Red Auerbach Dies at 89

After the Celtics beat the Lakers in overtime to win the NBA championship in 1966, Auerbach retired after 16 years as coach. As his surprise successor, he named Russell, who became the first black coach in NBA history. After a one-year lapse, the Celtics won the NBA title in 1968 and 1969 under Russell.

One reason Auerbach retired at the age of 48 was that he had grown weary of the burden that came with being the combative coach of a dynastic team. Everywhere the Celtics played, opposing players and fans provoked the team with insults and rough play.

"At the end of Red's career as a coach, it got real bad," Havlicek told The Washington Post. "Guys would come out and spit at him. I remember a guy spit on him and Red blasted him. He broke the guy's glasses and knocked his tooth out. . . . Red was taking abuse everywhere he went. He needed police escorts."

During his 17 years as coach, Auerbach had complete control of the Celtics both on and off the court. He never had an assistant. (Modern NBA teams often have as many as six assistant coaches.) He was general manager and scout; he drafted players and made trades; and he led the team's short but exhausting practice sessions, which seldom lasted more than 45 minutes or an hour.

Besides the fast-break running game, Auerbach installed a simplified offense with only seven basic plays, each with several options. In 1957, he began to use Ramsey as his "sixth man," a tactic that reached its apotheosis with Havlicek in the 1960s. His greatest strength lay in his ability to motivate his players, through fear if necessary, and by appealing to their personal pride.

"He yelled at the top of his lungs for the guys he thought needed it or could take it," Havlicek said, "and in a regular, calm voice for others. He gave everyone the confidence they needed to do it year after year."

His only rule was that a player could not eat pancakes on the day of a game.

Auerbach put little stock in statistics, believed cheerleaders had no place in professional sports and always found ways to blend the disparate talents of his players into a cohesive, well-rounded unit. During their championship run, the Celtics seldom had any players in the top 10 in scoring in the league.

"Our pride was never rooted in statistics," Auerbach wrote in his autobiography. "Our pride was in our identity as the Boston Celtics."

Rebuilding a Dynasty

After his retirement as coach, Auerbach still remained in control of the Celtics, directing the personnel moves, drafts and trades. He hired and fired coaches and, in the late 1970s, practically forced the dismissal of the team's principal owner, John Y. Brown, by threatening to join the rival New York Knicks. Brown sold his share of the team and later became governor of Kentucky.

In one of his smartest moves, Auerbach drafted Bird, an Indiana State University star, in 1978, a year before he left college. Auerbach knew that Bird was eligible for the draft because he had spent part of a year at another university. Bird joined the Celtics in 1979.

Auerbach also engineered trades that brought Robert Parish and Kevin McHale to Boston. Together with Bird, they formed the core of the Celtics teams that won NBA championships in 1981, 1984 and 1986.