Red Auerbach

Arnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach (September 20, 1917 – October 28, 2006) was an American professional basketball coach and executive.

He served as a head coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA), most notably with the Boston Celtics.

Auerbach was also the head coach of the Washington Capitols and Tri-Cities Blackhawks.

As a coach, Auerbach set NBA records with 938 wins and nine championships.

Arnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach was born on September 20, 1917, in Brooklyn, New York.

Auerbach was one of the four children of Marie and Hyman Auerbach.

Hyman was a Russian-Jewish immigrant from Minsk, Russia, and Marie Auerbach, née Thompson, was American-born.

Auerbach Sr. had left Russia when he was thirteen, and the couple owned a delicatessen store and later went into the dry-cleaning business.

Auerbach spent his whole childhood in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, playing basketball.

With his flaming red hair and fiery temper, Auerbach was soon nicknamed "Red."

Amid the Great Depression, Auerbach played basketball as a guard at PS 122 and in the Eastern District High School, where he was named "Second Team All-Brooklyn" by the World-Telegram in his senior year.

In 1940, Auerbach began coaching basketball at the St. Albans School.

Auerbach coached at Roosevelt High School in Washington, D.C. for three years.

Three years later, he joined the US Navy for three years, coaching the Navy basketball team in Norfolk.

At the US Navy, Auerbach caught the eye of Washington millionaire Mike Uline, who hired him to coach the Washington Capitols in the newly founded Basketball Association of America (BAA), a predecessor of the NBA.

After a season at Seth Low Junior College, Auerbach received an athletic scholarship to play for George Washington Revolutionaries men's basketball in Washington, D.C. Auerbach was a standout basketball player and graduated with a M.A. in 1941.

In those years, Auerbach began to understand the importance of the Fast Break, appreciating how potent three charging attackers against two back-pedaling defenders could be.

In the 1946–47 BAA season, Auerbach led a Fast Break-oriented team built around early BAA star Bones McKinney and various ex-Navy players to a 49–11 win–loss record, including a standard-setting 17-game winning streak that stood as the single-season league record until 1969.

In the playoffs, however, they were defeated by the Chicago Stags in six games.

The next year the Capitols went 28–20 but were eliminated from the playoffs in a one-game Western Division tie-breaker.

In the 1948–49 BAA season, the Caps won their first fifteen games and finished the season at 38–22.

The team reached the BAA Finals, but were beaten by the Minneapolis Lakers, who were led by Hall-of-Fame center George Mikan.

In the next season, the BAA and the rival league National Basketball League merged to become the NBA, and Auerbach felt he had to rebuild his squad.

However, owner Uline declined his proposals, and Auerbach resigned.

After leaving the Capitols, Auerbach became assistant coach of the Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team.

It was assumed that Auerbach would take over for head coach Gerry Gerard, who was battling cancer.

During his tenure at Duke, Auerbach regularly worked with future All-American Dick Groat.

Auerbach later wrote that he "felt pretty bad waiting for [Gerard] to die" and that it was "no way to get a job".

He made history by drafting the first African-American NBA player, Chuck Cooper in 1950, introducing the first African-American starting five in 1964, and hiring Bill Russell as the first African-American head coach in North American sports in 1966.

Famous for his polarizing nature, he was also well known for smoking a cigar when he thought a victory was assured, a habit that became, for many, "the ultimate symbol of victory" during his Boston tenure.

After his coaching retirement in 1966, he served as president and front office executive of the Celtics until his death.

As general manager and team president of the Celtics, he won an additional seven NBA titles for a grand total of 16 in a span of 29 years, the most of any individual in NBA history, making him one of the most successful team officials in the history of North American professional sports.

Auerbach is remembered for being a pioneer of modern basketball, redefining basketball as a game dominated by team play and defense and introducing the Fast Break as a potent offensive weapon.

He coached many players who went on to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Auerbach was vital in breaking down color barriers in the NBA.

In 1967, the NBA Coach of the Year award, which he had won in 1965, was named the "Red Auerbach Trophy", and Auerbach was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1969.

In 1970, Auerbach was named President of the Boston Celtics, and first held the presidency from 1970 to 1997.

In 1980, he was named the greatest coach in the history of the NBA by the Professional Basketball Writers Association of America, and was NBA Executive of the Year in 1980.

In addition, Auerbach was voted one of the NBA 10 Greatest Coaches in history, inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, and honored with a retired number 2 jersey in the TD Garden, the home of the Boston Celtics.

In 2001, after having spent four years as the team's vice-chairman, he returned to the role of team president and served in that capacity until his death in 2006.