Sad News-Heinsohn

TheBillRussell
@RealBillRussell
·
21h
We were rookies together and friends for life. In life there are a limited number of true friends, today I lost one.
RIP Heiny.



Bob
MY NOTE:  Unfortunately the jpegs are too big to be seen on the screen.  Here is the original twitter feed.  You see Heiny, Russ and Red in the first pic and Russ and Heiny in the 2nd.

https://twitter.com/RealBillRussell/status/1326282179026980864


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Lots of excellent tributes out there.
I especially liked this one, from the guy who sat beside Tommy for several decades.

Tommy and Paul, both the epitome of class.

RosalieTCeltics wrote:They spent the entire night last night dedicated to Tommy.  So many interviews with players and other people involved with the Celtics at one time or another Cowens, Max, Danny, Brad, PP, Doc, Mike. Replaying games, interviews, I could not shut it off.  I feel like someone I knew well died.  They really did it up right.  So glad for him. Poor Mike, he really had a tough time

That is exactly I how I feel. The whole day I have just felt off...

At nine years old, I saw my first professional basketball game at the Rhode Island Auditorium. The Cs played an exhibition game that night, but i cannot remember who they played.

BUT, I remember a really tall guy wearing #15 shooting hook shots from the corner of the court during warmups. Of course, this player was Tommy Heinsohn, but I did not know who he was at that time.

As an inquiring little kid, I got out of my seat in the second row and walked out to the corner of the court and asked this man "Why are you practicing taking this funny shot"? He said that he takes this shot in games and he was getting ready for the game. His answer made sense as I had now been playing sports for 2 years.

When he walked off the court after the warmup, he and the entire Boston team walked right past where I was sitting with my mother. On the way back to the court this same really tall guy looked at me and said "watch when I make one of those shots".

Turned out he made two, one from the free throw line area and also one from the corner where he had been shooting them in warmups. He didn't say anything to me, but made eye contact with this nine year old kid and winked at me on his way back down court.

I became a Tommy Heinsohn fan that night, and started practicing my own hook shot the very next morning before the school bus came. I have thought of Tommy Heinsohn every time I have seen some guy (even me) take a hook shot in any game at any level for nearly the last 60 years.

RIP, Mr. Heinsohn. You have are a Boston Celtic Legend.

What a great story wideclyde. Thank you.

Great story Clyde!!!

https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-celtics/2020/11/12/tony-allen-tommy-heinsohn-tommy-point-celtics



Tony Allen described why earning a ‘Tommy Point’ was so special



"I send my condolences, man. Rest up, king."
Tony Allen (center) and teammate Glen Davis contest a Kobe Bryant jumper in Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals. Tony Allen (center) and teammate Glen Davis contest a Kobe Bryant jumper in Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals. –Jim Davis/Globe Staff

By Trevor Hass, Sports Producer

November 12, 2020 | 12:43 PM



When Tony Allen turned in a strong performance for the Celtics, he would often go home and watch the end of the game on replay with a specific question in mind: Did he get the “Tommy Award” that night?

“The more Tommy Heinsohn awards you get, it pretty much validates you,” Allen said Wednesday on the “Chris Vernon Show.”


Heinsohn, who died earlier this week at age 86, distributed the award to the player who showed the most hustle, grit, and determination throughout a given game. Allen said he tried to play hard enough each night to know that he was going to get the award.

He finished his career with 45 “Tommy Awards” – which currently puts him sixth all-time since its origin in the early-2000s – behind only Paul Pierce (139), Rajon Rondo (100), Kevin Garnett (56), Marcus Smart (54), and Ray Allen (50).

The late Heinsohn also doled out “Tommy Points” during games, and Allen – a player who consistently prided himself on his defense and energy – was always fired up when he got one.

“I got so many ‘Tommy Points’ from that man,” Allen said, pounding his chest. “You always looked for a ‘Tommy Point.’ Any Celtic that ever played in a Celtic uniform always was thankful for a ‘Tommy Point.'”

Allen, who played with the Celtics from 2004-2010 and was a key member of the 2008 championship team, said Heinsohn used to approach him in passing and look at him as though he was about to say something mean. Then Heinsohn would pat him on the back, Allen said, and tell him to keep working hard.

He gave Heinsohn a shout-out on the “Chris Vernon Show” and praised him for the effect he had on his life.

“I send my condolences, man,” Allen said. “Rest up, king.”


Bob


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Tommy lived a full and seemingly happy life in the real sense of the word. Certainly to have Russell call you a friend attests to the kind of man he was. Listening to Tommy comment on games in recent years I began to realize I was being privileged to a master class on basketball. I often thought Brad needs to hear this and from Brad’s recent comments it turns out he often did (at least when Tommy was haranguing the refs).

Tommy did lead a long life and achieved greatness in many diverse ways - NBA Champion, One of the great coaches in Celtic & NBA history, NBA HOF'er, and award winning broadcaster.

But Tommy also carries many ghosts from his early youth. He suffered from bullying by neighborhood kids causing to be an introvert. Basketball was his ticket to showing the neighborhood he was something special.

The rest was history, and a passing of a bygone era.

RIP Tommy Gun, Ack-Ack, Hieny

I'm Back!

112288

112288 wrote:Tommy did lead a long life and achieved greatness in many diverse ways - NBA Champion, One of the great coaches in Celtic & NBA history, NBA HOF'er, and award winning broadcaster.  

But Tommy also carries many ghosts from his early youth.  He suffered from bullying by neighborhood kids causing to be an introvert.  Basketball was his ticket to showing the neighborhood he was something special.

The rest was history, and a passing of a bygone era.

RIP Tommy Gun, Ack-Ack, Hieny

I'm Back!

112288

Where ya been Rich? Hope all is well

All is well!   Too much politics in sports so I had to give it a rest!  Hopefully we can watch sports without the drama again!

Thanks for the greetings.

112288

Rosalie,

Thanks for the nice greeting. Yes it is good to be back!

Hope you and your family are well.

112288

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/mike-gorman-pays-tribute-partner-163743790.html


Mike Gorman pays tribute to his late partner and friend Tommy Heinsohn


Mike Gorman

Tue, November 17, 2020, 8:37 AM PST



I remember the Celtics' first championship, I really do.

I was 10 years old and had decided basketball was going to be my sport. It was easy to play; just nail a hoop on to a telephone pole. But it was harder to follow with no internet, no games on television, and newspapers that sometimes published the box scores a day or two later.

I would read about Cooz (Bob Cousy) and (Bill) Russell and Red (Auerbach), …but it wasn’t until the seventh game of the NBA Finals against the St Louis Hawks -- which the Celtics won in double overtime to claim their first championship -- that the rookie out of Holy Cross, Tommy Heinsohn, got my attention.

How did he do that? How about 37 points and 23 rebounds in that seventh game. I can remember just staring at the box score; 37 and 23 in the biggest game of his life. Tommy Heinsohn was now embedded in my 10-year-old brain.

It would turn out to be a long stay.

Fast forward 15 years and I have my first shot at television play-by-play -- a five-game Providence College package.

At a meeting about a month before our first game, my suggestion that we approach Tommy Heinsohn for the color/analyst job was met with a lot of snickering and raised eyebrows. Why would Tommy Heinsohn want to come down here and work for us? My reply was "why not?" I got an "OK, then you go talk him into it." And so I did -- but not before he sold me an insurance policy at that first lunch.

The five-game package went well, and that following summer something called Prism secured the rights to Celtic home games. They hired Tommy to do color and he convinced Prism that this kid with no real experience was actually decent and he (Tommy) liked working with him. Enough said. I get the job. Wasn’t even a one-year contract. Just a "let's see how it goes."

Tom Heinsohn and Mike Gorman broadcast their first Celtics game together on November 11, 1981 against the Indiana Pacers.

Opening night. I'm ready. I got multi-colored notes with heights, weights, shooting percentages, rebounds, assists, anecdotes, family members. You name it, I had it. Had turned out to be the key word there.

With about five minutes to go until we are on the air, Tommy strolls into the booth -- looks at my notes and says "we don’t need this shit" and promptly tosses them over the first balcony railing -- he waited for a few seconds to let the shock pass over me as I watched some youngster run away with about 10 hours of my work.

Tommy simply put his arm over my shoulder and said "Kid we’re just going to talk about what we see in front of us" -- and we did -- and I didn’t have to know who Max's (Cedric Maxwell) second cousin was and I didn't get any "let’s see how it goes" follow up calls.

It was at that moment when I realized there was going to be a game two -- Mike and Tommy was born. Hearing my name linked with his is the pinnacle of my career.

I think what made us a decent listen all these years is that I couldn't do what Tommy did (analyze and explain) and he didn't want to do what I did: read spots, give score and time, ask questions that I really didn't know the answer to.

That last part was really important. I always wanted to give Tommy teaching moments. His knowledge of the game and ability to explain it -- second to none -- his love of the game and his Celtics -- unparalleled. Simply put, Tommy wanted the Celtics to win every game going away. If they were up by 10 -- he wanted 20 -- and if they didn't get to 30 it was inevitably the referees' fault because -- and Tommy believed this with every ounce of his fiber -- there are three teams in every game and two of them were trying to beat us.

There are so many stories I could tell: Tom's penchant for snacks during games or late at night on a darkened plane you would hear that raspy voice calling to a passing flight attendant "you got any Dove bars back there?"

Or maybe a little help with the coaching or changing the pronunciation of a players name into legitimate comedy.

Whatever the moment called for as a player, coach or broadcaster, Tommy Heinsohn was equal to the task.

Just remember 37 and 23. Tom Heinsohn lit the fire that would become Celtics Pride, and it still burns bright 60 odd years later.

37 and 23.

Rest In Peace, Tommy.


Bob


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Wow! Great piece! Game 7 Double OT, 37 and 23. Amazing fire starter was Tommy!

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