A very Happy 95th, Cooz

Happy birthday Cooz: Legendary Celtic and Worcester resident Bob Cousy turns 95 today
Craig S. Semon
Worcester Telegram & Gazette






Bob Cousy in the office at his home in Worcester.
Wednesday marks the 95th birthday of a living legend and the most famous man who calls Worcester home, Bob Cousy.

Cousy’s legacy is so significant in Central Massachusetts, it is celebrated by two statues in Worcester — one in front of the Hart Center at the College of the Holy Cross and the other in front of the DCU Center.

Born on Aug. 9, 1928, in New York City, the only child of poor French immigrants, Cousy spoke only French for his first five years.

When he was 13, he fell out of a tree and broke his right arm. Undeterred, he became so proficient at dribbling with his left hand that the basketball coach who had cut him twice from his high school junior varsity team in New York invited him back.



Cousy moved to Worcester in 1946 to attend Holy Cross and has lived in the city most of his adult life.

One of the greatest basketball players of all time, Cousy defined the point guard position with his behind-the-back, no-look passes and ability to find the open man. The 6-foot-1 Cousy was a freshman on Holy Cross' NCAA championship team in 1947 and became a three-time All-American. As a senior, Cousy led Holy Cross to 26 consecutive victories and second place in the National Invitational Tournament.

He helped the Boston Celtics win the first six of their 17 NBA championships. He played in the NBA All-Star Game in each of his 13 years in the league and was named the All-Star Game Most Valuable Player in 1954 and 1957. Cousy was voted to the All-NBA first team 10 times and to the All-NBA second team twice. He is most proud of being honored as NBA Most Valuable Player in 1957. He averaged 18.4 points, 7.5 assists and 5.2 rebounds in his career and is still the Celtics' all-time leader in assists, with 6,945. He led the NBA in assists eight years in a row.

Cousy’s emotional farewell ceremony took place on St. Patrick’s Day of 1963, which was the date of his final regular-season game at the old Boston Garden. With the Garden silent as Cousy choked back the tears during a speech at midcourt, a diehard fan shouted one of the most famous lines in Boston sports history, "We love ya, Cooz." Cousy burst out in tears and the crowd erupted in applause. The Celtics went on to win their sixth NBA title later that year, with Cousy heaving the game ball to the rafters as the clock ran out.

Boston Celtics and Holy Cross legend Bob Cousy speaks before the start of the WooSox season opener at Polar Park March 31.

Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1971, Cousy went on to serve as president of the hall in the late 1980s. The hall has presented the Bob Cousy Award to the top college point guard in the nation since 2004.

The first NBA player to be pictured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Cousy — who earned the nickname “Mr. Basketball” — was voted onto the NBA's 25th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1970 and the NBA's 35th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1980 and was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996.


In six years as head coach at Boston College, Cousy went 117-38 (.755). He then became the first U.S. professional coach to earn six figures, when the NBA's Cincinnati Royals paid him $100,000 a year. In 4½ seasons with the financially strapped franchise, he posted a record of 141-209 (.403). In an effort to sell tickets, he came out of retirement at age 41 to play seven games in his first season as coach of the Royals.

After his coaching days ended, Cousy was an astute Celtics broadcaster for many years.


In addition to his time in basketball, Cousy served as commissioner of the American Soccer League from 1975 to 1980.

After playing a bit part in "Blue Chips" in 1994 opposite Nick Nolte and Shaquille O'Neal, Cousy hosted the basketball movie's world premiere at the Showcase Cinemas, 4 Southbridge St., now The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts, as a fundraiser. More than $400,000 was donated to local charities.




Bob Cousy is presented the basketball by Celtics coach Red Auerbach immediately after scoring the 15,000th points of his NBA career at Boston Garden, in a Nov. 25, 1961, photo.

The movie was helmed by Academy Award-winning director William Friedkin, who also directed “The French Connection” and “The Exorcist.” Friedkin died Monday.

“The Houdini of the Hardwood,” Cousy was quoted in The Telegram & Gazette on the night of the premiere as saying Friedkin is “the Red Auerbach of directing.”

In the most memorable scene in the film, Cousy, the athletic director, and the "Western University" coach (Nolte), discuss the dilemma of staying clean while recruiting blue-chip prospects.

As the scene was originally planned, the two shoot free throws during the conversation. Once Cousy misses a throw, Nolte would take over. There was only one problem. When they shot that scene, Cousy couldn’t miss, making 21 shots in a row. In a humorous interjection, Nolte asks Cousy, "Don't you ever miss?"


Two years later, an international basketball tournament was held in Worcester in his name for players under 6 feet, 2 inches.

On Aug. 22, 2019, President Donald Trump presented Cousy with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, praising the Boston Celtics star as "one of the all-time greats in the history of sports."

Cousy, who is the first Worcester resident to receive this honor, also became the third Holy Cross graduate (following James Burke and Dr. Anthony Fauci) and fourth NBA player (following Celtics teammate Bill Russell, Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Besides Trump, Cousy has been invited seven times by a U.S. president to the White House.

Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson (twice), Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan also invited Cousy to the White House.

In 1965, Johnson presented Cousy with the Big Brother of the Year Award.


He turned down Nixon’s offer to have the AAU all-star team he coached visit in 1973 because the players disagreed with Nixon’s Vietnam War policy and didn’t want to go.

Cousy married his high school sweetheart, Marie A. “Missie” Ritterbusch, six months after he graduated from the College of the Holy Cross, where he helped his team win an NCAA championship in 1947. He spent his wedding night playing point guard for the Celtics. Days later, he left for a two-week road trip.

Cousy lost his wife of 63 years on Sept. 20, 2013. The couple have two daughters.

With a rash of semi recent passings,  Cousy and Sanders are just about the only guys left from the Celtic dynasty.    And Sanders wasn't around for some of the early ones where as Cousy was in town for a few years before winning

To repeat: "We love ya, Cooz."

Low cut black converse?

2nd pair for a dollar out of the ugly color bin at Charlie Epstein's.    If you saw someone wearing orange Chuck Taylors, you knew they had an older brother

My high school bookstore sold the "rejects" that made them a little more affordable. The bottom center of the sole had it burned in, REJECT.

Yup.  Orange.  Red.

There's a reason we called it the ugly color bin.   Probably the same reason you could get them for a dollar when you purchase a normal white one at full price

Green ones too, but that wasn't as bad because some Celtics wore green

I once had to identify my jacket. I said it had the initials "IRR" on the inside lining. But those aren't your initials I was told. I know, I said, they stand for "Irregular." That was another term for second quality where you paid less and hoped the flaw was fairly unrecognizable.

You're a guy after my own heart, many of us grew up where function had to triumph over form.
Ky, I'm not sure I could have worn one with the third sleeve regardless of discount.

Some of those early colors would 'bleed' the color into my socks!  or onto my feet if I went sockless.  But I wore them until there was a hole in the sole and and a hole in the left  big toe from dragging my foot making a layup!  I had a pair that had about 4 air holes in the side! should have been just 2..

Webster's in Hudson was another Cons irregular store.