I got home from a hectic night of concert and venue hopping at about 12:30 (or was it 1:30 because of the time change?) and flipped on ESPNews to unwind a bit before hitting the hay. Red Auerbach was on the screen explaining his coaching philosophy and I knew exactly what that meant. Red died yesterday at the age of 89 after a heart attack. Just a few days before the Celtics season opener, which had planned to attend. It would have been his 58th opening day with the club. Respect.

Red Auerbach, the man that created Celtic Pride and the Celtics organization as we know it, was the greatest coach and front office executive the game has ever seen. His accomplishments are legendary. 16 championships, nine as a coach, another seven as general manager. He drafted Chuck Cooper, the NBA's first African American, named Bill Russell as the NBA's first African American coach and was the first coach to ever start five African Americans. In 1956 he traded two of his best players to the St. Louis Hawks for the second pick the NBA draft. The first pick belonged to Rochester Royals, so Red talked Celtics owner Walter Brown into booking The Ice Capades, which Brown also owned, in Rochester for a week long stint in exchange for allowing the Celtics to grab Russell. The rest is history.

Aurebach created the "sixth man." He drafted Lary Bird as a junior in 1978, a year before he would suit up for the Celtics. In 1981 he traded the first and 13th picks in the NBA draft to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for Robert Parish and the third pick in the draft, which turned into Kevin McHale. To this day, that trade is considered the most lopsided in NBA history. Later, he traded Gerald Henderson for a first round pick that would eventually become the late Len Bias.

Here's my favorite passage from today's Boston Globe:

In 1984, Auerbach was invited to coach an old-timer's team in the 1984 All-Star Game and was ejected for arguing with the officials. In his early years as the commissioner of the NBA, David Stern would joke to friends that he felt his real first name was Stupid because of all the conversations he had with Auerbach.

Red Auerbach, dead today at 89. I never met the man, but he brought me great joy throughout my life. Of all the sports teams I root for, the Celtics are my first true love. Rest in peace.

More coverage:
Boston Globe
NY Times
Washington Post
Red Auerbach on Wikipedia