If someone had to name one person who is synonymous with the Boston Celtics, it is Arnold Jacob “Red” Auerbach, who lived a long and unbelievable life. There is a reason that the TD Garden hardwood is known as the “Red Auerbach Parquet Floor.” He was the quintessential Celtics head coach and executive. He was a very important part of the franchise’s first 16 NBA championships and was an inspiration for the basketball operations team that led the Celtics to banner no. 17 in 2008. At the time, the Celtics had the most championships in NBA history.
So, how did Red Auerbach make his way to the National Basketball Association? It all began with him playing basketball in New York. Auerbach grew up in Brooklyn, and he played some impressive basketball at the guard position, which helped him receive a scholarship to play for George Washington University. After graduating from college, he did not become an NBA coach immediately. He coached high school basketball and then became the head coach for the Navy after joining the United States naval forces.
Afterward, Auerbach made it to the professional ranks. The Washington Capitols — not to be confused with the NHL’s Washington Capitals — hired Auerbach, who coached the team for three years, including its inaugural 1946-47 season. He led them to a strong 115-53 (.685) regular-season record and made the playoffs each of the three years, but Auerbach did not win a championship. After a disagreement with management in terms of how to retool the squad, Auerbach moved to the college ranks, as the assistant coach for the Duke Blue Devils men’s basketball team.
Auerbach’s next stop was the impressively-named Tri-Cities Blackhawks, an NBA franchise that gave the keys to the future Hall of Fame coach. Auerbach overhauled the team early in the season and improved the roster. However, the Blackhawks finished with a 28-29 regular-season record and lost in the first round of the playoffs. After just one season, Auerbach left the Tri-Cities franchise due to the owner trading away John Mahnken, who was the head coach’s favorite player.
Celtics fans must be very thankful for both the Capitols — a defunct franchise — and the Blackhawks — who are now known as the Atlanta Hawks — for not working well with Auerbach because his exits from those teams led to arguably the most important move in Celtics history: Auerbach taking over the Celtics head coaching role from Alvin Julian, who had a 47-81 (.367) record with Boston. Julian had an interesting coaching history, as he was the college head coach for future Celtics legend Bob Cousy at the College of the Holy Cross. Auerbach would end up coaching Cousy in the pros, but that story will come later.
Red Auerbach, the legendary NBA coach, general manager, vice chairman, and president, is the centerpiece of Celtics history, so let us take a look at how he impacted the franchise forever.
Auerbach, the Boston Celtics Head Coach
Red Auerbach had gotten his feet wet with professional basketball, but could he turn around a Celtics franchise that did not have a winning percentage over .417 in its first four years of existence? The answer became a resounding yes. Interestingly though, he did not win his first NBA championship — and the first title for the Celtics — until 1957. How did Auerbach bring the Celtics from being one of the league’s worst teams to a perennial championship contender? Let us begin with the 1950-51 season, his first of more than 50 years with Boston.
Red Auerbach – The Early 1950s
Red Auerbach elected to not select Bob Cousy in the 1950 NBA draft with the second overall pick. Instead, he decided to go with Chuck Share in the first round, and then, Auerbach picked Chuck Cooper, and Bob Donham to finish up the first three rounds. Notably, Cooper became the first black player to be drafted in the NBA and would play six seasons in the league. In 2019, the Celtics forward was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. Unfortunately, he did not win a championship, but his legacy lives on in the league.
Now let us get back to one of the most important players in Celtics history, and how he and Auerbach made the Celtics into a dynasty. Cousy had an odd journey to Boston, as he decided to not play for the Blackhawks, who drafted him with the fourth pick in 1950. Then after the Chicago Stags folded, the “Houdini of the Hardwood” — Auerbach’s nickname for the future Hall of Fame point guard — came to Boston.
Auerbach and Cousy, a 13-time all-star, would win six rings together, but those would not come for a while. Auerbach saw George Mikan’s Minneapolis Lakers win NBA championships in 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, and 1954. Then in 1955, the Celtics fell in the playoffs to the eventual NBA champion Syracuse Nationals, who would become the Philadelphia 76ers down the road. Unfortunately, the 1956 Celtics playoff run also ended against the Nationals.
Red Auerbach – The First Championship
Then in the 1956-57 season, the Celtics and their league-best offense, powered by the fast break, finished with the NBA’s best record by six games. Boston finally broke through in the postseason and powered right through the first round. The Celtics completed a three-game sweep of Syracuse in the Eastern Division Finals. They then took on the St. Louis Hawks in the 1957 NBA Finals, which was full of Hall of Famers.
The Celtics centered around Cousy, rookies Bill Russell and Tommy Heinsohn, second-year small forward Jim Loscutoff, and Bill Sharman, whom Red Auerbach had acquired via trade in 1951. Multiple games in the 1957 Finals went to double overtime, and the second of which was a Game 7 Celtics victory in a roller-coaster series.
Red Auerbach – The Dynasty
Red Auerbach and his team had won the NBA championship for the first time. With that title, Auerbach showed that he knew how to build a successful team. He acquired Russell via trade during the 1956 draft and drafted Heinsohn — another basketball wonder from the College of the Holy Cross — as a territorial pick. Boston also drafted K.C. Jones in the second round. In Jones’ nine NBA seasons — all of which came with the Celtics — he won a whopping eight NBA championships. From 1959 to 1966, the Celtics were the champions every single year.
Red Auerbach – The Victory Cigar
On April 28, 1966, the Celtics continued to cement their dynasty with their eighth straight title. Red Auerbach had just won nine NBA championships in the last 10 years. The beloved cigar smoker coined victories by lighting up a cigar, and he won so much that it had basically become a trademark in Boston. Near the conclusion of the 1966 postseason, Auerbach named Bill Russell the Celtics head coach for the following season. By appointing Russell as an NBA coach, Auerbach made the future Hall of Fame center the first black head coach in American professional sports history. Thus, Auerbach moved into a different role with Boston, and the league then named the Coach of the Year award the “Red Auerbach Trophy.”
Auerbach, the Boston Celtics Executive
Bill Russell, who now became the player-coach for the Celtics, won two championships (1968 and 1969) for executive Red Auerbach, as Celtics draft picks Sam Jones (1957) and John Havlicek (1962) helped Russell take down the Los Angeles Lakers in back-to-back Finals. Bailey Howell, whom Auerbach acquired during the 1966 offseason, averaged at least 15 points and 6.6 rebounds in each of the two aforementioned postseasons. It was another genius move by Auerbach, who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1969.
Red Auerbach – The 1970s Championships
Unfortunately, that marked the last time the Celtics won back-to-back championships. Impressive draft picks like Jo Jo White (1969) and Dave Cowens (1970) kept the Celtics in title contention though. In 1970, Red Auerbach also took on the title of team president. The 1970s Celtics collected two championships, bringing Auerbach’s total to 13 titles.
Red Auerbach – The Celtics’ Big Three
Next up was the Celtics’ “Big Three” era. Larry Bird, whom Red Auerbach drafted in 1978, got his running mates in 1980, as the Celtics acquired Robert Parish and drafted Kevin McHale. The Big Three were born, and they immediately brought a championship back to Boston, as the Celtics won for the first time in five years. Then in the NBA Finals, 1977 draft pick Cedric Maxwell captured the Finals MVP award at the conclusion of the six-game series victory against the Houston Rockets.
Also in 1980, the Professional Basketball Writers Association of America named Auerbach the greatest coach in the history of the league. Danny Ainge, whom Auerbach drafted in 1981, was inspired by the Celtics executive. He later would become the Celtics president of basketball operations and establish Boston’s second edition of the Big Three: Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett. Ainge utilized multiple trades to bring in Allen and Garnett, and they raised the championship banner with head coach Glenn “Doc” Rivers, who was a part of a Hawks team in the 1980s that challenged the Celtics.
Before we talk about the Celtics’ 17th banner, let us wrap up the stories behind the strong Celtics teams that played more than two decades prior. With former player K.C. Jones stepping into the role as a professional basketball coach for the Celtics, he brought in a title in 1984, as Boston took down the Lakers. Larry Bird, who set another career-high in points with 24.2 that season, was the regular-season MVP and the Finals MVP.
Now at 15 championships, the Celtics franchise found another way to honor their mastermind. At the Boston Garden, the Celtics retired a jersey in honor of former head coach and current Celtics executive Red Auerbach, as they gave him the No. 2 jersey.
Auerbach’s Last Championship
With Red Auerbach’s jersey in the rafters, the 1985-86 Celtics swept Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls and then took down the Hawks, who had Dominique Wilkins, Randy Wittman, Kevin Willis, and Doc Rivers, in six games. The Celtics swept the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals. Boston then went on to beat the Rockets yet again in six games, as perennial all-star Larry Bird won another Finals MVP and made it three straight years as the league MVP. Auerbach padded his Basketball Hall of Fame resume, and he will be forever known for having 16 titles, which will be a record that most likely will never be broken in NBA history.
Red Auerbach – A Stroke of Bad Luck
The 1986 championship would, unfortunately, end up closing the book on Red Auerbach’s titles, but his career as an NBA executive did not end there. He then made what seemed to be some great draft picks. In 1986, Auerbach drafted Maryland small forward Len Bias as the No. 2 overall pick. Unfortunately, Bias, the 1986 ACC Athlete of the Year, passed away just two days after being drafted. Then, after a loss to the Lakers in the 1987 Finals, the Celtics selected Reggie Lewis with the 22nd overall pick. He played six seasons and made his first All-Star Game in 1992. Then, tragedy struck again, as Lewis died in 1993. The two draft picks were separated by one year in terms of when the Celtics selected them, and both saw their lives end much too early.
Auerbach’s Legacy Will Live On with the Celtics
The Celtics went from being a championship contender to falling on some hard times. From 1988 to 2007, the Celtics did not make a Finals, and they were losing ground in terms of NBA history. They went through the Rick Pitino era, which set the franchise back at least a few years.
However, Doc Rivers oversaw Ainge’s rebuild, and finally, the 2008 Celtics were NBA champions. Ainge — of course, with Red Auerbach in mind — created the “new” Big Three of Pierce, Allen, and Garnett, which brought the NBA into a new era. This era created new dynasties like the Miami Heat’s trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh as well as the Golden State Warriors, who added Kevin Durant to the Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green ensemble.
Red Auerbach – Net Worth
NBA Hall of Fame coach Red Auerbach had a successful career during his time in the NBA. His estimated net worth is between $1 and $5 million. He is best remembered for his successful tenure as head coach of the Boston Celtics and as the team’s general manager.
What is Red Auerbach known for?
Who knew that a guard from George Washington University would become one of the most important parts of basketball history? Auerbach led so many championship Boston Celtics teams. He laid the groundwork for basketball. The NBA — and of course, the Celtics franchise — is better because of Auerbach. He turned the Celtics into winners, and he produced a seemingly unlimited number of Hall of Famers. Will there ever be someone like Red Auerbach again?
Was Red Auerbach a good coach?
With 30 teams now in the league and a modern salary cap that limits how teams spend money, there may never be a basketball maven like Auerbach. His legacy is one that may never be duplicated. Auerbach is one of the best ever in NBA history. He made his mark on the league, and he will always be remembered.
What is the Red Auerbach award?
In 1972-73, Tommy Heinsohn won the Celtics’ first Red Auerbach Coach of the Year award since the award was named after the Hall of Fame coach. Celtics coach Bill Fitch would take home the trophy as well in 1979-80.
How did Red Auerbach get his nickname?
Auerbach was known for his red hair, blazing temper, and love of cigars, and those traits led to him being given the nickname “Red.” Auerbach’s red hair was actually more of auburn color, but it was vibrant and caught people’s attention. His temper was also legendary, and he would often light up a cigar while on the sideline to help calm himself down.
