Trivia Quiz 08/30/10

Name the only player to win the NCAA, NBA, and ABA championships.
Completely useless hint: he won his NBA ring with the Celtics.

spike

Charlie Scott?

Charlie only won with us, not at UNC or with the Va. Squires. I could be wrong, which won't be the first or last time for that, but I don't think this player exists. The only way this could be is if the ABA championship refers to the latter day minor league that operated earlier in the decade, it is not the original ABA. Curious to see the answer.

Answer is the immortal but shifty Thomas Thacker, who was in fact a member of the 1967 championship team, although he doesn't appear on many team rosters. He won the NCAA title with the University of Cincinnati and the ABA title with the Pacers. He was a classic journeyman ballplayer.

Thacker's record is one of many such odd but true records held by former Celtics, such as Bill Sharman being the only player to be ejected from a major league baseball game without having actually appeared in a major league baseball game, or Gene Conley being the only man to win major league championships in two sports (baseball and basketball), or Bill Russell being the only man to win the NCAA title, the Olympic gold medal and the NBA title back to back to back. There are others, I just can't remember them now.

Great question and answer, knew he was a celtic but did not remember him
as an Indiana Pacer, they were a great team led by Roger Brown, Freddie Lewis and Mel Daniels. Man you took me back a long way. I actually was an ABA fan (NY Nets WOR channel 9) before I was an NBA fan. Thanks for the memory and bringing a smile to my face. Long live Bill Melchionni!!!

I just read a description of the 1971 NBA-ABA All-Star Game. Brown, Daniels and yes, Bill Melchioni played for the ABA. Great league. It was tremendous for the game. And, it took Billy C out of the NBA. Rick Barry, Dr. J, the colorful balls, but best of all, those get-down, get-funky hairdos. Whatever happened to the Afro? Dr. J looks like a businessman nowadays. Even Havlicek wore long hair.

AKA "spike", I can see already I'm going to like you! Welcome to the board.

Will,

Just to clarify, Spike was a long-time member of the BDC board and has been a heavy contributor to this board virtually since its inception. He has just been on a little hiatus.

I hope he won't mind my mentioning that he's also a playright. When we traveled and roomed together on the occasion of the board's New York party, he gave me a copy of a manuscript he written for a play about one of the key figures in American history. It represents a very unique approach and a ton of research. I think it's excellent. And I'm sure Spike has many other writing gems lying around. He has shared many of them with us—many of them about Celtics history.

Spike is a great example of the immense and diverse amount of talent—much of it flying under the radar—that resides among the members of this board.

Sam

Sam, thanks for the info. Spike, I am an avid reader esp. of american history, is there any where on the web that I may be able to view some of your work, in particular the piece that Sam just referred to?

will

Thanks for your interest and the nice comments. The work Sam referred to is a screenplay about the life of Abraham Lincoln. I don't have it posted on the web because I still have hopes of selling it someday and seeing it made into a movie. If you'd like to read it, I'll be happy to send you a copy. I'm always looking for feedback, positive or negative.

Thanks for the welcome back, Sam. I've been busy writing something non-Celtics related and haven't had access to a computer. I'll try to make the most of it when I do, though.

This board means a lot to me. We are lucky to have someplace like this where we can exchange ideas. Thanks again to Sam, Beat, Pete, Gyso, 112288 and the other mods for keeping it going.