John Havlicek, 1940-2019

In the 73-year history of the National Basketball Association, only 2 players have recorded at least the following: 26,000 points, 8,000 rebounds and 6,000 assists. One is LeBron James. The other was John Havlicek.

That should summarize how good Havlicek was, to a generation that only knows Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird as executives; and only knows Charles Barkley, Julius Erving, Bill Walton and Walt Frazier as broadcasters.

Havlicek deserves more than a summary.

John Joseph Havlicek was born on April 8, 1940 in Martins Ferry, Ohio, on the Ohio River, across from Wheeling, West Virginia, and grew up in adjoining Bridgeport. This section of the Ohio Valley was dominated by coal mines and steel mills, as was Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania up the river.

His father was Czech, his mother was Croatian, and they ran a grocery store. A friend and neighbor was Phil Niekro, who would wind up in the Baseball Hall of Fame for his pitching with the Atlanta Braves. Phil had a brother, Joe Niekro, who also became a pretty good pitcher, mostly for the Houston Astros.

Also from Martins Ferry were Lou Groza, who would reach the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a tackle and placekicker for the Cleveland Browns; and his brother Alex Groza, a University of Kentucky star who would have made the Basketball Hall of Fame if not for a reason I won't discuss at this time, but it was probably unfair. Growing up in nearby Rush Run was Bill Mazeroski, who made the Baseball Hall of Fame as a 2nd baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

They also grew up within a few years of each other: Lou was born in 1924, Alex in 1926, Bill in 1936, Phil in 1939, John in 1940, and Joe in 1944. They all became friends in the intervening years. Sports Illustrated did a feature on them in 1988, calling them "The Valley Boys."

The article also mentioned some guys they would have been, if not necessarily friends with, at least aware of: Lou  Holtz of East Liverpool (who became a star football coach, especially at Notre Dame), the much-older Clarke Hinkle of Toronto, Ohio (a Hall of Fame running back for the Green Bay Packers), Bob Gain of Wheeling (a College Football Hall-of-Famer and Browns teammate of Lou Groza, born in 1929), Calvin Jones of Steubenville (a College Football Hall-of-Famer, born in 1933), Gene Freese of Wheeling (a Pirate teammate of Mazeroski's, born in 1934), Bill Jobko of Bridgeport (a star for Ohio State and the Los Angeles Rams, born in 1935), Chuck Howley of Wheeling (a Super Bowl winner with the Dallas Cowboys, born in 1936), and Bob Jeter of Weirton, West Virginia (a Super Bowl winner with the Packers, born in 1937).

Like Columbus, Ohio native Frank Howard, 4 years older and also a basketball player at Ohio State (but who chose baseball instead, and hit 382 home runs), Havlicek was nicknamed "Hondo," due to the movie of that title, starring John Wayne.

Under coach Fred Taylor, Ohio State won the National Championship in 1960, beating the defending Champions, the University of California, in the Final. This team also featured fellow sophomore sensation Jerry Lucas; a future Boston teammate of Havlicek's, Larry Siegfried; and a senior reserve, what would become known as a "sixth man," from Orrville, Ohio, who became one of the greatest coaches in college basketball history. His name was Bobby Knight.

How good was the U.S. basketball team that won the Gold Medal at the 1960 Olympics in Rome? It was so good, John Havlicek only qualified for it as an alternate. And remember, professional players weren't allowed then, so no Wilt Chamberlain, no Bob Pettit, no Tom Gola, and none of the Boston Celtics stars that Havlicek would join: No Bill Russell (who already led the 1956 team), no K.C. Jones (also on that team), no Bob Cousy, no Bill Sharman, no Sam Jones.

The team did include Lucas, Darrall Imhoff (from Cal's 1959 National Champions), Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, Walt Bellamy and Burdette Haldorson. That's 6 guys who  were eventually elected to the Hall of Fame by themselves. In 2010, on the 50th Anniversary, the entire team was elected, meaning those 6 guys are Hall-of-Famers twice over.

Lucas and Havlicek got Ohio State back into the NCAA Final in 1961 and 1962, but lost to the University of Cincinnati each time. Lucas became the subject of a bidding war between the NBA and the new American Basketball League, whose Cleveland Pipers were owned by a 32-year-old local shipping executive named George Steinbrenner. But the ABL fell apart, Lucas missed the 1962-63 season, and signed with the team that held his NBA rights, also an Ohio team, the Cincinnati Royals. He and Robertson played together for 7 years, but never won anything, because of the Celtic dynasty. He finally got a ring with the 1973 New York Knicks.

It was not a given that Havlicek would play in the NBA. He wasn't considered the best player on the team at Ohio State (Lucas was), so he kind of fell under the radar, and so the Boston Celtics were able to draft him, despite having won 5 of the last 6 NBA Championships.

But the Cleveland Browns were looking for receivers, and at 6-foot-5, he was only about average for basketball, but quite tall for football, and they drafted him. As it turned out, though, he was the last receiver they cut in training camp. So, basketball it would be.

The 1962-63 season was the only one in which the Celtics had both Bob Cousy and John Havlicek. But it's not quite like the 1951 Yankees, with both Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle, because neither Cooz nor Hondo was the team's best, or most important, player. That was Bill Russell. They won the Championship, and did so again in 1964.

"I came into a great situation where I had all the veterans around me," Havlicek said. "And, through the process of osmosis, I guess, I became one of the people they could rely on."

With a lineup that solid, Celtic head coach and general manager Arnold "Red" Auerbach decided to have Havlicek play the role that Frank Ramsey, a Kentucky teammate of Alex Groza's, played for him: That of "sixth man," the guy who could, when the situation called for it, play any position. During the 1960s, this paid off tremendously. He has been called the NBA's original "swingman."

"I think people emphasize too much who's starting," he said. "Emphasis should be on minutes played." On another occasion, he said, "Whether I start or come off the bench makes no difference to me. My game has always been go as hard as I can for as long as I can." 

April 15, 1965: Game 7 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, at the Boston Garden. The Celtics led the Philadelphia 76ers 110-109, but a rare mistake by Russell gave the Sixers the ball with just a few seconds left on the clock. If the Sixers could score, they would end (or, at least, interrupt) the Celtic dynasty, and head to the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. Hal Greer was getting ready to inbound the ball, and if the Sixers could get it to Wilt Chamberlain, that would probably be it.

John Havlicek had other ideas. Johnny Most had the call, on WHDH, 850 on the AM dial (now WEEI):

Greer is putting the ball in play. He gets it out deep, and Havlicek steals it! Over to Sam Jones! Havlicek stole the ball! It's all over! It's all over! Johnny Havlicek is being mobbed by the fans! It's all over! Johnny Havlicek stole the ball! Oh my, what a play by Havlicek at the end of this ball game!

"I knew he had 5 seconds to inbound," Havlicek said at the time. "So I started counting to myself: '1,001, 1,002, 1,003.' Usually, something has happened by then. So, by 1,003 and a half, I started to peek a little more."

The film always confused me. The player dribbling the ball up the court is Sam Jones, clearly a black man, while Havlicek was still playing when I was a little kid, so I knew he was white. If Havlicek was the one who stole the ball, why was he not the man dribbling up the court? The film shows him jumping and just tipping the ball with his hand, and Jones retrieving it. It's a "Blink and you'll miss it" play.

But it's become the most famous single play in NBA history -- due to Most doing for it what Russ Hodges did for Bobby Thomson's home run to win the New York Giants the 1951 National League Pennant, and, in each case, the moment did the same for the man -- and 2nd only to Willie Mays' catch in the 1954 World Series as the most famous defensive play in the history of sports.

The Celtics went on to beat the Lakers in the Finals, and did so again in 1966, 1968 and 1969, with Chamberlain and the 76ers finally breaking through in 1967, beating the San Francisco (now Golden State) Warriors.

Bill Russell retired after the 1969 title, but in 1970, Dave Cowens arrived, and he and Havlicek became the nucleus of a new great team. They won 68 games in 1973, but were beaten by the Knicks in the Playoffs, partly because Havlicek had a separated shoulder.

They rebounded in 1974, winning the title, and Havlicek was named the Finals MVP (an award now named for Russell). They won another title in 1976, giving him an 8-0 record in NBA Finals. Only Russell and Sam Jones have won more NBA Championships. That '76 Finals against the Phoenix Suns included the epic Game 5, which the Celtics won 126-124 in triple overtime. A regulation NBA game is 48 minutes, this one went 63, and Havlicek played 58.

He retired after the 1978 season, but could have gone longer. In his last game, at home against the Buffalo Braves -- the last game that team played before moving to become the San Diego (eventually Los Angeles) Clippers, he played 41 out of 48 minutes and scored 29 points.

That was in April 1978. Larry Bird arrived in October 1979. The Hick from French Lick (Indiana) told Hondo he would have dominated had they played against each other. Bird was not quite 23, Havlicek 39. Havlicek said, "Fine, let's go, right now." They took the court at Boston Garden. Havlicek recalled:

I made a swipe for the ball, but, in doing so, I hit him in a very tender spot. He went down, and stayed down for a good 2 minutes. I said, "That's it. You lose. You aren't tough enough to have played in my day."

Think about that the next time a LeBron fan tells you his guy is "The GOAT" because Jordan played against "plumbers" and Chamberlain and Russell played against "slow white guys."

Bird got the message. He got tougher. Still, if you're selecting an all-time Boston Celtics starting five, you take Bill Russell at center, your guards are Bob Cousy and Sam Jones, and at forward, you select John Havlicek before considering Larry Bird -- or Kevin McHale, or Paul Pierce for that matter.

In 16 seasons, he made 13 All-Star Games. His per-game averages over his career: 20.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.8 assists. He retired with 26,395 points, 3rd behind Chamberlain and Robertson at the time, and still the Celtic franchise record. His 1,270 games played were then an NBA record, which is now held by a later Celtic legend, Robert Parish, 1,611. The NBA didn't start naming All-Defensive Teams until 1969, his 7th season in the league, but he made it the 1st 8 times it was awarded.

He was named to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1984, and the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players in 1996. In 2009, SLAM magazine ranked him 17th all-time. That same year, ESPN.com columnist Bill Simmons -- admittedly, a Celtic fan -- ranked him 14th all-time in his The Book of Basketball.

Ohio State retired his Number 5. The Celtics retired his Number 17. Chris Mullin, who wore 20 at St. John's University, said he wore 17 as a pro in Hondo's honor.

Among his other honors: The gym at his alma mater, Bridgeport High School, is named the John J. Havlicek Gymnasium, and the court is named for his coach there, Frank Baxter. Pony International produced the John Havlicek sneaker line, and still does, over 40 years after his last game.

Think of the range Havlicek had. No, not his shooting range, as good as that was. When he entered the NBA in 1962, there were guys playing who had played before the institution of the 24-second shot clock. The defining names were Cousy, Russell and Chamberlain. It was still a black-and-white game -- and I'm talking about television, not race relations.

When he last played in 1978, the game had been taken over by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton and Julius Erving, and Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were just a year and a half away. Michael Jordan was in high school.

The surviving footage is in color, and, while the shorts were a lot shorter, and there's a lot less decoration on the court in terms of team and corporate logos, it was easily recognizable as, pretty much, the game that we know today, with dunks and other flamboyant moves, vertical as well as horizontal.

Hondo had to face Wilt and Dr. J. He had to face Fifties legends and Eighties legends. He faced sons of players he'd faced. He faced flat-top crewcuts and spectacular Afros. The game changed more in his time than it did in Jordan's, and a lot more than it has in LeBron's. But he was an All-Star at age 26, and an All-Star at age 38.

Perhaps inspired by his business-savvy OSU teammate Lucas, Havlicek realized that he could avoid becoming another in a long line of athletes who didn't watch their money while playing, found it gone when they retired, and struggled to get more afterward. When Dave Thomas of Columbus, Ohio, founded Wendy's in 1969, Havlicek became one of its investors.

He never held another NBA job after his retirement: Not as coach, not as scout, not as executive. He didn't want to, and he didn't need to. He did take and enjoy a role as a motivational speaker, though. And, with Bob Ryan, the Hall of Fame sports columnist for The Boston Globe, he wrote a memoir: Hondo: Celtic Man In Motion.

Like another Boston sports legend, Ted Williams, he was an avid fisherman and a big charity fundraiser. He combined these with a celebrity fishing tournament on the Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard, to benefit the Genesis Foundation for Children.

He remained married to his college sweetheart Beth, and they had 2 children. Son Chris played basketball at the University of Virginia. Daughter Jill married former baseball player Brian Buchanan.

John Havlicek dealt with Parkinson's disease the last few years, retiring to Jupiter, Florida, outside Palm Beach. He died there yesterday, April 25, 2019, at age 79. The tributes have been most effusive:

Bill Russell: "It is getting difficult each time I hear about another contemporary that passes! What is harder is when we lose guys like John Havlicek, he was not just a teammate & a great guy, but he was family. That is how our Celtics teams were."

Jerry West: "The guy is the ambassador of our sport. John always gave his best every night and had time for everybody -- teammates, fans, the press. He is simply the ideal everybody expects an athlete to be."

Bill Bradley: "For ten years, John Havlicek was my toughest opponent in the biggest rivalry in the league. Night after night he was the epitome of constant motion. He only needed half a step to beat me, which he usually did. He was the quintessential Celtic, unselfish and loyal, and through the players' union he helped make the game more just by ending the reserve clause. The only thing he loved more than the game was his family. He'll always be with them."