Celtic tradition: Bob Cousy, you’re fired
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Joe Paterno gets to keep working, but former Boston Celtics great Bob Cousy doesn’t.
Cousy, considered a founding father of the fast break, received the bum’s rush via a telephone call, ending his days as a Comcast SportsNet analysis.
‘Some low-level executive called me,’ Cousy told the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, ‘and basically said they had decided to do two-man booths and they no longer needed my services. I said thank you very much, have a good year and hung up.’ Cousy added, ‘I thought I needed a little more handling.’
It’s not the first time Cousy has been treated rudely in Boston. After his senior year at Holy Cross, Celtics’ Coach Red Auerbach refused to draft him, saying, ‘I’m supposed to win, not go after local yokels.’ Cousy won six titles with the Celtics and spent the last 34 years as an announcer with the team.
But Comcast, it seems, went with a youth movement, keeping Tom Heinsohn and giving Cousy an errant bounce pass.
Cousy is 80, Heinsohn 74.
Doubtful Lakers fans will shed a tear over this. Cousy brings back too many bad memories. Celtics fans will surely note that’s what happens when you let a Philadelphia-based company broadcast Boston games.
Still, fair is fair. Cousy’s Celtics teams told the Philadelphia Warriors their NBA playoff services were no longer needed, beating them in the Eastern Conference finals three times.
-- Chris Foster
Top photo: From left, Celtics Coach Red Auerbach and players Frank Ramsey, Jim Loscutoff, Bill Russell, Tom Heinsohn and captain Bob Cousy pose during the 1963 NBA playoffs. Credit: Associated Press
Inset: Bob Cousy. Credit: Morry Gash / Associated Press
