All language subtitles for Celtics.City.S01E01.1080p.HEVC.x265-MeGusta

Banner 18! Banner 18!

Our 2024 NBA

world champions!

You get very few chances
in life to be great

and carry on
the responsibility of what

these banners are
and all the great people,

all the great players
that came here.

Good to be back home.

It's 30 teams in the league,
but how many got tradition?

- Oh, what's up, boy?
- Everybody all right?

All good.
All good.

How many got things
that last forever?

The Celtics were
different because

of all the championships
and all the great players

that they had.

In my rookie year,
I saw all these banners.

I just thought
this was normal.

What greatness is all about.

And then you go
to other arenas

and quickly realize
it's not the same.

Red's theory was 10 players,

2 baskets, 1 basketball.

And we will decide what is
done with that one basketball.

Listen to the crowd
support the Boston Celtics.

I think we all grew up being
proud of where we were from.

I'll be the judge!

We had challenges...

Racial trouble in Boston.

But the Celtics,
in many ways,

gave us something
to feel proud about.

1, 2, 3.

When you look at
the towering greats

of the Celtics' past,

the question is what is
my role in this history?

This is how
we tell our story.

This is how we understand
who we are as Americans.

It's basketball...

No cardiac function.

But it's also life.

It wasn't all
ice cream and cherries.

You have to tell
the whole story.

This is incredible.

- Let's go!
- Yes, sir.

Boston Celtics have to be
central to the city of Boston.

And the players who play
for the Celtics

have to feel like Celtics

because of the greatness
and legacy

and history and rivalry.

That was
a disgusting display.

Little fight going on there.

Now Julius and Bird
go at it.

Now Maxwell
goes after a fan.

There's a lot of memories
playing against the Celtics,

none of them very good.

And now let's watch it.

I hate parquet.
I hate the leprechaun.

I hate the Celtics.

Uh, fuck the Celtics.

What ever happened to
the Los Angeles dynasty?

The greatest thing I ever
heard, here comes the--

The world champion,
the Boston Celtics.

Celtic pride,

that's the thread that
connects all these guys.

They all know
each other's story

because it's all part
of their story.

Bill Russell's in the house.

Johnny Most is in the house.

Red Auerbach's in the house.

Come on.
The ghosts are out.

- You can feel it.
- Yeah!

You have a responsibility
to this greatness.

Yeah, absolutely.

Bill Russell
was a great man.

He represented a type
of nobility and honor

that transcended sports.

Pride is created
from trying to achieve

a goal by a number of people
who bond in the process.

When you look at the history
of the Boston Celtics

and you see the names,
pioneers...

The people who
have come and gone...

It really built up
that tradition.

You win in Boston,
it's forever.

It's forever.

No one ever forgets.

The Boston Celtics!

The Boston Celtics
are the world champions.

Oh, my.

Oh, my.

This place is going crazy.

As I learned
what Celtic tradition is...

There was a lot
of misconceptions

about what they stood for.

This organization
has been a pioneer

for social justice movements
and society.

To be at that doorstep
of pushing society forward,

it's a part of the fabric
of, like, the Celtic DNA.

If you look a little deeper
than the flash and excitement

of the game itself...

Celtics!

You find
the never-ending attention

to details that make champions
instead of just good athletes.

Throw it in the corner.

Brown fakes, fires up the 3.

And of course, a part
of the journey is winning.

Jaylen Brown knocks down
the 3 to tie the game.

I give my everything
to this game.

The Celtics are
the world champion.

And Red Auerbach
used to say it best--

Celtics is a way of life.

It's Friday night.

The place is Boston.

Boston was just
one of the stranger places

to be able to decode.

It was incredibly insular.

We had just about
no interaction

with anybody outside of
our Irish neighborhood.

It was very tight that way,
and small-minded that way.

And when you're a kid,
you don't know this.

You don't understand this,
you know?

The world is the size
that people tell you it is.

And during the beginning
of the Celtics,

that's what this town was.

Line up.
Watch them all line up.

It's an Irish town,
so their basketball team

is naturally called
by the ancient Irish name,

the Celtics.

Their team is made up of
descendants of Germans

and Czechs and Swedes,
and is coached by

the son of a Russian Jew.

Coach of the Celtics,
Red Auerbach.

Red could have been a CEO.

He could have been a general.

It just so happened that
the thing he loved above all

was basketball.

Originally,
my first ambition in life

was to be a physical education
teacher and a coach.

And then took the gamble when
professional ball started.

The new league is born--

a league that will grow
by leaps and rebounds.

The founding owners of the
NBA were mostly hockey owners.

And they were thinking,
we all have these arenas,

but we all have these empty
dates that we can fill in.

So let's start
a basketball league

so we can fill all these
empty arena dates.

Walter Brown owned
the Boston Bruins,

and he ran the Boston Garden.

He kind of began the Celtics
almost like an afterthought.

Walter Brown
really wanted a winner.

Coach Auerbach
was the same way.

Brown said, here you go.

You're the coach, GM,
this, this, this, this.

Do it all.

Win at all costs.

Our practice sessions
are tough,

and we play
a long, hard season.

Winning is a choice.

You have to make
fucking choices.

And, like, winning is a choice.

And too many times,
we talk ourselves

in and out of the things
that we know

are the most important thing.

Here we go.
Ready?

Play.
Play.

Yes!
Yes!

The Celtics has always
been in my heart

because I grew up
an hour away.

I have vivid memories of
going to Red Auerbach Camp.

You could always just
feel his presence

when he walked into the gym.

Take off!
Space!

Space!
Yes, Pete.

Yes, Pete.

To me, it's how much
can I learn about

the culture that he created,

the relationship that
he had with his players,

the relationship that
he had with the city,

the relationship that
he had with winning?

There is a DNA of
Celtic basketball

that has stood
the test of time.

Ah.

This--God, it's so dusty.

It's dusty.

This is just my dad and Bill.

That's when he was coaching.

Notice the black sneakers.

They all wore black sneakers
because they were cheaper.

If you wore white,
they'd get dirty.

That's why they wore black.

We lived in DC.

I had asthma growing up,

and they thought
the winters in Boston

would be too tough on me.

So we stayed here.

This was his suitcase.

And when you think about it--

and as much
as they traveled

and they didn't have their
own plane, this was heavy.

It was hard.
It was hard on my mom.

But she kept us all together
and kept things running.

I'm there,
and my sister is there.

After a game,
win or lose, he'd call.

This was '53.

"Cousy Better Than Ever."

He's the only one,
beside my mother,

that called my dad Arnold.

"My coach and my friend,
in appreciation for 10 years.

Sincerely, Cooz."

I still speak to him
occasionally

just to check up on him.

You're very, very important
to this story, Mr. Cousy.

Well, yeah,
only because I'm still alive.

I'd like to think
it was based on merit.

But there's nobody left,

at least with
a lifetime experience.

Bob Cousy
of the Boston Celtics.

Use any superlative
about this NBA veteran,

and you'd probably be right.

Mr. Basketball
starts a fast break.

That's Cousy,
and he's red hot tonight.

If you stopped
a man on the street

in 1955 in Fargo
or in Albuquerque--

name a basketball player.

The plurality would
have named Bob Cousy.

He was Mr. Basketball,
literally.

That was his official nickname.

The most famous
basketball player

of the first 50 or 60 years
of the 20th century.

Keep your eyes on Cousy.

One of the all-time leaders in
assists, Bob, sets up another.

Cousy is a showman.

He's like James Dean
and Elvis Presley--

breaking out, you know,
going against the grain.

And fans loved it.

It felt like watching
a great magician on television.

Because, at the time,
it seemed like

what he was doing
wasn't possible.

Yeah.

Bob Cousy,
All-American from Holy Cross.

All of these Irish people
in Boston at the time

worked so their kids
could go to Holy Cross.

And in Boston,
you identified

where you're from
by the parish.

So Bob Cousy, at Holy Cross,

was an idol

both through my Jesuit uncle
and my Irish grandmother.

Everything in 1950
is in flux in the NBA.

There's 17 teams
in the league.

The next year, 11.

Six are folding.

At Boston Garden,

Holy Cross would outdraw
the young Celtics.

So the belief was he's going
to be drafted by the Celtics.

Because if you draft
the local guys,

that's gonna bring the fans in.

Red really didn't think
he was good enough.

He honestly felt

that Bob Cousy wouldn't
help him win basketball games.

I mean,
this is the Truman years

evolving into
the Eisenhower years.

It's a conservative time
in the nation.

Hey, Ma,
how about another sandwich?

- What a hungry crew.
- They've been at sea.

It's a conservative time
in basketball.

If you try a wraparound pass,

that's grandstanding,
that's showboating.

That's not the way
basketball is played.

Red favored a more
orthodox kind of player

and famously said, about the
local pressure to draft Cousy,

am I supposed to satisfy
the local yokels?

The NBA was so Mickey Mouse

that the only place
I wanted to play was Boston.

I just established myself
in Worcester,

bought an old Plymouth,
put dual controls in,

and started teaching ladies
to drive.

And we had--within a few
months, we had three cars--

three cars going
around the clock,

teaching ladies to drive.

Red Auerbach could care less
if you're a popular player.

He cared about
finding people

that could help him
win basketball games.

In 1950,
the Boston Celtics

also drafted Chuck Cooper,

the first Black player
drafted by an NBA team.

At the time, the premier outlet
for Black basketball talent

was the Harlem Globetrotters.

What gets a fan to come
to a Globetrotters game

is players clowning around

and doing these
various comic skits.

It speaks to the low status
of Black basketball

that if you are an excellent
Black basketball player,

it was assumed
that you would go play

for the Harlem Globetrotters.

Walter Brown and I decided

that Chuck Cooper
would help our team.

He says, I don't care
whether a guy is

black, white, yellow, green.

I don't care.
If he can play, let's get him.

And a sensational show
by Charlie Cooper,

as Boston wins it 80 to 74.

Remember, at that same time,

the great Bob Cousy's
in the passenger seat

with the housewives
of Worcester.

He's thinking,
I don't know about the NBA.

Cousy was on the team
that folded,

and the players' names
were put inside a hat.

My dear friend
Arnold Red Auerbach,

as Waller was
going out the door, said,

"Make sure you don't come back
with that Bob 'Cow-zee.'"

But when the Celtics go
and the only damn thing left

in the hat other than
the band was moi.

And that first year, Chuck
and I became good friends.

Hello again.

This is John McClellan
speaking to you from a table

just off stage here
at George Wein Storyville

at the Copley Square Hotel
in Boston.

Tonight, you're listening
to the Erroll Garner Trio.

Erroll Garner.

We would sit until 2:00
in the morning at Storyville

and drink beer
and listen to those soft,

dulcet tones.

And we roomed together
because we were friends.

I hadn't dealt with
the whole racial thing enough

to make distinctions,
or say,

oh, God, I'm rooming
with a Black guy.

This is only three years
post Jackie Robinson's

breaking of the color barrier
in baseball.

Give us something, Jack.
What do 'ya say, boy?

And there were moments
when Cooper felt

the stings of racial epithets.

In February of 1952,

an opponent called Cooper
a Black bastard.

Cooper, chin out, says,
say it again.

And he did.

This is a public moment.

There's a private moment

that Cousy has talked about
for many years.

So after the game,
we're in Raleigh.

Chuck and I didn't have
a lot of bad habits.

We didn't sniff.
We didn't inject.

We didn't take pills.
But we drank a lot of beer.

And we have
two, three, four beers,

and, ah, we gotta whiz.

It's the first time
either one of us,

looking for the men's room,

those big, fat, ugly signs.

I said, what do you mean

I can't pee with whoever
I want to pee with, you know?

Now, Chuck had a bizarre
sense of humor like me,

so we walked outside
and we both peed together.

We thought it was
pretty funny that we--

we did it to whitey.

Watch again as Cousy
turns the contest

into a cameraman's delight.

Six years into
Cousy's career,

Red called him the best point
guard he'd ever seen.

But they won this many titles.

We have six years
of frustration,

and Arnold said to me,
there's a guy on the West Coast.

And if we can somehow get him,
he will solve all our problems.

Bill Russell,
a 6'10" center

of the San Francisco Dons--

biggest wheel in the
collegiate basketball circuit.

My father used to say,

I don't care what you do for
your work when you grow up.

But I want you to be
the best you can at that.

The San Francisco Dons,
led by Bill Russell,

battled for the NCAA title.

The Dons' game, 83-71.

Collegiate title
and 55th straight victory

for San Francisco.

We completely dominated
college basketball.

I mean, completely and--
I mean, just completely.

And how they love Russell
in San Francisco.

The number one pick belonged
to the Rochester Royals

in 1956.

But the owner in Rochester,

who was very
sort of conservative

and worried that maybe
Russell wouldn't sign--

ultimately, he didn't
plan on drafting Russell.

There's a legend
that the reason that

the Rochester Royals
didn't draft Bill Russell

is because Walter Brown
owned the Ice Capades

and had promised that they
could have a two week booking.

But that story
is not true at all.

Rochester had already been
booking the Ice Capades.

Doggie in a new role.

The second pick
in the draft was

held by the St. Louis Hawks.

In the late '50s,

still the NBA
is a primarily white league.

Most teams have one or two
Black players on them.

The St. Louis Hawks,
they were an all-white team.

St. Louis were the,

"northernmost Southern city
in America."

Was not interested in
a Black star at all.

Russell was, to me, the
ultimate piece of the puzzle.

Not only great in defense,
but could get the ball.

The very first play that
I made, I blocked a shot,

and the referee
called goaltending.

And Red jumped up and got a
technical foul because of me.

And that was like--

I thought that was so cool.

You know, it was like,

whoa, yeah, dude.

Near the basket,
Boston has...

Russell.

Go, Russell.
Go, Russell.

Go, Russell.

Talk about
hitting the jackpot.

He was simply an athlete

playing against these
Frankenstein monsters.

He revolutionized the freaking
game with his defense,

you know?

Cousy flying.

Cousy and Russell
were perfectly

interlocking pieces
on the floor--

Russell the defense,
Cousy the offense.

Bob Cousy is
off for the basket

as Boston puts on
more pressure.

That's the genius
of Red Auerbach,

to see that the game
could be redesigned

around the talents
of the defensive players,

that which would then liberate
the offensive players.

That was game-changing.

The NBA playoffs for
the world championship

of basketball as the Boston
Celtics, Eastern Kingpins,

meet the Giants of the West,
the St. Louis Hawks.

You know, Red could
stir up a lot of mess.

Yeah, I learned

that you hit first
and worry later.

Game 3 at Kiel Auditorium
in St. Louis,

Bill Sharman
in his pregame warm-ups

convinced the basket
isn't measured right.

It's not exactly 10 feet.

Red tells the referees.

The referees bring out
the measuring tape.

And when the St. Louis Hawks
owner, Ben Kerner,

sees this,
he rushes down to the court.

He cussed me, and he took
a half step towards me,

you know, and I hit him.

Game 7 is in Boston Garden.

And like often in a Game 7,
people kind of tense up.

This is particularly true
of the Celtics' backcourt,

Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman.

The Celtics backcourt shot,

a dismal 12% from the floor.

The two people who saved them
are the two rookies,

Tom Heinsohn and Bill Russell.

No good.
The rebound by Heinsohn.

He lays it up, and--good!

Tommy Heinsohn!

Pass into Pettit.
Pettit's along the baseline.

Shoots it.
Blocked by Russell.

Russell made
the greatest play

I ever saw
in the game of basketball.

Sharman holds the ball,
and a pivot now to Russell.

Russell drives.
He lays it up and in!

Bill Russell!

And Boston leads 102-101.

Underneath now to Coleman.
It's blocked by Russell!

The shot is blocked
by Russell!

He went like
the Road Runner.

I mean, pew!

The most amazing play
I ever saw.

As Heinsohn tells the story,

it becomes more embellished
over time.

Russell's momentum carried
him off the basketball court.

Russell started at
the Golden Gate Bridge...

That man ran from
the length of the court plus...

Crossed the Rockies,
then he swam the Great Lakes.

Faster than they could
make one pass up the floor

and dribble the ball.

That's because
you just didn't see things

like that happening
in the NBA of that time.

That was
a really exciting game.

We just couldn't
put them away.

Bill Sharman takes a shot
at the end of regulation.

Boom.
Hits the front rim.

They go into overtime.

It's tied again.
Bill Sharman has the ball.

Takes a shot with no time left.

And the buzzer goes off.
The overtime is over,

and we're going to have
another overtime.

Again,
it comes down to the end.

Celtics are up by 2.

One second left to go
in the second overtime.

Hannum gets the ball,
puts it into play.

And hits the backboard.

And the ball was up
off the boards.

Almost went in.

It's all over!
It's over!

It's over!

People have poured out
onto the floor.

The Celtics are
the world champion.

That was a moment that I--

everything left me.

I mean, I was just
an empty shell.

That '57 series
still remained

the most memorable one of all.

The tension of that game,
plus it was the first win.

The NBA champions.

In 1957, I was theoretically
the best player on the planet.

We won the championship,

and I was voted by my peers

as the best player
in the league.

There's a photograph
that's taken

just moments before
the start of Game 5

of the 1957 NBA Finals.

It's Cousy at 28 and
Russell just at 23 years old.

They're so young,

and it's almost like

a message in a bottle.

It comes to shore
50, 60, 70 years later,

and it says, these are
the founding fathers.

It's a stunning photograph.

Cousy is in the foreground.

Russell is in the background.

And that's the way fans
saw that team at that time.

Russell is in shadow.

The sportswriters in Boston,
they loved Cousy.

Cousy was Catholic.
Cousy was from Holy Cross.

Cousy was one of them.

A lot of the publicity
was worthy of him.

After all, Cousy was the
greatest point guard by far.

That was one of
my big problems.

And I used to say to Russell,

it's one man's opinion.

It's not the consensus
of all your fans.

It's one guy!

Don't let it bother you.
To hell with 'em.

You know how I feel.

During the first season,
Cousy and Russell

made an accommodation
with each other

that lasted all their lives--

that neither one would ever say
anything bad about the other.

Neither one would ever
get involved in something

that would compromise the other.

This is the basketball from
the first 1957 championship.

In those days,
basketball was informal.

People signed basketballs.

They did various things.
They threw their jerseys away.

You know, now they see them
selling for a million dollars.

My first assignment
was to go over

and meet this guy,
Bill Russell.

So I said, well,
why don't we go have lunch?

Russell ordered a martini,

and I thought that was strange
because he was an athlete.

And he took the martini glass,
and he sipped it.

And he said, mm, good.

And he turned it to me with the
part where his lips had been,

and I sipped it.

Gee, it is good, I said,
but I got to write a story.

I can't drink
too many martinis.

And I think this is

Russell and me when he got
the All-Star trophy

in 1963.

He didn't drink martinis.

That was Russell's test.

When he turned the glass
to a white person,

see if they drink from the same
glass as him without thinking.

And if that happened,
he felt he could trust 'em.

We just suddenly
became great friends.

He's remarkable.

USF in the '50s, for most
of the years I was there,

I think there were nine
Black students on the campus.

And there were things
that people thought

we should put up with.

This boy walks up
to me and says,

hey, what do they
call you, boy?

My name is William.

That's my given name.

He said, well, I'm going
to call you snowball.

I said, I don't think
you should do that.

He said, well,
that's what I'm gonna do.

I says, well,
'cause you call me snowball,

I'm gonna knock
the hell out of you.

So he called me snowball, and
I tried to knock his head off.

And so the Dean of Men
called me in, and I said,

he verbally assaulted me,
so I retaliated.

And they said, that's--
well, you can't do that.

Well, I did that one.

Russell has all the tools--

quick hands,

great spring and timing,

a keen mind.

And maybe most important,
Russell is a proud man.

Russell wanted to be
the best at what he could do,

but Russell didn't worry
about his stats.

Bill Sharman into Russell,

who gives to Ramsey
for the score.

He didn't come to play.
He came to win.

There's a difference.

A lot of athletes,
they come to play,

but I'd rather have
a guy who comes to win.

Celtics win.

Auerbach's team first to clean
sweep the title playoffs.

Every minute
I played for the Celtics,

I never felt that
I was by myself

in that it was important
that we won.

My teammates were all
highly skilled,

confident, strong men.

When I was growing up, the
way the Boston Celtics played

was how we wanted to play
on the court.

There's a style
of basketball--

share the ball.

You see, what make basketball
great is there's only one ball

and only one person
can shoot that ball at a time.

And on our team,
they didn't worry about

who made the points.

The thing was to get the W.

Their unselfish
ball movement,

it can devour a defense.

And kick to the corner.
Open Jaylen 3.

Got it!

We all have to sacrifice

some part of
our individual goals.

That's the standard of what
it is to put this uniform on.

And the buzzer goes off.
It's all over!

The Boston Celtics are once
again the world champions.

The crowd is mobbing Bob Cousy

out in the middle
of the floor,

and they've raised him
up on their shoulders.

We loved to have
everybody have success.

We applauded each other.

When the Celtics drafted me,

I had said to Auerbach,
Red, I can score.

I averaged over 20 a game
in college.

I remember him
saying distinctly,

that's good for you.

But for me, for you to play
in a Celtic team,

I want you to rebound
and play defense.

Period.

So let's everybody
go after the ball.

Come on, Satch,
keep Hawkins off of there

and knock him on his ass.

The reason we were
brought together

was to play winning basketball.

If anyone felt
anything different,

they would not be on that team.

Were you
a manipulative coach?

Did you play with
people's emotions

to try to bring
the best out in them?

Oh, sure.
All the time.

He had fined Sam Jones
$100 for eating pancakes.

Red believed that you should
not eat carbohydrates

on a game day.

Silly stuff.

You coached through humor,
sarcasm,

just plain force.

You gotta change your pace
all the time.

Red had no problem
with saying things like,

and you're supposed to
be Russell, Bill Russell,

the famous shot blocker.

Oh!

Red would point to
the skills of players.

Well, once we get it,
then run.

OK, Satch?

And that's how he kept
the heat on the guys.

I used to get on Heinsohn.
I used to get on Sam Jones.

I used to get on Russell.

Guys like that.

But certain guys, you don't.

See, everybody is
a different person.

He knew talent.

He knew how to acquire it
and he knew how to motivate it.

And the result...

Tommy Heinsohn, he was a
tough guy, and he could shoot.

Tommy Heinsohn
cages another.

Sam Jones was a big play
artist in big moments.

Bill Sharman was not someone
you wanted to get mad at you.

Red knew he couldn't
get on Sharman too much

because Sharman
would coldcock him.

KC Jones was a tough defender
and beloved teammate.

Frank Ramsey,
he had this angelic look.

And one opposing coach
would say,

he'll give you that angelic
look while he murders you.

They clinched the series,
four games to one,

for the third straight title.

It starts with them.

The merger of Black stars
with white stars

is an essential show of
greatness by this Celtics team.

They're a good team.

They were good--
they were good men.

They really were.

We were family.

We had that feeling
of giving and supporting

and encouraging.

When I reflect, it was really
something just totally amazing.

I miss Dad, but I love it.

Who knew we had so much--
so much stuff?

I know.

I'm glad.

Where's the wedding pile?

Oh, yeah.

Oh, my gosh,
look how big that cake is.

It's huge.

And it was one of Mom's aunts
who made that cake.

And there's the picture
right there of the--

Who's in there?
Oh, the wedding picture.

Uncle Bill is in that,
and Uncle Willie--

This is in Freeport,
a farming community

northwest of Chicago.

And Mom said
everybody in Freeport

are like, who are these
tall people coming in here?

Kind of freaked out
the town out.

Yeah.

I'm from a very small town--

Freeport, Illinois.

And when I saw
the first playoff game,

the old Garden held 13,909.

And I looked around
at this full crowd,

and I thought, well, this is
half the population of my town.

It was shocking.

And if it hadn't been for
Rose Russell, I'd have said,

I don't think
I can handle this.

The wives were very sweet and
very kind to me, all of them.

Missie Cousy,
Diane Heinsohn, Jean Ramsey.

I loved them all.

We'd all sit together,
called the Wives Row.

You know, we kind of
took care of each other.

Deep in our heart,

there's always that
Celtics relationship.

Mm-hmm.

Not only did that
contribute to it,

but all the other players,

and the players' wives,
and the players' kids,

we were all like
this little tight knit--

- Family.
- It's family.

Yeah.
It was wonderful.

America has never
been an easy place,

far as I'm concerned,
for Blacks in particular.

When I was just a kid,
every summer,

we'd go down South to visit my
grandfather in South Carolina.

Whenever we got
to the Carolinas,

cops would pull us over
just to question my father

in a ungentlemanly fashion.

Boy, where you going?

Get out of the car.

And we'd go through
that hassle

at least three or four times
every single trip.

You know, it's interesting.

Everyone talks about
those experiences,

but everybody hasn't gone
through those experiences.

You know, having my father,

a 50-something-year-old man,
being called "boy"--

yeah, and going through that
kind of jazz as a kid,

I just never--
never got past that.

You just don't.

So my first year
with the Celtics,

Frank Ramsey was there.

I don't feel that right now
the South could support

a professional basketball team
simply because the fans

do not know enough
about the team.

And he had that
Southern drawl

that I hated with a passion.

In practice,
I would try and beat on him

every single time
simply because of the accent,

the Southern accent.

That year, Auerbach said,

Satch, you're gonna start in
the playoff series.

I remember Frank Ramsey
coming over to me

and saying...

Satch, don't embarrass me.

You're playing in my spot.

Don't embarrass me.

And after that,

we got really close because
he wanted to win every game too.

The Celtics went to
play in an exhibition game

in Lexington, Kentucky
in honor of Frank Ramsey,

an alumnus of
the University of Kentucky.

Earlier, I remember
going down with Sam Jones

to eat in the hotel restaurant.

Here's the main street
of Lexington

with a glimpse
of the Phoenix Hotel.

They just said,
hey, we don't serve--

I think we were Negroes then.

I might be mistaken.

So we alerted Auerbach,

and he went to
the management of the hotel,

and they said that, well,

we could eat there.

And it was interesting
because every once and again,

a Black person would
pass the window

and you'd see them
do one of these.

You know...

So Sam said,
we're just joking.

We're not players.

And the management
automatically said, oop!

Pulled the menus back.

My attitude was,
I'm going home.

Because if I'm
getting ready to play

and I can't get
a pre-game meal,

why should I play?

Well, we said, hey,
if you're out, Russ,

we're out.

Russell, Satch, Sam,
and KC Jones left.

But it was a perplexing moment
for the rest of us.

We didn't know what to do.

We ended up playing the game

because we had
to play the game.

Somebody had to play the game
for Frank Ramsey.

I was asked recently about
my feelings on the topic.

I--the story wasn't familiar.

And so I called
my friend Satch.

I said, Satch,
why don't I remember

anything about
the Lexington thing

that you guys went through?

He said, because
you aren't part of it.

This was the most
difficult moment

that I had playing
with Black players

and not being involved

in the most positive way
I thought we could have been.

Auerbach's the one
that ultimately drives 'em

to the airport
and voices support for them,

as does Walter Brown,
the owner of the Celtics,

as does Frank Ramsey,
who says no thinking man

in Kentucky
is a segregationist.

At the same time, the white
players play in that game.

So it's not to say
that the Celtics

were necessarily a racial
utopia, not by any means.

More so, they found
a language to work together.

Frank Ramsey
is a friend of mine,

has been from
the first day we met.

I think that his attitude
was that

you're a man,
you do what you have to do.

And I'm a man,
I do what I have to do.

And we're teammates, you know?

When we won
the championship,

I'd say,
how does it feel to be

a member of the greatest
basketball team in the world?

I'd say, what more is there?

Then they'd come back
the next year.

I'd say to them,
now they're after you.

Everybody's after you.

You gonna let 'em
take it away from you?

How tall is tall?

I'm 6 feet,
9 and 5/8 of an inch.

Is there anybody
taller than you?

You think I'm big, you
should see Wilt Chamberlain.

What's he?

About 7' 1" or 2",
something like that.

Wilt Chamberlain was
this whole other level,

completely different
from everybody here.

This is not like anyone else.

And we were afraid
for Bill Russell.

They had no way to
compare what I was doing.

It was so far out of the
realm of believability.

He was Goliath.

Literally,
people called him Goliath.

They'd never seen
anybody like Wilt.

The first time
I played against Wilt,

he got 30 points.

I got 22.

But I got more rebounds than
he did that night, and we won.

The next game, I was of
absolutely no value to my team.

I put too much emotion
into it and I drained myself.

It took me at least
a week to recover.

I could not do that.

What I must do
is play the game

that I play for the Celtics.

I always say that
Russell was like Athens.

He was the Athenian,
and he thought things out.

He thought out
the geometry of the game.

And Wilt was the Spartan.

You see him dunking on
Russell and blowing him away.

It wasn't like Russell won
every moment of every match-up

in any way, shape, or form.

But there's a whole level
of basketball brilliance

that I think Russell
employed against Wilt.

Shot is missed,
but Bill Russell rebounds,

and Sam Jones has it.

It was the preeminent story
of the NBA,

something that even
the casual fan of basketball

could grab on to
when basketball really

needed those casual fans.

Remember,
basketball is a team game.

And when I faced teams,

nobody wanted
to face me singly.

Nobody--Bill Russell
or five Bill Russells.

Which of the defeats
got under your skin?

Well--

Because he won
more often than not.

Yeah, you know,
that is enough

to get under anybody's skin,
you know,

first of all,
if you have skin.

You understand?

Wilt Chamberlain
was here a while ago.

Naturally, we talked
about Wilt versus Russell,

and he talked about you.

And he said, you know,
he still says

I couldn't carry Russell's jock,
in so many words.

I think it kind of bothers him
that you feel that way.

I'm glad it does.

- All the times we played them--
- Heinsohn.

- He always blamed the fact--
- The Jones boy.

That Russell had
good surrounding cast.

Bob Cousy, the old pro.

More often than not,
the Celtics were better.

I'll tell you one thing
that I have a quarrel with.

Yeah, well, you may
be right about that.

When I hear this, that they
always had better players--

The only difference
between the two of them

was Russell's will to win
at any cost.

To be champions, you have
to be up for every challenge.

The seventh game
of the semi-finals

for the world's championship.

He was the
consummate team player,

and everybody felt part of it.

Of course,
Russell was the prime factor.

We helped Russell
when it needed to be done.

The game comes down
to its final moments.

Uh-huh.

Sam Jones.

No doubt in my mind.
No hesitation.

I don't worry about it.

And that's the ballgame.

I was a wolf.

I knew, and they knew,

don't fuck with the wolf.

By 1962, Bob Cousy
is getting old.

Lakers have Elgin Baylor
and Jerry West.

Many assumed that
the Lakers would supplant

the Boston Celtics dynasty.

Watch West.

He taps it away.

Tries to beat the clock.

Beats--he beats the clock.

The Lakers win.

The series now progressed with
a fifth game played in Boston.

Elgin Baylor set the single
game playoff scoring record.

The scenes
we are about to see

were videotaped
during the playing

of the seventh and final game
of the World Championship Series

between the Los Angeles Lakers
and the Boston Celtics.

It was a tight
seven-game series.

Comes down to the end.

Tie ballgame in Game 7.

And the Lakers have the ball.

Obviously,

I kind of relish
those moments.

The point guard for the
Lakers is Hot Rod Hundley.

He's looking around.

He's looking around,
trying to get it to West.

He's covered.

He's trying to get to Baylor.
He's covered.

He flips it over to guy
named Frank Selvy.

And Frank Selvy is open
from about 15 feet out.

Selvy had made his living
on these 15-foot jumpers.

He was a great shooter.

I was on the bench
watching it,

holding my breath like
all the other guys.

We just knew
the party was over.

Hundley to Selvy.
His jumper on the way.

No good!
Rebound, Russell.

Overtime.

He missed a great shot.

He was open.
He missed it.

And...

We were so amazed
that he missed.

It was a blessing.

You know, nothing wrong
with a little luck.

Time running out.
Watch Bob Cousy.

He's eating up the clock.

Time ticking away,
and the ball game is over.

It's a record fourth
straight NBA title

for Red Auerbach's Celtics.

Losing is the worst thing
in the world,

and I'm not so sure
how much damage

that people realize
it does to you.

But that was the start
of something that, uh,

really, all my life
has haunted me.

It just--

why didn't that go in?

One thing I always say,

there's no magic
in professional sports.

Bounce pass to Russell.

Basket is good,
and he's fouled.

Bill Russell,
30 points and 40,

I repeat, 40 rebounds.

These guys were
great, great, great players,

and we beat them.

And so our accomplishments
were really unique, and to us,

very marvelous because
we beat these guys.

At home with his family,
his wife

and his two young daughters,
Bob Cousy,

basketball's great man

with the frozen features
and burning drive.

I wear and recommend
PF's basketball shoes.

My favorite cigarette is Kent.

I've been smoking them
for five years.

There's the great Bob Cousy,

the greatest basketball player
that ever lived.

In 1962,
after the Celtics won

yet another championship,
Cousy and Russell's fifth,

Cousy's living the high life.

Janssen International
Sports Club.

They didn't pay us much,
I remember.

But every year, we would go to
an exotic place for two weeks,

and we'd shoot
the national ads.

Yeah.

Believe it or not...

I never thought of myself
anytime of being hot.

But there's a card out
that's still selling--

I get them in the mail
every now and then--

with Frank Gifford and I
in one of these poses.

And the caption is,

boy, are these guys hot,
or something like that.

So yeah, we--

we had a good time.

At that same time
Cousy went to Hawaii,

Russell takes his children
back home to Louisiana

to see his grandfather,
Jake Russell,

who was the first man born free
in the Russell family.

Russell is now driving
through the South,

and his young children
are saying, we're hungry.

Can we have dinner?

And all these restaurants
are segregated.

This is the difference
from what Bill Russell,

the league MVP that year,
is facing in 1962 America,

to Bob Cousy

in a very different side
of that America.

"Forbes" magazine decided
to do a story on Cousy,

so they hired a local guy
to do the interview.

He commented to me,
how does it feel

to be the luckiest man
on the planet?

Well, what happened?

Well, you get to play
with Bob Cousy,

the greatest basketball player
that ever lived.

I said,
let me tell you something.

Bob Cousy is a great
basketball player.

These guys are lucky
that I'm here.

I says, they didn't
come out to San Francisco

to draft me because
they wanted to give

this nice, tall,
colored kid a break.

I'm really good.

I think I'm great.

And these guys are lucky
to be playing with me.

I said, you know that they
never won a championship

before I got here.

He writes the story,
and the story says

all of Cousy's
Celtic teammates love him

except for Russell.

He's insanely jealous.

And now,
ladies and gentlemen,

I give you the greatest--
Bob Cousy.

I know you people here
are sorry to see him go.

Well, how do you think I feel?

All I've heard recently

is how are you gonna
replace Bob?

That's my answer.

I have been asked
many times this year

what I will miss most
about no longer playing.

I am thankful to you all
for many, many things.

But most of all, for accepting
me as your captain and friend,

which has meant
a great deal to me.

I was fortunate
to receive a number

of very meaningful gifts.

The most meaningful
was this clock

from Bill and Rose Russell

with an inscription--

"May the next 70 be as
pleasant as the last 7.

From the Russells
to the Cousys."

- Here we go.
- Cousy. Russell.

Russell and I played
together for seven years,

at a time when it was
not easy in Boston

in terms of race relations.

My relationship with Russ

should have been, in my
judgment, a stronger one.

And it was my responsibility
to reach out to him

as opposed to waiting
for him to reach out to me.

I'm happy to take
that responsibility.

We all regret things in life.

OK.

My friend Bob Cousy said that
he wished he had done more.

Well, I did not
want him to do more.

I'm very, very capable
of taking care of myself.

There was so much
that he was absorbing

that Cousy never knew.

After Cousy's
Appreciation Day,

Bill Russell whispered
to Red Auerbach,

I'll never do this
when I retire.

I don't play for Boston.

I play for the Celtics.