Today in Boston Celtics history, Hall of Fame Boston forward Tommy Heinsohn was born in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Today in Boston Celtics history, Hall of Fame Boston forward Tommy Heinsohn was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1934. Heinsohn was an All-American who played his NCAA basketball at Holy Cross and was drafted with a territorial pick (this kind of pick no longer exists, but was developed to keep talents in the region they went to college in) in the 1957 NBA Draft by the Celtics.
Heinsohn was named Rookie of the Year in a draft cohort with teammate Bill Russell, and, with his help, won a title that season. He won another seven in his time as a player with Boston, while being elected to six All-Star games and four All-NBA teams. After transitioning to the other side of the clipboard with the Celtics, Heinsohn won two more titles as Boston's head coach. The Celtics legend remained involved with the team as a color commentator until his death in 2020, working with announcer Mike Gorman for 40 seasons.
He is the only person to have been involved with the team in some capacity for the first 17 of the Celtics' titles.
It is also the date of a league-wide strike sparked by the shooting of Jacob Blake by police in 2020. The Milwaukee Bucks sparked the work stoppage in protest of the violence, and the rest of the league quickly followed suit.
Soon after, WNBA and Major League Baseball teams joined in, and for one day all three sports had games rescheduled.
This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Celtics history: Player, coach, commentator Tommy Heinsohn born, '20 NBA strike
Category: Basketball
