Today in Boston Celtics history, Lou Tsioropoulos was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1930. He played college basketball for the University of Kentucky. During his time on the team, which included future Celtics teammate Frank Ramsey and fellow NBA player Cliff Hagan, the school became involved in a point-shaving scandal (Tsioropoulos was not involved in the point-shaving scandal).
After Tsioropoulos, Ramsey, and Hagan completed their fourth season with Kentucky, they were drafted by Boston (Hagan never played for the Celtics, his rights part of the package dealt for Bill Russell), but returned to play one more season at UK with a season of eligibility created by the penalty of their teammates involved in the point-shaving scandal.
After an Air
Force tour, Tsioropoulos joined the Celtics in 1956, playing three seasons for them, winning a championship in two (1957 and 1959). He averaged 5.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game in that stretch.
Birthdays
It is also the birthday of Celtics chief operating officer Rich Gotham, who was born this day in 1964 in Norwood, Massachusetts.
A graduate of Providence College with a degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing, Gotham made a career working in several executive capacities for internet media company Lycos before joining the Celtics as executive vice-president of sales, marketing and corporate development.
Transactions
Most importantly, it is also the date that legendary Boston big man Bill Russell signed a contract with the team in 1957.
Russell had not been able to join Boston until December 1956 due to a commitment to play for the US in the Olympics that year. He signed a deal with the Celtics at the end of the offseason after his rookie season with Boston.
Gone too soon
It is also the date of ex-Celtics center and coaching legend John Thompson's passing in 2020. Born on Sept. 2, 1941, in Washington, D.C., Thompson played his college ball with the Providence College Friars, from whom he was drafted 25th overall in the third round of the 1964 NBA Draft (there were fewer teams and many more rounds in that era).
He played just two seasons with Boston before retiring as a player in 1966, having won a championship in each season with the Celtics. But the future for which we remember his remarkable career in basketball had just begun. Thompson became a coaching giant at Georgetown, changing the careers of countless players and being elected to the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame as a coach in 1999.
This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Today in Boston Celtics history: Thompson passes; Russell signs; Tsioropoulos, Gotham born
