Bob Cousy
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| Player information | ||
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| Full name | Robert Joseph Cousy | |
| Nickname | Houdini of the Hardwood, Cooz | |
| birthday | 9th August 1928 (age 92) | |
| place of birth | New York City , New York , USA | |
| size | 185 cm | |
| position | Point guard | |
| High school | Andrew Jackson ( Queens ) | |
| college | Holy Cross | |
| NBA draft | 1950 , 3rd pick, Tri-Cities Blackhawks | |
| Clubs as active | ||
1950–1963 Boston Celtics 1969–1970 Cincinnati Royals
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| Clubs as coaches | ||
| 1963–1969 Boston College 1969–1973 Cincinnati Royals
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Robert Joseph "Bob" Cousy (born August 9, 1928 in New York City , New York ) is a retired American basketball player and coach. From 1950 to 1963 he played in the US professional league NBA for the Boston Celtics . Alongside Oscar Robertson , John Stockton and Magic Johnson, the 1.85 m tall cousy is considered one of the best point guards of all time and the best point guard of his time.
Cousy is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996 .
Career
Cousy, son of French immigrants, attended the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts on a basketball scholarship . He won the national championship with the Crusaders in 1947 , but did not play a major role on the team that season. In the following years he led the team as an All-American in 1948 at least in the Final Four and in 1950 in the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament.
Cousy was selected third in the 1950 NBA Draft by the Tri-Cities Blackhawks . After disagreements between Cousy and the Blackhawks, he came to the Boston Celtics in a roundabout way . Celtics coach Red Auerbach initially did not want Cousy, but later recognized his talent and relied on him from there. Although he was initially ridiculed for his unusual and spectacular style of play, Cousy quickly proved his extraordinary talent. With his feel for the ball and his overview of the game, Cousy was way ahead of his time and superior to the opponents of that time. Cousy was the NBA's top passer each year between 1953 and 1960 and granted the most assists . In the early 1950s he was the best player in the league, but at that time the MVP award did not exist. It wasn't until 1957 that Cousy received the NBA Most Valuable Player Award for the first and only time . Cousy was elected to the All-NBA First Team every year between 1952 and 1961, a total of ten times . He participated in thirteen All-Star Games and was voted MVP of an All-Star Game twice (1954 and 1957) .
With the Boston Celtics, Cousy won six championships as a congenial partner to Bill Russell (1957, 1959–1963). In 1954, Cousy founded the National Basketball Players Association and was its first president until 1958. After retiring from his career in 1963, he tried his hand at coaching Boston College with great success and, in 1970, with moderate success even as a player-coach for the Cincinnati Royals , whom he coached until their first year in Kansas City and Omaha after they moved there .
On April 21, 1971, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player . It was on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the NBA under the 1996 50 Greatest Players in NBA History ( The 50 greatest players in the NBA history selected). His college retired his jersey number and the Boston Celtics will not reassign the number 14 either.
After basketball
After his basketball career, he was commissioner of the American Soccer League from 1974 to 1979 . He then became a television analyst for the Boston Celtics Games. In 1994 he played the role of Vic in William Friedkin's sports film Blue Chips . From 1999 he worked for the marketing department of Celtics.
In 2019, Cousy was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by the 45th US President Donald Trump . In an interview with the NBA online magazine that week, Cousy said he would vote for Trump in the 2020 US presidential election .
literature
- Bill Reynolds: Cousy. His Life, Career, and the Birth of Big-Time Basketball , New York 2005. ISBN 0-7432-5476-7 (Engl.)
See also
Web links
- Bob Cousy Biography On: NBA website; New York, NY, 2018. Retrieved August 12, 2018 (in English).
- Bob Cousy On: NBA website; New York, NY, 2018. Retrieved August 12, 2018 (in English).
- Bob Cousy as a Player On: Basketball Reference — Website; Philadelphia, PA, 2000-2018. Retrieved August 12, 2018 (in English).
- Bob Cousy as Coach On: Basketball Reference — Website; Philadelphia, PA, 2000-2018. Retrieved August 12, 2018 (in English).
- Bob Cousy in the Internet Movie Database . On: IMDB website; Seattle, WA, 1990-2018. Retrieved August 12, 2018 (in English).
- Bob Cousy in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame . On: Hoophall website; Springfield, MA, 2017. Retrieved November 8, 2017 (in English).
- Bob Cousy in the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. On: The College Basketball Experience — website; Kansas City, MO, 2006-2018. Retrieved August 12, 2018 (in English).
Individual evidence
- ^ Sarah K. Fields: Female Gladiators. Gender, Law, and Contact Sport in America. Urbana / Chicago, 2008: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-07584-1 (page 88f, in English)
- ^ NN: Bob Cousy, Marketing Consultant. On: NBA website; New York, NY, 2018. Retrieved August 12, 2018 (in English).
- ↑ What Bob Cousy said about Donald Trump during his Medal of Freedom ceremony | Boston.com. Retrieved January 31, 2020 (American English).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Cousy, Bob |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Cousy, Robert Joseph; Houdini of the Hardwood |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American basketball player and coach |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 9, 1928 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City , New York , United States |