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Boston Celtics Top 25 Moments In Franchise History

By Bill Speros

BOSTON - 1996: Red Auerbach, former head coach and General Manager of the Boston Celtics poses for a portrait in front of Celtics championship banners in Boston Massachesetts in 1996. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1996 NBAE (Photo by Greg Foster/NBAE via Getty Images)
BOSTON - 1996: Red Auerbach, former head coach and General Manager of the Boston Celtics poses for a portrait in front of Celtics championship banners in Boston Massachesetts in 1996. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1996 NBAE (Photo by Greg Foster/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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UNITED STATES – SEPTEMBER 19: Basketball: Closeup portrait of Boston Celtics Bill Russell, Boston, MA 9/19/1965 (Photo by Robert Huntzinger/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images) (SetNumber: D68529)
UNITED STATES – SEPTEMBER 19: Basketball: Closeup portrait of Boston Celtics Bill Russell, Boston, MA 9/19/1965 (Photo by Robert Huntzinger/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images) (SetNumber: D68529) /

22. Breaking Barriers

After Boston’s eight-straight NBA championship in 1965, Red Auerbach retired. Bill Russell would take charge as player-coach for the 1965-66 season. He became the first African-American coach in the league.

Auerbach’s reliance on black head coaches continued with K.C. Jones and Tom “Satch” Sanders. The move to hire Russell at head coach came at a time when Boston was still a racially polarized city and just six years after the Red Sox came baseball’s last integrated franchise.

The Celtics, 15 years earlier, had made Chuck Cooper the first African-American player drafted by an NBA team. Cooper joined Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton and Earl Lloyd as the league’s first African-American players in 1950. The Celtics and Auerbach notched another NBA first by starting an all-black lineup on December 26, 1964.

Next: No. 21

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