Basketball Hall of Fame

Taylor Snow

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame got a lot greener Saturday night, as four legendary members of the Boston Celtics were honored, each in a different capacity, as part of the 2021 enshrinement ceremony in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The class of 16 inductees was headlined by Paul Pierce and Bill Russell, the latter of whom was inducted as a coach after already being enshrined as a player in 1975.

Longtime Celtics color commentator Mike Gorman of NBC Sports Boston received the Curt Gowdy award for his role in electronic media over the last 40-plus years and was inducted into the Hall of Fame’s media wing.

Lastly, 2018 Hall-of-Fame inductee Ray Allen was recognized as one of three recipients of the 2021 Mannie Jackson - Basketball’s Human Spirit Award for his outstanding humanitarian efforts, particularly through his Ray of Hope Foundation.

Pierce soaked in every moment of the special night, greeting Celtics fans with high fives and selfies at the red-carpet ceremony before delivering a 15-minute speech in which he reflected upon his life and career.

“Never in my wildest dreams that I think I’d be a Hall-of-Famer,” Pierce began as he spoke to the sea of basketball legends seated before him. “The initial dream as a kid is to make it to the league; you don't really dream too far like, ‘I want to be a Hall of Famer,’ you don't say that as a kid. Now to be enshrined in basketball lore, it's more than I could have ever imagined.”

Pierce spent the first 15 seasons of a 19-year NBA career in Boston, where he earned 10 All-Star nods, four All-NBA selections, and a Finals MVP after leading the Celtics to their 17th championship in 2008. He remains among the franchise’s top 10 in just about every significant statistical category, ranking second in points scored, seventh in rebounds, fifth in assists, first in steals, fourth in blocks, first in 3-point field goals, and third in minutes played.

However, Pierce made it clear that his rise to the top of Boston’s legendary record books was not a product of natural athletic ability, but rather a result of hard work and dedication.

“The thing I want people to remember about me is, although I wasn’t the most athletic and I might not have been the most gifted, I competed every night,” he said. “That’s the one thing people can say about me. I may have played against guys that were more talented, more heralded than me, but the one thing you weren’t going to do was out-work me ... I judged my game on my effort. I knew if I gave 100 percent effort that day, no matter what my numbers were, I could hold my head high when I left that gym.”

Pierce should also be remembered for holding his head high even when the Celtics were going through some of their lowest of lows as a franchise. He stuck with the team through trying seasons, and eventually, his loyalty paid off.

Following a 24-win season in 2006-07, the Celtics front office formed a super team around Pierce by trading for future Hall-of-Famers in Allen and Kevin Garnett, the latter of whom served as Pierce’s presenter Saturday night. The star trio gelled immediately, as they pulled off the biggest single-season turnaround in NBA history in the form of a 66-win 2007-08 campaign, which led the C’s to their 17th NBA championship banner.

The highlight of Pierce’s career came at the conclusion of that title run when he was named Finals MVP after defeating his hometown Los Angeles Lakers. The Inglewood native still marvels over the irony of the storybook scenario, noting how his initial disdain for the Celtics turned into everlasting love and appreciation.

“Going into [the NBA], I hated [the Celtics] because I was a Laker fan,” he recalled. “But once I was able to join the family and be around legends such as Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Tommy Heinsohn on a night-in, night-out basis, it was a dream come true. Because me being a historian of the game, I couldn’t ask for anything better … I couldn’t have asked for a better place to land.”

And Pierce couldn’t have asked for a better honor than to enter the Hall alongside the greatest legend of them all in Russell. The 11-time NBA champion became just the fifth person to be inducted as both a player and a coach, joining former teammates Tommy Heinsohn and Bill Sharman along with Lenny Wilkens and John Wooden.

Although his coaching career spanned only eight seasons, Russell’s legacy as a coach will last forever. In 1966, he became the first Black head coach in the history of U.S. professional sports. As if that feat wasn’t remarkable enough, the start of his coaching career also overlapped with the last three seasons of his playing career, the final two of which resulted in championship runs.

“Coaching the Celtics was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences I had through my 13 years in the NBA,” Russell said in a pre-recorded speech that was shown Saturday night as he sat in the front row of the audience.

It was rewarding not just because of the championships that he won, but because it opened the door for other Black coaches after him, such as Doc Rivers.

“Bill Russell allowed the rest of the world to know that if you’re qualified to coach, you can coach,” Rivers, also in attendance, said in a pre-recorded interview. “Without Bill Russell, I’m probably not coaching.”

Russell’s willingness to break barriers and also be an outspoken civil rights activist transcended his remarkable career as an athlete. As his Hall-of-Fame presenter, Barack Obama, stated: “As tall as Bill Russell stands, his example and his legacy rise far, far higher.”

All four Celtics honorees established unique legacies from the examples they set, whether it was through their hard work and dedication on the court, on the sideline, in the announcers’ booth, and/or in the community. Paul Pierce, Bill Russell, Mike Gorman, and Ray Allen have each represented the city of Boston and the NBA in a Hall-of-Fame capacity, solidified by Saturday night’s enshrinement among basketball's greatest legends.

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four-celtics-legends-honored-at-2021-hof-enshrinement

Four Celtics Legends Honored at 2021 HOF Enshrinement

Marc D'Amico

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SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Many player-coach relationships fizzle quickly.  Some may last for years.

Nearly 40 years after their player-coach relationship came to an end, Jo Jo White and Tommy Heinsohn will stand alongside each other tonight as they are enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, where they will be remembered for the rest of time.

White, who spent 10 of his 12 NBA seasons in Boston, will be enshrined as a player, while Heinsohn will be enshrined as a coach.

The two spent nine seasons together in Boston, spanning Heinsohn’s entire coaching career.  They won 474 games together, and, most importantly, played critical roles in the Celtics raising two of their 17 World Championship banners.

Heinsohn, who was enshrined into the Hall as a player in 1986, downplayed his current induction throughout Thursday’s opening ceremonies.  He instead chose to concentrate on No. 10, the player who still loves the game of basketball as much as anyone else on Earth.

“I’ve been a big champion of [White] – he should have been in a long time ago,” Heinsohn said at his press conference Thursday afternoon.  “He was a significant player on a very successful (team).

“I can still remember him after the triple-overtime game (Game 5 of the 1976 NBA Finals) where he played 58 minutes and was unable to get off the floor after the game was over.  He truly loved the game and a lot of people took him for granted.”

White wore his emotions on his sleeve during his playing days, and he did so again Thursday afternoon.  During his introductory statement in Springfield, he stated a handful of times how much he adores, enjoys and loves the game of basketball.  He lives for the sport.

It didn’t take long back in 1969 for Heinsohn to learn that lesson.  His relationship with White got off to a rocky start, as the coach recalled, because he wouldn’t allow White onto the court during his first few games with the Celtics.

“[He] hated me the first time he showed up in Boston because he was on a three-day pass and he wanted to play in the game, and I wouldn’t let him play in the game because we were trying out a 7-foot guy who was going to replace Bill Russell,” the coach remembered.  “Jo Jo showed up after this long trek in going to Marine boot camp, and I wouldn’t let him play.”

He later added with a laugh, “He got so pissed at me because I wouldn’t let him play.”

After being reminded of that story, White said, “You get a chance to eventually show what you can do, and once you do that, you expect them to react that way.”

White got his chance soon enough, once the two realized that they were each other’s greatest ally.

Heinsohn’s coaching style was highlighted by two key goals.  First, he wanted his teams to play with an up-tempo pace and to work as a team.  Second, he wanted to help players, as he explained, “get to where they wanted to get to.”

Those goals were conducive to White’s development as a young player.  He became a much better – and very different -  player under Heinsohn’s tutelage.

“Jo Jo made kind of a complete turnover from the type of player he had been in college,” Heinsohn said.  “He was a slow-down player (at Kansas).  Here, I’m asking him to become the point guard and to make very quick decisions.”

White quickly adjusted, averaging 21.3 points and 4.8 assists per game during his second professional season, earning his first All-Star appearance.  He bumped those numbers up to 23.1 points and 5.3 assists per game during his next campaign and again made the All-Star team.  He meshed with Heinsohn’s coaching style and completely bought in to what the coach preached.

“I listened to what Tommy had to say,” White stated with conviction, “and I was right at his feet at everything he said to help make the team that we played with better.”

The proof, as Heinsohn likes to say, was in the pudding.  The Celtics won the 1974 and 1976 NBA championships, and White was named the Finals MVP during the latter series.  He also garnered seven All-Star selections.  Heinsohn, meanwhile, pulled in the NBA Coach of the Year honors in 1973 and finished with a .619 career win percentage during the regular season, which ranks 10th in league history among coaches who roamed the sidelines for more than five seasons.

It’s no wonder why the Hall of Fame came calling this year.  It's nothing short of special that the Hall will be calling both of their names tonight, forever linking the two Celtics Legends together.

Basketball Hall of Fame

Four Celtics Legends Honored at 2021 HOF Enshrinement

White, Heinsohn To Be Linked Together Forever