RIP Tommy Heinsohn

[Kdo5]

RIP Tommy. Definition of bleeding green,

 

[ViperGTS]

I knew he didn't have much time left once Scal started taking over this season. I miss that dude already, he was THE Celtics and the best ambassador they had. He leaves a gigantic hole in that organization. I pray for his family and everyone else who respected and were touched by him.

Except for the refs.

 

[captain stone]

Don't forget his time at Holy Cross before he ever joined the Cs...I believe that he was also a painter of note...A true Renaissance Man...

I never saw him play, but I did see him coach many times during the 1970s when tickets for regular-season games at the Garden, especially on weeknights, were readily available...

Time, you are indeed a Thief.

2020: Worst. Year. Ever.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Biggest homer ever. I loved it. Every missed shot was a foul on a Celtic. Every Celtics block was clean and not a foul. He will be missed. He was a great analyst, I loved the total bias for anything Celtics

 

[DarrylS]

Don't want to disagree, but probably 2nd biggest homer after Johnny Most..

When I was in HS (1961-65) for some reason my home town of Newport RI was a hotbed for BB, we had the annual Eastern States Catholic Invitational Tournament (saw a young Alcindor etc) and for some reason the Celtics played a couple of games at the local public high school.. one of the games they went up against the Lakers.. Baylor, West et al against Heinsohn, Russell, Cousy etc. It was a treat to watch them in a small HS gym..

Always remember Heinsohn's hook shot, which seemed unusual as it was not part of the shot selection we used on the playground, always liked him as a player, coach and color man on TV..

He was a "throwback" and will miss him and his fire in the belly for all things Celtics..

 

[Triumph]

Boston sports has been blessed. The moniker "Title Town" is fitting and appropriate.

The Celtics got the ball rolling [no pun intended] You cannot tell the story of the NBA without the Celts. Stories about Red are legendary.

I was once in a San Antonio sub shop ordering a sandwich. Awful subs by NE standards but all i could get in SA, TX. The owner had a picture of Red smoking a cigar on the wall. So, He was in the back when a lady came in and pointed to the picture of Red and asked me if that was the owner.

 

[Spiral]

He did a lot of Miller Lite commercials in the 70s. In one of them, he did a little trick by moving pennies around on a table with his fingers.

My father and a couple of his friends were sitting around having a couple drinks when one of them tried to copy the trick. No one could, so my father got up and said, "I'm going to call him up and ask him how do do it." Like I said, they were having a couple of drinks. So he calls directory assistance, and Heinsohn's number was actually listed in the phone book. My father dialed it, and Mrs. Heinsohn answered the phone. After hearing my father's request, she started laughing. She said that she didn't know how to do the trick, and that he wouldn't tell her either.

 

[40yrpatsfan]

Don't want to disagree, but probably 2nd biggest homer after Johnny Most..

When I was in HS (1961-65) for some reason my home town of Newport RI was a hotbed for BB, we had the annual Eastern States Catholic Invitational Tournament (saw a young Alcindor etc) and for some reason the Celtics played a couple of games at the local public high school.. one of the games they went up against the Lakers.. Baylor, West et al against Heinsohn, Russell, Cousy etc. It was a treat to watch them in a small HS gym..

Always remember Heinsohn's hook shot, which seemed unusual as it was not part of the shot selection we used on the playground, always liked him as a player, coach and color man on TV..

He was a "throwback" and will miss him and his fire in the belly for all things Celtics..

Tommy was a homer but nothing like Johnny, who saw a big game as Good v Evil. Tommy's initial reaction at a foul call or lack thereof was always slanted toward the Celtics, but after seeing it on replay he'd always correct himself if necessary. He was very complimentary of a good opposing player or good execution by an opponent. And when I see old national broadcasts where he was color man to **** Stockton, he was more than fair to the opponent, can't believe it was the same guy we know tbh.

 

[jimnance]

Tommy was a homer but nothing like Johnny, who saw a big game as Good v Evil. Tommy's initial reaction at a foul call or lack thereof was always slanted toward the Celtics, but after seeing it on replay he'd always correct himself if necessary. He was very complimentary of a good opposing player or good execution by an opponent. And when I see old national broadcasts where he was color man to **** Stockton, he was more than fair to the opponent, can't believe it was the same guy we know tbh.

We used to do what most C's fans did, watch game on tv with sound muted. Then crank up the volume on radio to Johnny. He was pure entertainment. We often wondered in amazement if he was watching the same game. No Celtic ever committed a foul. But his descriptions of foes fouling the good guys were hysterical. The peak was during the Lambeer years.

 

[40yrpatsfan]

We used to do what most C's fans did, watch game on tv with sound muted. Then crank up the volume on radio to Johnny. He was pure entertainment. We often wondered in amazement if he was watching the same game. No Celtic ever committed a foul. But his descriptions of foes fouling the good guys were hysterical. The peak was during the Lambeer years.

Johnny's blood pressure in those games must've been 350/300, his voice would become a dog whistle. He hated McFilthy & McNasty, but I also recall him losing it on Ralph Sampson when he hit Sichting.

Regardless, there was nobody like Tommy Heinsohn, was like listening to your favorite uncle. He had no ego for such an accomplished and successful guy.

Loving these old clips of him as a player, he was pretty skilled. Rookie of the year, went 39/23 in the Finals/G7, 8 titles, led the team in scoring for many of them. A huge presence as a coach, 2 titles and def should've been 3 except for a freak Hondo injury and Drieth-level officiating. Dave Cowens calls Tommy the greatest ambassador the NBA has ever had. And then the last 35 years we had an nba guru right in our living room every game.

 

[rochrist]

Don't forget that wild hook shot he had. He was also a really accomplished artist.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Tommy played 9 years and went to 8 NBA Finals

.

 

[40yrpatsfan]

Don't forget that wild hook shot he had. He was also a really accomplished artist.

he did have a couple of weird 1940's style shots, but also had a modern looking game with a nice jumper, hard to the hoop and finishing, stop & pop etc. Kind of a Gordon Hayward style.

 

[40yrpatsfan]

Tommy played 9 years and went to 8 NBA Finals

.

He said he injured his plantar and wasn't walking right for 2-3 years into retirement, which is why he tailed off so much his last year or two at age 28-30. Without that injury it would've been interesting to see him and the team against the '67 Philly team with Wilt. I bet he would've neutralized Billy Cunningham and Chet Walker who killed us.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Don't forget that wild hook shot he had. He was also a really accomplished artist.

 

[Jackson 2]

I loved his jump shot, lowest trajectory in the history of the game. I could never figure out how it went in.

You are absolutely correct. I seem to remember reading one time that when he was a kid in NJ in bad weather he and his friends played for hours in a barn or some other structure with a low ceiling. Thus, the line drive jump shot. One other funny story: as everyone knows Tommy had a short fuse with the refs. A good friend, my wife and I had season tickets in the mid 70s when Tommy was the head coach (half season, Wendnesday and Friday night games and Sunday afternoon ones.) Anyway, there was an atrocious call and he was so pissed he got off the bench and kicked his foot high in the air. Well, his loafer went flying into the stands and we all saw some guy retrieve it and we watched him bring it down to the bench. He coached the rest of the game with one shoe on. Of course, I wondered what had happened. Well, we alway went down to the Iron Horse bar under the Garden for a few beers while the parking lot emptied. A friend of ours who knew Bob Ryan joined us and said Ryan told him this: the guy with the loafer went to the bench and told a trainer or someone he'd give the loafer back for $100 or some other ridiculous amount for those days. Ryan told our friend that when told of this, Tommy said, "Tell him he can go f### himself and enjoy wearing one f###### shoe. I've got hundreds of them..." Hilarious.

 

[bresna]

I loved his jump shot, lowest trajectory in the history of the game. I could never figure out how it went in.

Back in the 80s, I had season tickets to the Celts. I learned that if you got there right when the gates opened, the guards weren't all in place and if you hoofed it, you could get down to the floor and watch the stragglers taking their last warmup shots. I got to chat with several Celtics that way. Never the big names, well, Robert Parish was there once... but I did get to chat with guys like Jerry Sichting, Artemis Gilmore (holy *%$# was he tall) and even Reggie Lewis when he was a rookie.

One time when I got there, Heinsohn was interviewing someone on the floor. As he finished up, a ball rolled over to me. I called out to Tommy and asked if he could still hit his hook from center court. He took the shot and missed but demanded the ball boy get him the ball back. "I was just warming up", he says, as he took off his jacket. Second try - bam. Right through the net.

 

[FCB02062]

A Celtic legend. Loved Tommy. He bled Green to the point that CBS removed him from the #1 broadcast team with **** Stockton because the suits thought he was way too Celtics biased

 

[NormZauchin]

The picture reminds me of the summer I spent working second shift in the Spalding factory. I worked in the golf club section, but to get there I went by the basketball area where hundreds of basketballs were sitting in huge bins. I never noticed Tommy there, though.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Don't forget that wild hook shot he had. He was also a really accomplished artist.

I learned to shoot the hook and burned many angry guys on the playground with it.

Is it a lost art now? I hope not.

Kareem was tall enough that he didn't need that much trajectory on it.