Motivation

This is dedicated to you, beat.

Although rarely mentioned in biographies, it's a tricky question: what motivates people?

There was a quote posted recently by Bobby Knight, suggesting that John Havlicek was motivated to become a great pro because of a desire to beat college teammate Jerry Lucas. Knight was a bench player on the Ohio State squad for which Havlicek and Lucas started.

Another OSU teammate, Larry Siegfried, said that it was Havlicek's clutch play in the fourth period of the NCAA Final that propelled OSU to the 1960 championship, although Lucas was given the lion's share of the credit. If Havlicek, flying all over the court, stole the ball and fed a perfect pass to Lucas under the basket, it was Lucas who got praised for making an easy layup, who got the MVP, and the invitation to play in the Olympics.

Put that way, it sounds somewhat plausible. Siggy made no secret that he himself lobbied for a greater role in the OSU offense and bitterly resented having to hide his light under a bushel. No doubt Bobby Knight would have relished more minutes. However, comparisons between those two and Havlicek falter when one takes into account the humble nature of the man they called Hondo.

At OSU, Havlicek had as many minutes as he could handle and was allowed to create his own role. He wasn't one to seek the limelight and took immense joy in making his teammates better. While nobody is immune to negative feelings such as jealousy and anger, one prefers to believe that a man like John Havlicek was driven to greatness, not by bitterness and envy, but by the desire for excellence and self-perfection.

When John joined the Celtics, he was universally considered to be shy and self-effacing. He had to be encouraged to shoot the ball; his first instinct was to pass. He briefly had the nickname, 'Country Boy'.

John's teammate/captain/coach/friend, Bill Russell, admitted (at least to Red) that he (Russell) did have a gigantic chip on his shoulder, which he called on continually in order to motivate himself throughout his senior year at USF.

In Bill's junior year at USF, he led the team to a 23-1 regular season record, unbeaten over the last 21 games. Bill averaged 21 points and 20 rebounds per game that season and was named first-team All-America by both UPI and AP. In the NCAA championships, USF won 5 in a row to take the title, led by Bill and K.C. Jones. Bill set the five-game NCAA tournament scoring record with 118 points, blocked uncounted shots, was named tournament MVP, and received the Helms Foundation award for the nations' best college player.

After all that, when Bill returned to San Francisco he was greeted with the news that another player, Ken Sears of Santa Clara, had been named the Player of the Year for Northern California by local sportswriters. Bill was hurt and justifiably angry. Even so, he attended the awards ceremony and delivered a gracious speech, praising Sears and demonstrating to the world what a great-soul and great-heart were at the bottom of his success.

That didn't prevent Bill from using the sportswriters' slight as supreme motivation. The following season, Bill led USF to an undefeated season and a second consecutive NCAA title - not because of Kenny Sears, but definitely in spite of him.

Sometime after Bill joined the Celtics, Red Auerbach, street psychologist and master manipulator, drew Bill out about the Kenny Sears slight and used it himself to motivate Bill. It only took them so far, however, and eventually, after one championship after another, it became a private joke between the two.

Bill would say, "I'm so angry!", and Red would say, "Not that Kenny Sears thing again."