22 Facts About Bob Cousy

1. Bob Cousy was close to his Celtics mentor, head coach Red Auerbach, and was one of the few permitted to call him "Arnold", his given name, instead of his nickname "Red".

2. Instead of taking the hotel room, Bob Cousy insisted on travelling with Cooper on an uncomfortable overnight train.

3. Bob Cousy married his college sweetheart, Missie Ritterbusch, in December 1950, six months after he graduated from Holy Cross.

4. Bob Cousy was a color analyst on Celtics telecasts during the 1980s.

5. At age 35, Bob Cousy held his retirement ceremony on March 17, 1963 in a packed Boston Garden.

6. The game ended with Bob Cousy throwing the ball into the rafters.

7. Bob Cousy attributed the shortcomings to fatigue, stating: "We would get tired in the end and could not get the ball".

8. In terms of playing style, Bob Cousy introduced an array of visually attractive street basketball moves, described by the NBA as a mix of ambidextrous, behind-the-back dribbling and "no-look passes, behind-the-back feeds or half-court fastbreak launches".

9. Bob Cousy scored 8 more points in the third overtime, among them a 25-ft.

10. Bob Cousy was then picked up by the Chicago Stags, but when they folded, league Commissioner Maurice Podoloff declared three Stags available for a dispersal draft: team scoring leader Max Zaslofsky, Andy Phillip and Cousy.

11. Bob Cousy was trying to establish a driving school in Worcester, Massachusetts and did not want to relocate to the Midwestern triangle of the three small towns of Moline, Rock Island and Davenport.

12. Bob Cousy turned pro and made himself available for the 1950 NBA draft.

13. Bob Cousy wrote a letter to coach Joe Lapchick of St John's University in New York, informing him that he was considering a transfer there.

14. Bob Cousy spent the summer before matriculating working at Tamarack Lodge in the Catskill Mountains and playing in a local basketball league along with a number of established college players.

15. Bob Cousy was impressed by the school, and accepted the basketball scholarship it offered him.

16. Bob Cousy was even named captain of the Journal-American All-Scholastic team.

17. Bob Cousy took up basketball at the age of 13 as a student at St Pascal's elementary school, and was "immediately hooked".

18. Bob Cousy spent his early days playing stickball in a multicultural environment, regularly playing with African Americans, Jews and other ethnic minority children.

19. The younger Bob Cousy spoke French for the first 5 years of his life, and started to speak English only after entering primary school.

20. Bob Cousy married Julie Corlet, a secretary and French teacher from Dijon.

21. Bob Cousy was the only son of poor French immigrants living in New York City.

22. Bob Cousy was the first president of National Basketball Players Association.