Arnold "Red" Auerbach, who coached the Boston Celtics to nine NBA championships and oversaw six more titles as an executive, died on Saturday in the Washington, D.C. area, the Celtics announced.
Auerbach, 89, died of a heart attack, according to an NBA official, who didn't want to be identified.
Red Auerbach, seen here with Celtics' forward Paul Pierce, passed away on Saturday at the age of 89.
(Charles Krupa/Associated Press)
Auerbach was one of the game's great winners, leading Boston to eight straight NBA titles from 1959-66 and nine overall. Only current L.A. Lakers coach Phil Jackson can match that trophy haul.
"He is the godfather of all the Celtics," former player and coach Chris Ford said.
Auerbach also was one of the game's great personalities: His practice of lighting up a cigar on the bench when he believed the Celtics had a win in hand became his calling card.
He was the most successful coach in the NBA, winning 938 regular season and 99 playoff games, until Lenny Wilkens overtook him in the 1994-95 season. He was also an innovator, getting the early Celtics to play a fast-break offence led by point guard Bob Cousy.
"I believe he was responsible for making the NBA as popular as it is today by introducing the fast break and making the game more exciting," said Bill Sharman, who played for Auerbach in Boston and went on to become coach and general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers. "He was a coach who went out of his way to help his players and it was a privilege to play for him for 10 years and win four championships together.
"Besides being such a great coach, he was also a great friend and he will be truly missed."
Shrewd manoeuvres
Auerbach cemented his legacy as a winner when he drafted centre Bill Russell in 1957 and installed him as the defensive linchpin of his great Celtics teams.
"Nobody has had as much impact on a sport as Red Auerbach had on the game of basketball. He was a pioneer of the NBA," said Tommy Heinsohn, a Hall of Fame player in Boston before becoming a Celtics coach and broadcaster. "He left his philosophy of winning championships, playing hard and playing as a team with several generations of players. …The game of basketball will never see anyone else like him."
When Auerbach left coaching to move into management, he kept the winning tradition alive: Boston won seven more titles in the 1970s and 1980s.
As an executive, Auerbach was known for his shrewd manoeuvres.
He drafted Larry Bird with the sixth pick of the 1978 draft, even though Bird still had a year of college eligibility left, outfoxing his contemporaries by taking advantage of a loophole in the rules. Though underclassmen were not at the time eligible to be drafted, Bird was technically a senior after missing a year to transfer to Indiana State from Indiana.
In 1980 Auerbach almost topped himself, trading Joe Barry Carroll and Rickey Brown to Golden State for centre Robert Parrish and the third pick in the draft, which he used bring Kevin McHale to the Celtics. Bird, Parrish and McHale all became Hall of Famers and led Boston to three titles in the 1980s.
Auerbach began his NBA coaching career with the Washington Capitols in 1947 before moving to the Tri-Cities Blackhawks for one season in 1950 and finally joining the Celtics.
He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1969, the year he quit coaching.
Auerbach is survived by two daughters, a granddaughter and three great-grandchildren.
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