Red Auerbach, Sid Borgia and the All-Star game

I remember years ago Bill Russell telling a sports broadcaster that he once coached an all-star game.  The sports writer asked whether it was when Russ was a player coach.  Russ replied that the team record was never good enough for him to be named all-star coach when he was player coach but that it was because Red Auerbach got ejected.

This is a link to a column about the 1984 all-star game, one of the first to have a slam dunk contest and the discontinued old timer's game in which Auerbach coached and one of the refs was Sid Borgia, who had tossed Auerbach.

http://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/29/sports/george-vecseysports-of-the-times.html

History almost repeated itself:

"Auerbach was vintage vinegar as he paced the common dressing room and snapped, ''These guys played their hearts out, they couldn't breathe, and you guys are Globetrottering it.''

Auerbach was upset because Drucker, 61, called a two-shot foul for ''unnecessary roughness'' when avocado-shaped Tom Heinsohn tried to pull down the shorts of pear-shaped John Kerr in a pivot battle of the bellies.

''Thirty years and he still doesn't belong in the league,'' Auerbach snapped at Borgia, 67, who suppressed a grin until Auerbach stormed off.

Before the game, Borgia had recalled running Auerbach out of an all-star game - ''only time it's ever been done in sports, I bet'' and had contemplated doing it again yesterday, just for fun."

Red Auerbach, the only coach tossed from an All-Star game.  He could have been the only coach tossed from an Old timer's game. That would have really added to the record of Celtics exceptionalism perhaps exemplified by Charlie Scott as the only player who blocked an opponent's free throw attempt earning himself an ejection.

Pretty safe to say that Charlie Scott is the all-time leader in blocked free throws.

Despite the continued acrimony between Red and Borgia, I have also read that Auerbach would have taken Borgia to ref a seventh game.

In the late sixties or early seventies, I was staying at the Barbizon Plaza Hotel in New York City, and I noticed "Borgia's Flower Shop" just off the lobby. So I went in, and there was Sid selling some pansies to a lady.

I introduced myself, and we had a nice conversation about the changing league (little did either of us now hadn't seen anything yet). We talked about Red, and Sid felt that Red was satiated with the desire to win and would do almost anything to come out victorious. Sid expected a certain amount of bluster or venom from Red—sort of the equivalent of giving superstars the benefit of the doubt. So Sid wouldn't usually toss Red unless Red went over and above his usual level of ref baiting OR when he knew Red was trying to get thrown out to motivate his team.

When Sid Borgia or Mendy Rudolph would referee a game, you knew if was going to be a brisk game, an exciting game, and a fairly called game. Of course, Red would try to see to it that the calls were a little fairer from the Celtics' perspective than the other team's.

Sam

Charlie Scott blocked a free throw? Wow, I never heard that one before. How? when? where?

His first year here. Scott was what some sports scribes would describe as "mercurial."

The game where he became the all time leader in blocked free throws was actually broadcast. I can't recall the opponent but Scott was whistled for a foul that caused him to howl in protest. The ref then T'ed him up

As the free throw was about to be shot, Scott sprinted into the lane and knocked the shot away. Technical #2 and ejection.

I think Scott fouled out of around 15 or 16 games that year and he did set a real record for disqualifications in the playoffs.

Be that as it may, he also played some great games, including the clinching game six against PHX after the epic 3OT game five in which JoJo left it all on the court and was running on vapors.

Sam, great story about Borgia. You get the idea that he and Auerbach developed a grudging admiration and respect for each other.

According to NBA reference, Charlie Scott was whistled for 35 fouls in the six game series against PHX. So he didn't foul out of every game as I thought he had.

Sloop,

There once was a movie cartoon in which a dog and a cat, arriving for work, punched the time clock.  Whereupon they proceeded to beat the living heck out of one another, complete with Acme bombs as in the Roadrunner cartoons.  As the cartoon ended, they punched out on the time clock.  "Good night, Ralph."  "Good night, Bud.  See you tomorrow."

That's how I view the Auerbach-Borgia saga.

Sam

Sloop

Thanks for the stroll down memory lane.

Perhaps I'm reading it wrong but the hilarious crack, "Thirty years and he still doesn't belong in the league," appears to have been aimed at Norm Drucker, not Sid Borgia. Drucker is notorious for having done something in 1962 (I think that was the year), that Red is probably still grousing about to this day up in basketball heaven.

If I recall correctly, that season, Red had amassed so many fines and ejections that Commissioner Maurice Podoloff threatened Red with suspension if he got one more ejection. This resulted in the amusing, almost unbelievable situation of "vintage vinegar" sitting on the bench keeping his mouth shut during games. The players, knowing what was going on, would tease their irascible coach mercilessly, pointing out questionable calls against the Celtics and asking why Red didn't protest on their behalf. It may have been at this time that Red started carrying around a rolled-up program, twisting it into a pretzel to let out pressure.

Red is supposed to have exercised commendable discipline and self-restraint for about 2 weeks, maybe a half-dozen games. My image is of Red pacing the sidelines wanting desperately to shout something but refraining, like Roger Rabbit trying not to say the response to the old ditty, 'Shave and a haircut,' while his lips are pressed hard together, eyes popping out, and his head swelling with the pressure, steam literally blowing out his ears. Red finally couldn't take it and got his 'TWO BITS!!!' in during a game officiated by none other than fellow Brooklyn boy, Norm Drucker.

Drucker ejected Red, the Commissioner suspended him for 3 games, Cousy filled in as coach, and the rest is history. Of course, that's something Red would never forget.

That's almost the end of the story: Drucker, who passed recently, was remembered in obituaries for one other thing that happened that season. He was the referee who ejected Wilt with 8 1/2 minutes left in a game, spoiling Wilt's perfect season.

Great story Spike. Can you imagine how hard the league would come down on a skilled ref baiter today, particularly one that manages to get ejected from the All-Star game?

Outside, thanks for finding that cartoon. Well, I had it partly right. At least the name "Ralph" stuck with me. But it was a coyote (Wile E.?) instead of a cat.

Thanks again, I saw that cartoon at the drive-in with my girlfriend of the moment, and the cartoon was the last thing I dare to remember about the evening.

Sam