Hall of Famer was ‘the ultimate Celtic’
BOSTON — Tommy Heinsohn, who as a Boston Celtics player, coach and broadcaster over more than 60 years was with the team for all 17 of its NBA championships, died Tuesday. He was 86.
“This is a devastating loss,” the team’s owners said in a statement. “Tommy was the ultimate Celtic. For the past 18 years, our ownership 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.”
A Holy Cross product who was a territorial draft pick by the Celtics in 1956, Heinsohn beat out teammate Russell for the NBA’s rookie of the year award that season and tallied 39 points with 23 rebounds in Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the St. Louis Hawks.
It was the franchise’s first title — and the first of eight in nine years for Heinsohn and Russell. Heinsohn was the team’s leading scorer in four of the championship seasons.
Heinsohn retired in 1965 and remained with the team as a broadcaster. Celtics patriarch Auerbach tabbed him to be the coach in 1969, succeeding Russell.
Heinsohn was the NBA coach of the year in 1973, when the team won a then-record 68 games. The Celtics added championships in 1974 and ’76. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 1986 and as a coach in 2015, just the fourth person elected as both.
Shortly after retiring as a coach in 1979, he rejoined the team’s broadcasts, where his unapologetic homerism has endeared him to Celtics fans ever since.
“It’s hard to imagine the Boston Celtics without Tommy Heinsohn,” the team said in a statement. “There isn’t a generation of Celtics fans for whom Tommy’s presence hasn’t been felt. He
is the only person to be an active participant in each of the Celtics’ 17 world championships, an extraordinary and singular legacy.”
It extended beyond basketball to business. The National Basketball Players Association called Heinsohn 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.”
Younger generations of fans came to love him through his commentary, whether calling it straight for CBS while working the NBA Finals in the 1980s, or with his Celtics bias sprinkled in during his years alongside Mike Gorman for local coverage.
“Roughly 2800 times I sat down with Tommy to broadcast a game. Every time it was special,” Gorman wrote on Twitter. “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.”