Bill Simmons, of ESPN.com, wrote a loving obituary-type article when Red Auerbach passed away recently. I had heard of Red but did not know much about him, except for some of the major details of his accomplishments as an NBA coach and General Manager of the Boston Celtics.
As BD will no doubt attest, Simmons writes so well that you feel you know almost as much about Red as you would by reading a complete biography of his.
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Red Auerbach was a Boston institution and one of the early pillars of the NBA.
He presided over its heyday as the coach with the perpetual cigar in his mouth in the old Boston Gardens, and then saw the move to the new Fleet Center (now TD BankNorth Gardens thanks to a slew of acquisitions) also mark the rapid decline of his team under the stewardship of ML Carr.
Red's last executive decision as the Celtics president was to bring on Rick Pitino as the coach. Rick proceeded to accelerate the descent of the Celtics into oblivion and, mercifully for Red, ushered the old man into an unwanted retirement.
Having hammered the last nail in the coffin of a great franchise, Pitino moved on to destroy college basketball with his designer Armanis. Meanwhile Red retired to the Washington DC area, secure in the knowledge that his legacy would be hard to emulate.
Red Auerbach built successive generations of winners in Boston. His finest moment as a human being was probably when he elevated the great Bill Russell to being the player-coach of the Celtics.
The beautiful city by the River Charles was not always as race-friendly as it is now. I am sure Red's elevation of Bill Russell to this position was a key watershed moment in the evolution of the place into my favorite one in the US.
Thank you, Red, you will be thought of by all associated with New England.
- Buck
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