Today in Boston Celtics history, Tommy Heinsohn was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1934. He earned All-American honors while playing college basketball at the College of the Holy Cross. In the 1957 NBA Draft, the Celtics picked him up with a territorial pick, a former league practice designed to retain local talent in the region where they attended college, though such picks no longer exist.
Heinsohn garnered Rookie of the Year honors in a draft class with teammate Bill Russell and won a title that season. He won seven more with Boston as a player while making six All-Star games and four All-NBA teams. After transitioning to the other side of the clipboard with the Celtics, Heinsohn won two more titles as Boston's head coach. The Celtics legend
remained involved with the team as a color commentator until his death in 2020, working with announcer Mike Gorman for 40 seasons.
He is the only person to have been involved with the team in some capacity for all 17 of the Celtics' titles won in his lifetime.
Historic milestones
It is also the date of a league-wide strike sparked by the shooting of Jacob Blake by police in 2020. The Milwaukee Bucks sparked the work stoppage in protest of the violence, and the rest of the league quickly followed suit.
Soon after, WNBA and Major League Baseball teams joined in, and for one day all three sports had games rescheduled.
This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Today in Boston Celtics history: player, coach, commentator Tommy Heinsohn born, '20 NBA strike
