Fans that are under 50 (or so) won't remember this but, in their first world championship season it was Bob Cousy who was the MVP of the NBA. He was known as the heart and soul of the Celtics and for good reason. He made Red Auerbach's fast break work but that was only a small part of it.
"He was responsible for the Celtics being in Boston," said Walter Brown," owner and founder of the Celtics. In 1950, Cousy's rookie season, the NBA (as well as college basketball which was THE big sport in America) was in serious trouble. The gambling scandal in college rocked the country and the NBA was losing many teams to financial problems. Attendance was so low I was going to be forced to either sell the team (improbable) or move them to another city. Also improbable."
"Cousy, who had already made a reputation at Holy Cross, was an oddity to the fans and they started to come out in large numbers to see if he could really do all those magical things on the court that sports reporters were raving about in their columns all over the country," said Brown. Attendance went up over 50% in Boston. If not for that I would not have been able to meet payroll for the 1951 season having already been up to my neck in debt for the past losing seasons. The Boston Celtics would have folded. To show you how important he was to the entire future of the NBA let me tell you that attendance in EVERY city we played in went up over 50% as fans flocked in to see, the man the press called, "the Wizard of the hard court." That quickly changed to MR. BASKETBALL as the legend continued," added Brown.
His teammate, Tommy Heinsohn , said, "He had the same affect on basketball that Babe Ruth had on baseball after the "Black Sox Scandal" in 1919. Babe, with all his home runs brought fans to the parks to see Babe's great home run power. Basketball fans did the same to see Bob Cousy perform his magic on the basketball court. Cousy actually invented all these moves you see today but he did it in the context of the game and not just to showboat."
Cousy says, "I never tried anything fancy on the court just to be a "hotdog." It was only about 10% of my game and then only in the context of the game like dribbling out the clock or behind the back passes that couldn't have been accomplished any other way."
So you see, as Walter Brown stated, "If not for Bob Cousy I would have had to fold the team. There would not have been any Boston Celtics for Bill Russell, (or Larry Bird) to play for and Boston never would have seen all those world championship teams."
If you think this story is far fetched look it up yourself. A few years ago Tommy Heinsohn told me a story about working with a 22 year old ESPN intern. As they pieced together some film clips that showed Cousy doing his magic in a basketball game the kid said, "Holy Cow, could he really DO all those things?" Tommy just smiled and said, "All that and then some. Keep watching and learn."
Yes, Bill Russel deserves to have a statue in Boston but the man who saved the Boston Celtics AND the entire NBA in 1950, BOB COUSY, certainly deserves the same.
Pass this story around to your friends and, please, send in any comments you may have. We, as a country, seem to be losing our heritage because of a lack of American History in our schools. Let's try to preserve our sports legacy through stories like this. I'll have many more such stories about ALL our other American sports. You'll be surprised....Stay tuned.....