Trivia 12/22/10

What year did the Celtics first place the Leprechaun Logo on the famed Parquet floor at half court?

beat

That's a great question and I don't know the answer but I thought I heard somewhere that it was designed by Red's brother, is that true?

LA

As far as I know the leprechan was Red's brothers idea. So the story goes.

beat

Not sure which year, but it was probably 1950, the year Red took over basketball operations for the team.

Red's kid brother Zang was a well-known cartoonist for a daily Washington newspaper, so naturally Red tapped him to do the logo. No idea who chose the leprechaun as the mascot, but it was kind of a no-brainer.

No idea if Zang got paid for the job, either, but the two brothers started a tradition in the 1990s of meeting once a week at a D.C. Chinese restaurant, that mushroomed into a lunch club that was regularly attended by quite a few luminaries and spawned the priceless book, Let Me Tell You A Story.

One of the regulars at those lunches was Sam Jones' son. Can't remember his name but I think he was an assistant coach at Georgetown.

Aubrey is Sam's son. A really good guy. Among other things, he, along with Russ, introduced Sam upon Sam's induction into the New England Sports Hall of Fame.

Sam

The logo was placed at center court for the first time in 1973