Celtics Decade Night: Recapping the 1950s

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Tuesday marks the sixth of seven Decade Nights that the Boston Celtics will be hosting at TD Garden this season in celebration of theirs and the NBA’s 75th anniversary.

So far, the team has already commemorated the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 2000s, and 2010s. Next, TD Garden will be turning back the clock to the 1950s – when Boston built the NBA's first dynasty – which is only fitting since the Celtics will be hosting the same Hawks team that they defeated in their first title run in 1957.

Throughout the game, fans will be taken back in time to relive some of the Celtics’ most memorable moments from the ‘50s, many of which we have included in our decade recap below.

After the Celtics compiled a losing record in each of their first four seasons, team owner Walter Brown decided it was time for a coaching change.

Brown’s search for a new leader was done in unusual fashion – by seeking out the advice of the local media. The reporters mainly advocated for Red Auerbach, who had recently parted ways with the Tri City Blackhawks, and Brown complied.

It turned out to be one of the most important decisions in franchise history, as Auerbach turned the team around and established a winning culture inside Boston’s locker room.

The Celtics had their first winning season during Auerbach’s first year as head coach, going 39-30. They would compile a 795-397 record during his 16 years at the helm, while winning nine NBA championships.

One of the first moves that Brown and Auerbach made together was to break the NBA’s color barrier, as they drafted the first Black player in league history by selecting Chuck Cooper with the 13th overall pick of the 1950 Draft.

Brown famously elaborated on the decision by saying, “I don’t give a damn if he’s striped, polka dot, or plaid. Boston takes Charles Cooper out of Duquesne University because he’s the best player available to help our franchise.”

And help the franchise Cooper did. The 6-foot-5 forward averaged 9.3 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game in his first season with the Celtics, for whom he would go on to play four seasons.

Cooper played seven NBA seasons, also suiting up for the Milwaukee/St. Louis Hawks and Fort Wayne Pistons, before wrapping up his career in 1956. He was recently inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame posthumously in 2019.

The luck of the Irish was strong in 1950, as Boston had two future hall-of-famers in Bob Cousy and Ed Macauley fall right into its lap.

Macauley had just wrapped up his first season with the St. Louis Bombers when the team suddenly folded. The New York Knicks attempted to buy the franchise for $50,000 so that they could acquire the promising young center, but the NBA blocked the sale and awarded Macauley to Boston in an effort to fortify the struggling Celtics.

Cousy landed with the Celtics in an even more incredible fashion. Boston had passed on the 6-foot-1 point guard in the 1950 draft, leading him to be selected by Auerbach’s former team, the Blackhawks. However, the Worcester, Massachusetts resident did not want to relocate, as he was trying to establish a driving school, and so the Blackhawks let him go only for him to be signed by the Chicago Stags.

In an ironic turn of events, the Stags folded before Cousy could even suit up for them, and so he and two other Chicago teammates were placed into a dispersal draft. Brown admitted that Cousy was the last of the three that he wanted, but the Celtics wound up drawing him and the rest was history.

Cousy went on to become one of the greatest point guards in NBA history, playing 13 All-Star seasons for the C’s, and Macauley went on to play six All-Star seasons for Boston before being traded for Bill Russell,

In April of 1951, the Celtics paired their Hall-of-Fame point guard with a Hall-of-Fame shooting guard, as they traded former No. 1 overall pick Chuck Share for Fort Wayne in exchange for Bill Sharman.

Known as “Bullseye Bill” for his shooting prowess, Sharman was one of the NBA’s first great marksmen. He was also one of the greatest free-throw shooters of all time, leading the league in efficiency seven times.

Forming the backcourt tandem of Sharman and Cousy helped turn the Celtics into an offensive powerhouse, which took three consecutive trips to the East Finals from 1953 to 1955. Sharman would spend the remainder of his career in Boston, earning eight All-Star nods and four championship rings.

Auerbach was considered to be a pioneer in many ways for the sport of basketball, with one example being his implementation of the sixth man. The first player to fill such a role was the No. 6 pick of the 1953 Draft, Frank Ramsey.

Despite being one of Boston’s best scorers, Ramsey felt more comfortable coming off the bench. Auerbach took advantage of such by having the 6-foot-3 guard/forward enter during the middle of the action with fresh legs and having him on the floor to close out games.

Ramsey would thrive in that role throughout his 10-year career in Boston, averaging 13.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game from mostly a reserve role, while serving as a key bench piece for seven titles.

In acquiring so many Hall-of-Fame pieces, the Celtics had become an offensive juggernaut by the mid-1950s. They averaged a record 101.5 points per game during the 1954-55 season, becoming the first team in NBA history to eclipse the century mark in scoring.

Boston’s attack was led by Cousy (21.2 PPG), Sharman (18.4 PPG), and Macauley (17.6 PPG), who each ranked among the top 10 scorers that season.

However, Boston’s defense allowed exactly the same number of points that its offense scored, which led to a 36-36 record. If they had any hopes of getting beyond the East Finals, the C’s would need to add some more defensive-minded players, which is exactly what Auerbach did next.

April 30, 1956, was perhaps the most important date in Celtics history. That was the day when they acquired not one, but two franchise cornerstones.

The first was Tom Heinsohn, whom Auerbach selected with the No. 6 overall pick in the draft. And the second was No. 2 overall pick Bill Russell, whom the Celtics immediately traded for after he had been selected by St. Louis.

In his first professional season, Heinsohn became the only player in NBA history to earn an All-Star appearance, the Rookie of the Year award, and a championship ring.

Meanwhile, Russell became the defensive anchor that Boston desperately needed and eventually turned into the most prolific winner in the history of American professional sports.

Those two same-date additions vaulted the Celtics from being an East contender to becoming the most dominant franchise in NBA history.

After putting all the right pieces together prior to the 1956-57 season, Auerbach and the Celtics went on their first of many championship runs.

The C’s compiled a 44-28 regular-season record and then swept the Syracuse Nationals out of the first round. From there, it was onto their first finals appearance against the St. Louis Hawks.

Despite the Celtics being heavily favored, it turned out to be an incredibly tight, seven-game series with four games being decided by two points. Game 7 was the first game played in front of a nationally televised audience, and it had people at home glued to their sofas as it went down to the wire in a double-overtime thriller.

Jim Loscutoff was the hero, as he sunk two free throws in the closing seconds to give Boston a 125-123 lead. It gave St. Louis enough time for one final shot, but Bob Pettit’s prayer caromed off the rim, giving the C’s their first title.

The Hawks got their revenge in 1958 by beating Boston in a six-game title round. However, they would be the final team to outlast the Celtics until 1967.

The 1958-59 season is when the Joneses began to blossom in Boston, as rookie point guard K.C. and unrelated, second-year shooting guard Sam earned key roles in the rotation.

The Celtics posted their first 50-win season with a mark of 52-20, while leading the league in scoring, rebounding, and assisting. Cousy paced the NBA in assists with 6.8 per game, while Russell was the league’s top rebounder with an average of 23.0 per game.

Boston’s only real challenge came in the East Division Finals, where the Syracuse Nationals surprisingly took Boston the distance. However, the C’s prevailed with a 130-125 win in Game 7, sending them to their third straight finals appearance.

The 1959 Finals was the championship matchup of the storied Celtics-Lakers rivalry, though it wasn’t much of a contest. Boston swept the series in four games, winning its second title and marking the first of eight consecutive banner runs from 1959-1966.