Red Auerbach

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Arnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach

Arnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach (born September 20, 1917 in Brooklyn , New York , † October 28, 2006 in Washington, DC ) was an American basketball coach . He coached the Boston Celtics team between 1950 and 1966 and won nine championships. It wasn't until 2009 that Phil Jackson managed to outbid this brand. After being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach in 1969, Auerbach was honored in 1980 as the best coach in NBA history . In 1996, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the NBA, he was chosen by selected journalists among the 10 Greatest Coaches in NBA History . His trademark was smoking a cigar just before the end of a successful game .

Life

Red Auerbach was born in the New York borough of Brooklyn, grew up there and attended high school in the Eastern District from 1931 to 1935. As a talented basketball player, he was selected in 1935 in a selection of the best players in Brooklyn. He then studied for a year at the nearby Seth Low Junior College and the three following years at George Washington University in Washington, DC , where he was also noticed as a talented basketball player.

At a time when there were many competing professional basketball leagues, all of whom were regularly struggling with financial problems, Auerbach signed with the Harrisburg Senators in the American Basketball League . On the side, he began a career as a coach at a high school in Washington, as did numerous semi-professional basketball players (including John Wooden ). After the United States entered World War II , Auerbach was drafted into the US Navy in 1943 and served at the Norfolk Naval Training Station in Norfolk . He coached the station's team and, with players like Red Holzman and Bob Feerick, twice defeated the Washington Bears , who had won the 1943 World Professional Basketball Tournament .

After the end of the war, Auerbach took over from 1946 to coach the Washington Capitols in the newly founded Basketball Association of America (BAA). In the 1948/49 season , the Capitols reached the BAA finals under Auerbach, but were subject to the Minneapolis Lakers with their star center George Mikan . After the merger of the BAA with the National Basketball League (NBL) to form the National Basketball Association (NBA) on August 3, 1949, Auerbach moved to the Tri-Cities Blackhawks as a coach .

Before the Blackhawks moved to St. Louis in 1950 , Auerbach left the club and joined the Boston Celtics , where he replaced Doggie Julian . The Celtics, a founding member of the BAA, had never reached the playoffs by then. Immediately after Auerbach's arrival with the Celtics, the Chicago Stags and St. Louis Bombers , who came from the NBL to the NBA, broke up. Two players on these teams, Ed Macauley and Bob Cousy , were then drawn by lottery to the Celtics.

With Macauley and Cousy as top performers of the team, the Celtics reached the postseason year after year, but lost several times in the semifinals or finals of their division. Auerbach then demonstrated his incredible sense of talent and swapped Ed Macauley with the St. Louis Hawks for their second pick in the 1956 NBA draft . With the pick, Auerbach chose Bill Russell , who would become the most important pillar of the Celtics dynasty.

Already in the 1956/57 season , the Celtics won the NBA championship against the Hawks thanks to defense specialist Bill Russell as center and Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman in the backcourt . Although they lost in the 1958 finals, eight more NBA titles were added by 1966. With a total of nine championships won, Auerbach, although only 49 years old, withdrew from the coaching business. Bill Russell took over as player-coach. Auerbach was the first coach to break the 1000 mark with a record of 1037 wins (with only 548 defeats).

Although no longer a coach, Auerbach remained loyal to the Celtics as general manager. Through clever personnel policy, he ensured that the Celtics remained successful even after the era of Bill Russell. In the draft he secured the rights to Dave Cowens , Most Valuable Player from 1973, and Jo Jo White , Finals MVP from 1976. The Celtics were able to win two more titles in 1974 and 1976.

In the 1978 draft, Auerbach secured the rights to Larry Bird , who was to lead the Celtics in three further championships in the 1980s (1981, 1984, 1986). Before the 1980 draft, however, Auerbach achieved his greatest stroke of genius as a manager: he swapped the Celtics' first draft pick for Robert Parish of the Golden State Warriors and their third draft pick. While the Warriors chose their preferred candidate Joe Barry Caroll , Auerbach chose the relatively unknown Kevin McHale . Both McHale and Parish became key players in the three Celtics championships in the 1980s and are now in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame .

With increasing age Auerbach withdrew from the team leadership of the Celtics, but was involved in decisions as team president until his death. In the past few years, Auerbach had to be hospitalized several times because of heart problems. He died on October 28, 2006 after a heart attack in front of his house, about five weeks after his 89th birthday.

He was born on 31 October 2006 at the National Memorial Park in Idylwood ( Fairfax County / Virginia buried). Red Auerbach was a member of the Freemasons Association .

See also

literature

  • Red Auerbach, John Feinstein: Let Me Tell You a Story. A Lifetime in the Game. Little & Brown, New York 2004, ISBN 0-316-73823-9 (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ NN: Top 10 Coaches in NBA History On: NBA website; New York, 2017. Retrieved June 17, 2017 (in English).
  2. ^ NN: Red Auerbach, Dynasty Builder. ( February 18, 2012 memento on WebCite ) Archived from Jock Bio — website; no location, 2006. Accessed August 27, 2019 (in English).
  3. ↑ Free and Accepted Masons of Tennessee  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the homepage of Unity Lodge No. 95: http://www.unity95.org (Retrieved May 8, 2017)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.unity95.org  

Web links

Commons : Red Auerbach  - Collection of images, videos and audio files


personal data
SURNAME Auerbach, Red
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Auerbach, Arnold Jacob (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American basketball coach
DATE OF BIRTH September 20, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York, USA
DATE OF DEATH October 28, 2006
Place of death Washington, DC