. He had a flair and ability to connect with his teammates as a player, the players he coached and the fans he connected through his broadcast. Earlier this week, the man who became a legend in the upper northeast part of the country left them.

On Tuesday, Celtics lifer Tommy Heinsohn, who won titles with the Celtics as a player and coach and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player in 1986 and as a coach in 2015 died. He was 86 years old. Mr. Heinsohn’s wife Helen died back in 2008.

In the 51 seasons between when Mr. Heinsohn led the Celtics to their first of nine titles in a 10-year span from 1957-67, which included an NBA record to this day of eight straight NBA championships and their last title in 2008 over their hated arch rival the Los Angeles Lakers, who tied the Celtics for most NBA titles in league history with their 17^th last month, he was a constant with the C’s as a player, coach, and broadcaster.  

“This is a devastating loss,” the Boston Celtics ownership group Boston Basketball Partners of Wyc Grousbeck, H. Irving Grousbeck, Stephen Pagliuca and The Abbey Group said in a statement on Tuesday. “Tommy was the ultimate Celtics. Our group has relied hugely on Tommy’s advice and insights and have reveled in his hundreds of stories about Red Auerbach, Bill Russell, and how the Celtics became a dynasty. He will be remembered forever.”

Mr. Heinsohn was a six-time All-Star (1957, 1961-65); the 1957 Kia Rookie of the Year, a four-time All-NBA Second Team selection (1961-64); and an eight-time NBA champion. Heinsohn’s No. 15 hangs in the rafters of TD Garden along with the other 22 retired numbers by the franchise.  

After playing for the Celtics for 10 seasons (1956-65) where he amassed averages of 18.6 points and 8.8 rebounds, Heinsohn coached the Celtics for nine seasons (1969-78) compiling a 427-263 mark, making the postseason in six of his nine seasons as their leader on the sidelines, leading them to Conference Finals in five of those seasons, winning titles in 1974 and 1976.

“Tommy Heinsohn’s remarkable contributions to our game bridged generations and personified the Boston Celtics for more than six decades,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “He was synonymous with success, winning eight NBA championships in nine seasons with Boston as a player and two more as its coach, with led to his rare distinction of Hall of Fame status in both capacities. Tommy was equally renowned as an NBA broadcaster who made his mark on both the national and local stage. Celtics games will not be the same without Tommy, and he will be dearly missed by those who share his fervor for basketball. We extend our deepest sympathies to Tommy’s family, his friends and the Celtics organization.”

In the early part of the afternoon, the Celtics posted on their Twitter page @celtics a photo of Mr. Heinsohn of with in the background him as a player and head coach with the statement “We take this time to celebrate Tommy Heinsohn’s life and legacy, and to share in the sorrow of his passing with his family, friends, and fans. As long as there are Boston Celtics, Tommy’s spirit will remain alive.”

The Celtics also posted on their Twitter page a video tribute to Mr. Heinsohn that had the caption “Mr. Celtic,” that also included #ForeverGreen.

In that video tribute, Heinsohn said of being a part of the Celtics organization both a “blessing and a course.”

He added, “It’s a blessing that you are picked to be in this organization because of the history. They think you can fit in. But then the curse is that you have to deliver.”

Mr. Heinsohn did deliver, first as a player during the Celtics run in the late 1950s and then into the 1960s with the help from the likes of fellow Celtic legends and Hall of Famers in the aforementioned Mr. Russell, Bob Cousy, Sam Jones, the late great John Thompson, and John Havlicek, and the late great head coach Red Auerbach.

Heinsohn’s hard-nosed rugged playing style as a power forward, coupled with his remarkable shooting touch really fit in well with the Celtics championship puzzle.

“We were rookies together and friends for life. In life there are a limited number of true friends, today I lost one. RIP Heiny,” Mr. Russell said on his Twitter page @RealBillRussell about Mr. Heinsohn.  

Heinsohn was such an eager shooter that it prompted Mr. Cousy to say once of his former teammate, “Give Tommy credit for one thing, he never shoots without the ball.”

Fellow former teammate Frank Ramsey once said of Heinsohn when referring to his rugged style of play, “He’d knock his grandmother down for two points.”

As great of a player as Heinsohn was, it did not exclude him from tirades from Coach Auerbach.

“Red would say, ‘Tommy, you got to do this. Tommy, you got to do that. And that goes for you too Russell,’” Heinsohn recalled one time.   

Heinsohn continued the Celtics winning tradition as a head coach with the help of the previously mentioned Havlicek, fellow Hall of Famers Dave Cowens, Don Nelson, Charlie Scott, Paul Westphal, and Jo Jo White, and longtime NBA head coach Paul Silas as they won titles as mentioned in 1974 and 1976 under the watch of Heinsohn as head coach and Mr. Auerbach in the front office.  

“I was delighted when I had the opportunity to coach the Celtic team because I knew I’d be involved in the management capacity. Dealing with motivated people,” Heinsohn, who won Kia Coach of the Year in 1973 said back in 2015 when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a coach.

Mr. Heinsohn, who is just one of four people in the Hall of Fame as both a player and coach, with the late Bill Sharman, and legendary UCLA men’s basketball coach John Wooden and Lenny Wilkens being the other added, “The one thing I learned is that you’re really not the boss. What you are is helping the people get to where they want to get to.”

After his first retirement as a player, Heinsohn began his broadcasting career in 1966 as the play-by-play man for the Celtics on WKBG in 1966 after being asked by Mr. Auerbach. He spent three seasons in that role before he became the Celtics head coach.

His nearly four decades as a broadcaster began in 1981 where he joined what would be one of the longest broadcasting partnerships in NBA history with Celtics play-by-play man Mike Gorman with Mr. Heinsohn as the color analyst for 39 years, for what is now NBC Sports Boston.

For a period of time in the 1980s when the Celtics were in the championships mix, winning the Larry O’Brien trophy in 1981, 1984 and 1986 led by Hall of Famers Larry Bird, current NBATV/ NBA on TNT analyst Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and led front office man Danny Ainge, Heinsohn worked as a color analyst for CBS Sports’ NBA playoff coverage with the great Dick Stockton calling four NBA Finals from 1984 to 1987, where the Celtics were involved in three of those tilts against the Lakers, who took two of those three matchups in the 1985 and 1987. Heinsohn also called games alongside fellow broadcast legends Brent Musburger, the current radio voice of the Las Vegas Raiders of the NFL; Verne Lundquist; and current NFL on CBS studio host of their NFL coverage James Brown. Heinsohn also called NCAA men’s college hoops during March Madness from 1986-87 until 1989-90. 

NBA reporter for The New York Times Marc Stein tweeted @TheSteinLine, “Tremendous loss of a true Celtics great…and I can scarcely remember watching a CBS game without Tommy in the 1980s #RIP.”

For a nine-year period (1990-99), Heinsohn was the Celtics road play-by-play man for first WFXT (Boston 25); then for WSBK-TV (My 38); and then for WABU, which is now WBPX-TV of Ion Media Networks, where Mr. Cousy served very often as the color analyst.

During Celtics broadcast, when Mr. Heinsohn would like to point out players either on the Celtics or the opposing team that made a hustle play to give their team an edge, he would give them what he called “Tommy Points.”

One player each game that had an exceptional play and hustle would be highlighted in the postgame for the “Tommy Award.”

Former Celtic, who was a part of their last title team in 2008 and current NBA analyst for NBC Sports Boston and ESPN said on the Wednesday edition of ESPN’s “NBA: The Jump” that he used to go out there to play not to score points or to grab rebounds but to just get “Tommy Points.”

“Great guy. A legend around Boston,” Perkins said about what Heinsohn meant to the greater New England, MA area. “I’m going to miss Mr. Heinsohn, Mr. Tommy. He truly was a great figure in my life. A great role model, and the city of Boston is going to miss him. I mean, just a great guy all the way around, and a legend, and an iconic figure, especially around the New England area.”  

Along with highlighting players that made huge plays, Heinsohn brought his own unique sense of humor and an indignantly questioning of the referees when they made calls against the Celtics that appeared to be made in error.

Gorman told NBA.com back in December 2010, 30 years into their 39-year relationship as broadcast analyst for the Celtics, “Everybody 60 or over know Tommy as a player. Everybody 40 or over know Tommy as a coach. Everybody 20 or over knows Tommy as a broadcaster. And everybody 10 or under think’s he’s Shrek.”

Mr. Gorman also once pointed out about his broadcast partner, “Tommy really doesn’t do color. In his heart, he is still coaching the Celtics, and he always will be. Tommy will be coaching this team till he takes his final breath.”

In the later years of his broadcasting career, Heinsohn because of his age and health issues did not do many games alongside Mr. Gorman. Former Celtic Brian Scalabrine, the team’s studio analyst for NBC Sports Boston would be the substitute color analyst in Mr. Heinsohn’s absence at home games and would be the team’s color analyst for all road games. Scalabrine began taking on that role back in the 2012-13 NBA season for the C’s and became the full-time road color commentator for the Celtics two seasons later. Heinsohn became the team’s studio analyst during Celtics broadcasts.

When Mr. Heinsohn took his last breath, it brought tears and sadness not just to the Celtics community but the entire NBA community as well.

Celtics forward Jaylen Brown said on his Twitter page @FCHWPO, “RIP Tommy Heinsohn you were joy to listen to and learn from my heart is heavy today.”

Mr. Gorman said on his Twitter page @celticsvoice, “Roughly 2,800 times I sat down with Tommy to broadcast a game. Every time it was special. HOF player...HOF coach…HOF partner. Celtics Nation has lost its finest voice. Rest in Peace my friend. It has been the privilege of my professional life to be the Mike in Mike & Tommy.”

Celtics current head coach Brad Stevens said @BCCoachStevens, “Rest in Peace, Tommy. You have meant so much to the six decades of Celtics’ fans that you shared the game with as a HOFer in every facet…An Incredible person, teammate and mentor.”

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said @SteveKerr “R.I.P. Tom Heinsohn, NBA legend. For me I will always think of him as the color analyst on CBS’s NBA coverage during the 80’s, but his contributions throughout his career were too many to count.”

Hall of Famer, Celtics nemesis in the 1980s and two-time NBA champion Isiah Thomas, now a fellow analyst along with McHale at NBATV tweeted @isiahtomas, “Damn RIP Tommy Heinsohn!!! “The Little guy” that’s the nickname he gave me. Will miss his voice and everything he brought to the game especially Celtics basketball.”

On Tuesday’s edition of ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption” co-host Michael Wilbon, a longtime sports writer for The Washington Post that when he began his career he would cover a lot of Celtics games when the then Washington Bullets (now Wizards) when they played at the old Boston Garden he would go into the press room and Mr. Heinsohn would be holding court with the other reporters.

The first time that Wilbon said of witnessing Mr. Heinsohn have this kind of engaging conversation with others, “Oh my God. What’s better than listening to Tommy Heinsohn. And I’m not saying we became friends, but he was great to me,” Wilbon said.

He added, “I listen to this. This came as a shock and a downer to me to hear Tommy Heinsohn, one of the great figures in the history of basketball in America is gone.”

To put into perspective the kind of impact Mr. Heinsohn had on the basketball world, the National Basketball Players Association called him one of its “founding fathers,” saying it would not be here “without his commitment and passion for players’ rights and for that we are forever grateful.”

“Not only did Tommy have an incredible career in the NBA as a player, coach and broadcaster, but closer to our home, he was instrumental in creating our union, taking the baton from his friend and teammate Bob Cousy and serving as our President from 1958-66.”

“Tommy was truly a pioneer in player empowerment, championing the notion of free agency at a time when it was highly controversial and unpopular, and fighting to create our NBA Players’ Pension Plan, under which generations of players have thrived.”

Born Thomas William Heinsohn on Aug. 26, 1934 in Jersey City, NJ, the Celtics icon began his basketball journey in sixth grade at St. Michael’s High School in nearby Union City, NJ.

Heinsohn after graduating from St. Michael’s accepted a scholarship to the College of Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, where he would go on to become the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,789 points on an average of 22.1 points. In his senior year, Mr. Heinsohn registered a Crusaders single-game record 51 points in a game against the Boston College Eagles.

In 1956, the Celtics selected Heinsohn as their ‘regional’ or ‘territorial’ draft pick and the rest is history, a 60-year history with the franchise first as a player, then coach, and ended as a broadcaster.

On Tuesday, the Boston Celtics, the Massachusetts area, and the basketball world as a whole said goodbye to a real treasure. A man who for six decades of his life made his mark with one of the greatest franchises in the history of professional sports. Thomas William Heinsohn was an incredible, player, coach, and finally a broadcaster for the C’s.

More than anything he was a person that made an impact on the teammates he had, the players he coached and the people he worked with broadcasting games for the Celtics and during his time in the 1980s for CBS Sports covering the NBA and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Perhaps his biggest impact is that it was all about making the game better where players, coaches, and fans can thrive and the game can grow to entertain those that watched and give those that want to be a part of the game whether on the hardwood or behind the scenes can do so and make a living to where it is a joy to come to the gym and make magic happen.

“You know, what it meant to me was I had so much fun,” Heinsohn said about being with the Celtics as a player and a coach. “I was doing something that I loved to do. And if you’re a person who enjoys what you’re doing, life is fun. It’s never working.”

“When you’re with a group of people that know how to win, it’s really fun because everybody’s involved with the effort and the result. Not their own personal gain.”

Information, statistics, and quotation are courtesy of 11/10/2020 3 p.m. “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN with Rachel Nichols, Amin Elhassan, and Richard Jefferson; 11/10/2020 5:30 p.m. “Pardon the Interruption,” on ESPN with Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wibon; 11/11/2020 3 p.m. “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN with Rachel Nichols, Kendrick Perkins, Chiney Ogwumike, and Zach Lowe; 11/10/2020 and 11/11/2020 ESPN news crawl; 11/20/2020 www.nba.com story, “Tom Heinsohn’s Legendary NBA Career Spanned Decades,” by Steve Aschburner; 11/10/2020 www.nba.com story, “Celtics Legend Tom Heinsohn Dies at 86;” pages 11, 626, 628, 642, and 644 of Sporting News’ “Official 2006-07 NBA Guide;” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Celtics; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Basketball_Partners; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WFXT; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WSBK-TV; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WBPX-TV.