Red Auerbach
From ArticleWorld
No coach has done as much as Red Auerbach in such a short amount of time. He has won a total of 9 NBA championships as a coach and eight of those consecutively with the Boston Celtics. His Washington Capitals had the highest win percentage for 20 years, and held the title for the most wins as a coach until 1994.
Contents |
Coach
Arnold Jacob Red Auerbach coached for twenty years and has gained most of the awards that were available in surplus. He would only coach three teams, but in that stretch he would win 938 games, the most ever until Lenny Wilkins beat that total in 1994.
He started as a head coach of the now-defunct Washington Capitals from 1947 through to 1949. They would win two division titles and hold the most winning percentage in 1947 at 81.7%. This would stay for twenty years. In the 1949 and 1950 he would coach the Tri-Cities Blackhawks.
Celtic pride
From 1950 through 1966, Red would coach the Boston Celtics. The Celtics were among the first in the league and were hungry for a title. Not only did he bring them to that in 1959, but he got them to go for eight consecutive titles until he stepped down. This is the longest run in the NBA history of NBA titles.
Even the one man that is tied as a coach with titles, Phil Jackson, has admitted that it is near impossible to keep the focus on a team when you have won multiple titles. The team doesn’t take it as serious as they should, as he had explained after the Lakers were eliminated from the fourth title a few years back.
Currently
Red Auerbach is currently the president of basketball operations for the NBA’s Boston Celtics. Whether he will ever coach is unknown, but doubtful. The doubts are due to his health, Red has been in and out of hospitals for the past few years and has been spending more time in than out.
Youth
Red has devoted much of his current time with the youth and in contributing to the younger members of society. He has devoted more time and money than anyone else in Boston to the youth.
Categories: 1917 births | American basketball coaches | American basketball players | Atlanta Hawks coaches | Basketball Hall of Fame | Boston Celtics coaches | Boston Celtics | People from Boston | People from Brooklyn | Duke Blue Devils men's basketball coaches | George Washington Colonials men's basketball players | High school basketball coaches | Jewish American sportspeople | George Washington University alumni | Living people | National Basketball Association executives | Washington Capitols coaches