November 12, 2025 • 47 mins
Bill Russell, Tommy Heinsohn and KC Jones told stories for decades about their basketball dynasty during the 1950s and 1960s. But what was it like growing up as one of their children during those epic dynasty years?
Karen Russell, Paul Heinsohn and Bryna Jones, who are children of those three NBA legends and Basketball Hall of Famers, came together for a special episode that revolved around that exact topic. Amid the conversation, they discuss parallels between those great dynasty teams,and the teams of the present that are headlined by Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.
00:40: Growing up as a kid during Celtics dynasty years
03:02: Differences between being a Celtics kid now, versus back in the day
08:30: How social media reconnected the “Dynasty Kids”
11:33: Why KC Jones is under-appreciated, and how Red Auerbach respected his players
14:12: What it was like having an NBA coach as a dad
22:35: The care Russell, Heinsohn, Jones and the Celtics had for one another
23:50: The Celtics dynasty teams used to do what?!
26:55: Reflecting on the Celtics City docuseries on HBO
30:28: Remembering Bill Russell saying in the 1969 Finals that the Lakers’ balloons wouldn’t be dropped
31:18: Detachment from their fathers due to the team travel
34:15: Discussing the current players and their kids, including Jayson and Deuce Tatum
39:30: Why are they and their families such fans of the current Celtics teams?
44:55: Seeing their dads’ numbers hanging in the rafters never gets old
Karen Russell, Paul Heinsohn and Bryna Jones, who are children of those three NBA legends and Basketball Hall of Famers, came together for a special episode that revolved around that exact topic. Amid the conversation, they discuss parallels between those great dynasty teams,and the teams of the present that are headlined by Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.
00:40: Growing up as a kid during Celtics dynasty years
03:02: Differences between being a Celtics kid now, versus back in the day
08:30: How social media reconnected the “Dynasty Kids”
11:33: Why KC Jones is under-appreciated, and how Red Auerbach respected his players
14:12: What it was like having an NBA coach as a dad
22:35: The care Russell, Heinsohn, Jones and the Celtics had for one another
23:50: The Celtics dynasty teams used to do what?!
26:55: Reflecting on the Celtics City docuseries on HBO
30:28: Remembering Bill Russell saying in the 1969 Finals that the Lakers’ balloons wouldn’t be dropped
31:18: Detachment from their fathers due to the team travel
34:15: Discussing the current players and their kids, including Jayson and Deuce Tatum
39:30: Why are they and their families such fans of the current Celtics teams?
44:55: Seeing their dads’ numbers hanging in the rafters never gets old
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Well, folks, we have a very special edition of you
from the Raptors today. I believe the count is thirty
one championship rings between the three of these and their
parents and their fathers. Who are They established a dynasty
back in the day and now they are carrying it on.
Karen Russell, Bill Russell's daughter, Paul Heinsen, Tom Heinsen's son,
(00:32):
and then we've got Briana Jones Casey Jones's daughter. What
an unbelievable opportunity for us to talk to the three
of you today and listen. We've had a lot of
kids around the Celtics over the last few years. Horford's kids,
We've got Deuce Tatum, We've got Derek White's kids. What
was it like for you guys to grow up around
the Boston Celtics and being around your dad's playing And Karen,
(00:54):
we'll have you tee this up here.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Well, I don't have a lot of memories of watching
my dad play, but I do have memories of our
Christmas parties with the Bruins, and all the Bruins' kids
could really skate like they you know, shot out of
the womb on skates, and all the Celtics kids were.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Very awkward.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
So it sounds like you both remember that.
Speaker 5 (01:16):
Oh yeah, brought back a memory, like I hadn't thought
about that all the time. But you know, the funny
part about that is I remember our dads because I
was always told that they couldn't be on the ice
contractually because from Jim Warmboard Torpusny and then oh no, no, no,
you can't be on the ice on.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
So okay, so they had to they had to sit
back and watch you guys try to figure it out.
Speaker 5 (01:40):
Well, they were out there. My dad was out there
with a chair, one of those old wooden things that
they had in the garden way back when.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Oh my god, what do you remember about growing up
around the Celtics organization.
Speaker 6 (01:51):
I remember the dads every one's dads, but off the court,
and how lovely they were and how friendly and and
the one that I'm most famous for is when dad
was retiring as a player and I was a kid
bouncing all around thinking that the photographers were my friends,
and so I was jump here and jump there. My
dad was about to break up and cry, but then
(02:12):
he saw me acting a fool and he goes, oh,
this is great. You know, go ahead, and so I
just I just remember that and Uncle Bill picking me up,
Karen's dad picking me up, and I tried to honk
his nose and he would have honked, So I went
back to my dad to honk his nose. So I
remember that being, you know, acting like that.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Daddy Casey were.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
College roommates, right, so you know our families and her
parents moved in with my parents after they got married.
Speaker 6 (02:36):
Yes, because they couldn't afford when he got to the subtests.
He couldn't afford at the time to have a place
to live. So they said, let's give me move it.
I mean, you all offered for us to move in
with you. I wasn't there yet, but my dad and
mom moved in.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
That would have been a heck of a household.
Speaker 6 (02:53):
Yeah, so that was a blessing and that's that my mom,
I'll still talk about that to this day, that she's
so blessed to have them in our family. And as
part of.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
That, you call them Uncle Bill.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
So I'm really curious just about the relationships that you
guys established with the other dads around the team, and
maybe some of the guys who actually weren't fathers at
that time.
Speaker 5 (03:14):
I think that the way we were all raised, first
of all, we were never really put out in front
of any of this. Our families kept.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Little different than stadium he's on, he's on ESPN, ABC.
Speaker 7 (03:30):
I would read and felt, if you were out there
taking layups, no, no.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
No, I will tell you that it's it's a blessing
and it's a curse. And Deuce is going to learn
that later in life.
Speaker 7 (03:43):
Unfortunately, every night I elbow Max, I'm like, hey, how
would Bill Fitz do with this?
Speaker 8 (03:48):
Right now?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Well, and you know, from Celtic City, my family had
constant death threats, right, and so it was an effort
to keep our family safe. There's that famous story of
them coming in and spray painting, and I always joke
about breaking all of Daddy's trophies, which actually took a
lot of work, and then you know, defecating in my
parents' bed. But I was telling these guys a story
(04:12):
that my dad never left lost his sense of humor.
So he was mowing the lawn one day in reading
and this guy pulls over and he's like, hey boy,
how much do you charge to mow the lawn? My
dad doesn't miss it, beat me says, they don't pay me,
they let me sleep with the woman who lives here,
(04:33):
which was true.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
So he didn't go like that.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
But you know, my parents were joyful people despite those things,
and so you know, having a relationship with having the
family really helped them.
Speaker 5 (04:52):
That's what my mom always talked about in that. You know,
we talked earlier about the Koozies, and my always talked
about this the wives role, and that was what was
really unique about the Celtics back then is the other
teams tried to keep the wives separate, and Red always
had them basically under his thumb so he could watch them.
(05:13):
But the bond that they all, you know generated it was,
you know, babysitting for each other. And there's different age
groups between us.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Missy Coosey was the queen Bee, and so when people
came into town, the wives, and she made a special
effort actually with the black women, knowing that they might
be adrift here, people coming from the South, people coming
from small towns, and so, you know, I think that's
one thing that's unique about the Celtics is that we
(05:43):
still continue to be a family.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree. I mean we were we were
not sitting with each other all of our lives. But
I feel like I could pick up the phone and say, hey,
I need a favor. Yeah, you know, and you know,
or you know, there are things that we have in
common that I'm not even sure that the players today
(06:07):
have in common, you know, because the game, you know,
they were they were just trying to really establish the
game back when our fathers were part of it, and
you know, it's you know, it's vastly different from what
it is today. I know. I know my dad instead
of playing in the Olympics with your dad, he went
(06:27):
out on a tour with the Harlem Globetrotters and they
had ten games. They got two hundred bucks a game,
and my grandfather always used to moan abize, so that
was the most morning. That was more money than he
had ever made in his life. And my dad did
it in ten games and so the money was was
always good. But you know, my dad sold life insurance.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
My dad sold the cards, you know, and they all
were the same dealership.
Speaker 6 (06:55):
Connected with my godfather, Yes, John Mellon.
Speaker 5 (07:00):
Who's a curdular he was.
Speaker 6 (07:02):
He was the executive of Forward at the time and
so he helped get supposed to be black with the
same thing. Black players to get another more income and
any other player.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
Because we had all those because dads Pontiac right.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
And the fighters didn't get endorsements in the same way
that you know. And also, you know, I have the
honor of working with Paul's dad on the Bill Russell statue.
And when Paul and I were reunited last year, we
were standing un lucky and he had me laughing for
two minutes straight. And he is definitely a chip off
(07:36):
the old block. Because not only was your dad just
an incredible artist and I love the statue, but you know,
he brought his artistry and we toured, We went to
go see Red Statue, We went around town. But like
our meetings were so much fun because of your dad.
Speaker 5 (07:55):
Well, he definitely was a character.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Watching and hear I think everyone knows that very well.
Speaker 5 (08:03):
Wait, oh my god, the pictures I got of him
in the seventies, It's like, I'm embarrassed now.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
That's a great thing about Bravado is what he was carrying.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
All those pictures. That's how I met Bryana on social
media through images, yes, and we kept people kept posting
these amazing images of our fathers that we'd never seen,
and then well, you should tell us why we are here.
Speaker 6 (08:30):
Oh.
Speaker 5 (08:30):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (08:30):
So one day on Twitter, I was talking my favorite
book Folks, Frosty Bias and Larry Bird's mullet Larry, and
I said, we're going to go to the game. My
brother Steve Curly, who's known are back and my dad
since nineteen sixty nineteen fifty nine. And I said, we're
going to the game. And then a DM came in.
It was from Karen. I want to go with you too, well,
(08:52):
come on, And then here comes Aubrey Jones, Sam Jones's
oldest son. I want to go too, Oh, come on,
And so we got the group together, made it out
there and Paul goes, well, I'll be there because I'd
be at the gate. And then that's how the first dynasty.
This was two years ago.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Yeah, it was four twenty one, the year that the
Celtics won.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Okay, twenty twenty four. Yeah, yeah, I can't even think.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
And my friend Lawrence O'donnald who's the NSNBC host who
is from the Dot. He got reunited with Mike Gorman
because they grew up in the same neighborhood and they
hadn't seen each other in like forty years, and he said,
oh my god, Mike Gorman was.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
The guy in the neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
He was the best baller, shocking he could. He was
the West best dressed. And so Lawrence is over in
Africa now, so he was. He is an honorary Celtics
kid and that's one of his badges of honor. Yes, yes, what.
Speaker 8 (09:46):
Is remarkable about social media bringing you together?
Speaker 7 (09:49):
You've already talked about some of the darkest moments of
our society that you and your dad and your family
had lived through, and social media today oftentimes is the
darkest part of the society we have. And yeah, it
not only has brought you together, all right to tell
everyone how you for this began because you went to
social media to post pictures with your dad.
Speaker 6 (10:09):
That's true. I was posting a lot of before this.
I was posting a lot of TV shows that I loved,
The Mandalorian, Hawaii, Fi Bo, Psych and all those good things.
And so I was always talking to those folks and
became really good friends of that fan base, which I
still am. And then when my dad passed, I was like,
you know what, I've always been quiet about who my
father was, and a person that myin nameless kept on saying,
(10:34):
nobody wants to know about your father. This was in
a different state, nobody wants to hear about nobody knows
him anything like that. Yeah, thank you. And so after
he passed, I said, you know what, I'm going to
start talking about that. And that's when those three Frosty Bias, Honest,
Larry and Larry Bird's mullet started talking to me and
they're like, hey, what about this? And they started asking
questions about that, and I said, you know, that's a
good question. Let me answer it. And then more people
(10:55):
started following. And that was August. That was August before
he passed, August twenty twenty. I don't forget, and so
they would, I said, ask any more questions because Dad
was so quiet. I didn't even know about things until
I became sixty about what my dad did. So that's
how it started. And then the more after Dad passed,
and then the Celtics you know, share but he passed,
(11:17):
and after he told him, of course, and then all
of a sudden, Jim Palmer came and said, oh, your
full and all these other athletes from different NFL and
MLB was reaching out and I was like, oh my gosh,
well I'm gonna just keep doing this and talking about that.
So that's how it shipped.
Speaker 7 (11:33):
The beauty of it to me, specifically with your dad
is that he was always the one who was unappreciated
as a player on these great teams and then and
isn't it funny how history always repeats. Joe Missoula in
twenty twenty five is looked at as a coach. Well,
he just has great players, so everyone looks past him
as a coach, And it's funny. It wasn't there another coach, Yes,
there was who had the exact same thing.
Speaker 8 (11:55):
Do you think.
Speaker 7 (11:57):
Through Celtic City, through everything we deal with now social
media looking back and people understanding a little bit more
of the nuances now that your father's legacy has grown
because of it.
Speaker 6 (12:06):
Absolutely, And thank you for bringing that up, because again,
just like you said, oh, he just has Larry Bird
on there, you could just you didn't have to coach them.
I said, it's the egos. They already know how to play,
but to play as a team, because some teams aren't
doing very well, but their ego management, you know, So
it's no skill. Yes, all the men, you know. So
(12:31):
something that.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
My dad always talked about Red was that he it
wasn't so much excess and noise. In fact, I remember
him talking about coming back to the highline. Anybody got
an idea. It was he knew how to stroke one guy,
beat another guy whatever. Absolutely and put you know, put
the egos to use for the team. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
I think you know, Red was the first coach who
was kind to my father and he kind of said,
you know, I'm not quite sure what it is doing,
but you.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Know, keep doing keep doing it.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
And I think the fact that he did treat people differently,
and everyone's motivated by different things. You know, some people
are visual learners, some people need to read, and I
think he was had high emotional intelligence to be able
to figure out which buttons to push to motivate people.
Sometimes he would let my father not practice, which I
knew irritated other players like well I was Russ not practicing,
(13:27):
and like, well, when you're a Russ, you cannot practice.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
I remember my dad specifically talking about that. Yeah, and
what but he said, he says, well, what's played every
minute of every damn game? So why what did he
need to practice for and he would build Russ what
did he need to practice? And so at least my
dad understood that. I don't. I'm not sure if that
was him as a player understanding that or him later
as a coach understanding what he had to do.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
There was no load management.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
That he didn't have to practice the times there were
ten guys on the roster back then, right well, and.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
I'm a hooya.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
So poor John Thompson played backup center for my dad,
which I think is probably a very thankless you know,
a few years for him.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
You know what's interesting that I'm just thinking about now
and it hadn't done on me before. We're sitting here
and I'm listening to you guys, is that all three
of your fathers were also coaches of the Boston and
very successful at that.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
All three led the team to champions championships.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
It's one thing growing up as the son or daughter
of a professional athlete, but it's probably something else that
they're also coaches. Did you feel like you were coached.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
By your fathers as you were growing up. I feel
like that always penetrates into the personal life as well.
ChIL Missoula.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
I'm sure isfter feeling that right now, so's the medium.
Speaker 8 (14:48):
By the way, I.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Went to live with my dad at eleven, so a
single dad at eleven, and everything was Dad, I have
boy plumps number one, number two, number three, Dad, I
need a braw number one, number number three.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
He always had those three lessons.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
I have to say at a time, you know, when
there's some challenges with history, you know, we are so
proud that Daddy was the first black player coach and
the first I think player coach.
Speaker 6 (15:23):
Yes, the.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Coach and the first player coach for the Celtics, and
that's something. But I will say when I was writing
his biography, the Medal of Freedom, his most favorite title,
which is a title that has not been shared by
as many people, was captain of the Boston Celtics because
he said his blood ran green.
Speaker 8 (15:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
So, but and then he was the coach of the
sawn next growing up.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
So and I was the.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
First ball girl in the NBA because I knew someone.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
But it was fun.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
Here.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
I remember one time because I was very diligent, I
was very nerdy, so you know, someone was really sweating.
So it's at the top of the key on my
knees and all of a sudden, I look up and
it's a fast break and there's ten giant men running
towards Yeah, and I look at my dad. He looks
at me, and I just like levitated out there.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
But you can see the look on his face. My
baby's baby trample the dads coach. I'm sorry I went on.
Speaker 5 (16:32):
I you know, my father taught me more about basketball
than I realized. And you know, I played football and
basketball in high school. I got recruited at Division one
level for both, but football was my was my destiny.
And then Memorial kids. But back in the day, you know,
(16:55):
I could virtually drop his playbook at this point, and
that what he passed on to me. And then I
started coaching on girls basketball third and fourth grade baths
and the first time I remember walking into the gym's
parochial school in Walpole and the team was losing by
like fifty points and they hadn't gotten the ball over
(17:16):
half court and I'm like, oh my god, this is
you know, so I volunteered. Then I ended up that
sounds like me.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
I was just going to.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Again, sorry to interrupt, and I'm just thinking that that
happened recently.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
That's a whole other story continue.
Speaker 7 (17:36):
Sorry, but podcast, but I didn't realize how much he
taught me.
Speaker 5 (17:42):
And then, you know, and then I applied that what
I was able to teach other kids, and I thoroughly
enjoyed that. But a lot of it all comes back
to there was a certain steal to what they were doing.
They were all tough men emotionally and physically, and that's
(18:04):
what I remember my dad trying to pass on to mate.
Was not so much the exes and the oils, although
I learned a lot from that. It was you know,
somebody hits you with an elbow in the head, you
hit him back. And that was my dad, you know, So.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
That was more of a lover than a fighter.
Speaker 5 (18:22):
My dad would throw down with anybody.
Speaker 6 (18:27):
My dad would quietly throw down. But for my dad
teaching me, I was when I was one year old,
one and a half years old. On those pictures when
you see Dad retiring, people thought it was four cause
I came up to his hip and they're like, oh
you sure, I thought I just I was about to
turn too, so as you could tell, I was gonna
be a tall girl. So when I was in I
refused to go to his camp to play. He had
(18:49):
a camp every year. My brother had no choice. Until
he was two, we had a basketball in his hand,
so he was playing all. He was a professional by
the time he was sixteen. But for me, I was like, no,
I'm not gonna play. I'm gonna be an artist. I'm
a flautista. That's it. And and then I was embarrassed
because when I had to play for elementary school or something,
I was horrible. So seventh grade that you know, are
you going to play? No, I'm going to play.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
No.
Speaker 6 (19:10):
So he was very gentle. And on the eighth grade,
Dad goes, you're coming to my camp, and you have
to do something with your height because.
Speaker 8 (19:16):
You were getting tall. That's it, you were getting tall.
That's why.
Speaker 6 (19:18):
Okay, that's exactly what I was. Six feet in seventh grade,
six feet.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
In sixth grade.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
She's an inch taller than my fourth grade teacher here
in Massachusetts. I will tell you the first game my
dad came to in sixth grade, I fell away from
the three times by the end he turned sideways, and
(19:50):
then by the end he turned all.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
He wouldn't.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
Your time was kind to you. My dad was. My
dad would sit behind my coach in high school and go.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
S sounds about it.
Speaker 8 (20:05):
I heard him say that word.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
I see.
Speaker 6 (20:10):
My dad again was a gentle the juntle one. So
when he took me to a camp and then he
had to teach me to do a layup, teach me.
Speaker 8 (20:17):
And I was awful.
Speaker 6 (20:18):
And my brother was there he could test because again
my brother was already coaching by that time and he
was still in high school. And so I the first
two days I cried. I was too embarrassed to say,
this is my father's camp that you all are coming to,
and I can't play anything. I can't do nothing. And
then by the third my brother's no, you take the
ball and don't just give it to you. Just said okay.
So the next game, somebody tried to get the ball
(20:38):
for like a jump ball, and I went and that
girl flew over all it was a friend of mine.
Aunt I flew over and she goes, oh my god,
and that said, oh, I'm sorry, but this feels good.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
You know, yeah, this is not like you know, yes,
you know sympathy for NEPO kids, but our dads did
cast white child. Yeah, you know, I people sometimes you know,
I was a basketball player and I was a debater,
but you know, there were different paths, and I understand
why people didn't necessarily follow and their dad's what stuff's
(21:10):
like your football, Yeah, because it's you know, it's.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
Not the easiest path to watch with Bill Russell, Tom Hines,
Casey joneson, you know, no complaints about it, but it
definitely was something that you know, you had to respect
and you had to learn how to keep your mouth
shut and carry yourself with a certain amount of dignity.
(21:38):
You know. I didn't always do that when I was
young here well.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
And it's funny I recently have become friends with fans
and with sports writers, with people who you know, were
sort of like the enemy growing up right that you would,
you know, And it's been so wonderful to spend time
here in Boston, and my family was here.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
I was here with my nieces and nephews.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Recently with the unveiling of the Bill russege amazing with.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
The governments probably a couple hundred feet away from us
where we are right now, truly amazing, how.
Speaker 8 (22:06):
Poetic by the way that it's a bridge.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Yes, And I wrote an op ed in the Boston
Globe about how Bill Russell was a bridge, and he
was a bridge. And I am so happy that the
community has recognized this. I mean, he didn't like you know,
he was an extroverted introvert, but I think he would
be happy because it's also beautiful and it has the
(22:30):
bust lane and the bike lane means and so that
was wonderful.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
You know. I think that one of the things that
has to be said is how much our fathers all
really cared about each other. And I will tell you
that I heard from Bill, I heard from Sam, you know,
I heard from the Ramses, the Woozies as my father was,
(22:56):
you know, as he was dying, and they they all
there was a genuine bond that I don't think. I don't.
I don't even know if players today have that with
their teammates.
Speaker 7 (23:11):
They have cell phones on the buses, right, they also
weren't going through the same circumstances that they these guys are.
They deal with their own different hardships right in the
world of twenty twenty five. But it's not the whole
team can't stay at this hotel. The different kinds of
hardships that bonded this group together.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
I'm going to tell you a funny story I don't
know if you I'm.
Speaker 7 (23:33):
Already laughing, because before you even start, I want I
don't want the moment to pass.
Speaker 8 (23:40):
When you hear Karen laugh.
Speaker 7 (23:42):
You hear the unmistakable, unforgettable of your dad, and that
lives on and that's magical.
Speaker 5 (23:49):
Yes, So, way back in the day, they used to
play I forget how many preseason games, and they used
to go up into New Hampshire, Mainemont, and they didn't
have a team bus, so they used a carpool and
they talk about my dad would talk about how bad
a driver, and so.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
Our friend Jeff Twist can tell us about.
Speaker 5 (24:14):
But my father was telling the story I just took
off me. So they're they're driving up and through the
back roads of wherever, New England someplace, and there's one
of those old gas stations, you know, with a cover
on top, and they're they're they're in a car there,
they're all carpooling and they're shooting bottle rockets out the
side of the car at each other and they're zooming
(24:35):
through the gas station. And what that brought to me
was these are just young guys. They and they were
having our ball and they were teammates and much more
teammates than they were pros. And I think that and
that's why I tell the story, because I think that
makes the difference between what what they were and what
(24:58):
they are now.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Back before email, before cell phones, you could call twice
a year from red hour box.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Where are you? I was Georgetown? What are you doing?
What's your job?
Speaker 2 (25:11):
And I still think. I mean, like, there was hundreds
of kids that he was you know, old school, did yeah,
you with a letter letter open, you had plenty of those, yeah, yeah,
And it's remarkable.
Speaker 5 (25:27):
But he was much nicer to you guys.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Haircut.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
He is really the scariest person.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
And his daughter says he's a pussy cat. I know
people are intimidating by my dad, and I'm like, he's
a pussy get but read our boxcar. Yes, I never
called him anything, but mister mister never never read.
Speaker 6 (25:50):
Everybodys nod called the uncle's uncle, sax, uncle Willie.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
There was a little bit of.
Speaker 5 (26:02):
My family was all very much no, it's mister, it's missus.
There's no familiarity here. So my my parents were very
strict about the social norms and being in public. And
you know, so I love your dad too.
Speaker 6 (26:21):
I loved when when Dad would hang out with mister
Hinson right out of mister hinesl going to Twan Desert
and he's eating and he was having a ball. Then
he would go with Uncle Bill and either be one
or two things. It'd be Bill, yeah, and they'd be eating,
and then the next time you get together, they're silent.
Just so it was you know, because that was from
(26:43):
when they're in college.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
You know, lived with Casey for three months before Casey
said a word to him.
Speaker 6 (26:48):
The first words were past assault and he goes, he's
not new. I can't believe he could talk.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
And then there were I think the other thing too
that I loved about Celtic City too is you know,
my dad, I think would be ninety one this year,
and I think there was this idea that Bill Russell
didn't like Boston and Boston didn't like Bill Russell. And
I do think that that Dart Adams in Celtic City
established that.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
The black players were having.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
A great time in Black Boston and Black Boston loved them,
so that there was a difference. You know, there was
suburban but there was this also this cultural life.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
So you know, I'm.
Speaker 5 (27:25):
Proud, but I'll tell you my dad talks about fondly
about going with your dad and your dad into Harlem
to listen to jazz when they'd go down and play
the next Yes, yes, you know, so I think there
was there was more.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
There was more, yeah, but I'm just saying there was. So.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Lenny Wilkins just had a we had had a statue
in veiling in Seattle for Lenny Wilkins, and Lenny told
me that when he was here on the here playing
a game against the Celtics, that my dad said, please
come over to the house because in that era, some
of the players from other teams didn't feel safe going
out to eat. So, you know, I grew up in
this crazy household where Muhammad Ali taught me how to box,
(28:04):
you know, ROBERTA.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Flock taught me piano, my hands.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
At World about me.
Speaker 8 (28:09):
But you don't know what you don't. Yeah, my son
grew up on this. I'm flying on the team plane.
Speaker 7 (28:14):
He doesn't doesn't think it, wouldn't think anything of it,
because why would you.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Yeah, So you know, there was this cultural thing also
going on at that time, and that's when sort of,
you know, my daddy became more radicalized and did sit
ins and other things political.
Speaker 5 (28:28):
So you know, I remember going to a party at
your guy's house, and I remember how good of dancer
your dad was, and I remember the being and listening
to I think it was the fourth tops in world dancing. Yeah,
and that's there. There were there was a point in
(28:50):
time where I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. And
I think that what I learned from all of your
father's was that everybody's people.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
We have more.
Speaker 5 (29:07):
Right absolutely, And and you know, I mean I saw
that I went to school down south, and you know,
I played with some guys that were their parents were
migrant sharecroppers. I went to do and so you know,
these guys they had something some brains too. And but
you look at it. I mean, I'm not sure what
(29:28):
you guys experienced in your college Georgetown. I kind of know,
but I don't know much about it. What you know,
the difference in the people, and you know, I don't know.
I mean I look at this today and I don't
feel as disenfranchised from from either you or you then
(29:49):
then I think we're supposed to be. And I just
you know, there's a love here that that I feel
for you guys. That you know, I don't, I don't differentiate.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Now it's a safety too, you know, I mean it's again,
it's it's weird because you know, you never know why
people are your friends boohoo, like nobody cares right, like
you're on the jet right, your kids on the jet right.
Speaker 8 (30:16):
So exactly right.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
It's tiny violin. But you know there is a safety
in numbers. And then also just these memories and images.
So you know, in the in sixty nine when they
beat the Lakers, right and the lake.
Speaker 7 (30:31):
There's the balloons, there were the balloons and the rafters
can't cook with the balloons in the rafters, right.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
And out there there was the program that the USC
was going to play Happy Days Are Here Again, and
one of the Jones is brought the and so that
program was posted in our roup chat.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Yep, the original program that they gave to my dad.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
My Dad's like, and this is something that's so interesting
because you can will yourself to win, right, So yep.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
He was like, those balloons are not coming down. We
are not going to hear from USC.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
And so I share that story because I believe that
you can will yourself to win absolutely, which is what
I think we're.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
Going to don.
Speaker 7 (31:18):
One of the things that bonds you together, and this
is amazing to see all these years later, is that
for all the great things that come with being the
kids of your parents and your dad's I've talked to
my son every day on FaceTime in my travels, and
I've had Max tell me stories that he'd go on
(31:39):
a two week growth trip and it was like, see
when I get back. And that's what I think people
can't really process, is that there was an enormous sacrifice
that came with your childhoods, with your Yes, well.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
I feel like my dad every holiday and every Sunday
played Wilt Chamberlain, no question. But Christmas is Thingsmas, Merry Christmas.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Daddy on TV. Yes again Tony Violin.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
But and he felt like he was playing every Sunday
and every holiday.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
I guess Willed. So I also am very excited.
Speaker 8 (32:11):
But that's a real that's a real Violin.
Speaker 7 (32:12):
I think there's there's something real about that and something
that as an adult you have to sort of come
to grips with and then you don't really have that perspective,
you get mad as a kid.
Speaker 5 (32:21):
That was me.
Speaker 6 (32:24):
Because I was like, why can't Dad be like everybody
else's dad and come home at five o'clock and then
he can put me to bed, and he could do
this and that.
Speaker 8 (32:30):
And so you were able to make peace with him
about that.
Speaker 6 (32:33):
Yes, thank god, yes, because I went the other way.
Speaker 5 (32:38):
I never got mad at my dad. I just wanted
to change my last name. And I remember my uh
my senior year, I made all scholastic in football, and
I think who was in charge of was at the
Boston call. But who calls me in and he says, uh,
I just want you to know that you didn't get
(32:59):
this because of what your name is. He said you
had to be that good because we did not want
any And I'm like, well, I'm sitting there thinking to myself, well,
I'm not going to get it in basketball by armor.
And that was some of the stuff that you know,
small violin. Nobody understands. But when you know your dad,
what they used to do is they would go out
(33:20):
and they had franchise in Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago, and they
come back through Kansas City and Cleveland, and then they'd
do Philadelphia, New York and they would do these circuits
and he'd be gone and I wouldn't I wouldn't see
my dad for two weeks at a clip, and then
I would get to go to the Celtics practice when
you know that Sunday it was over the Lexington Christian
(33:42):
Academy and I would go over there, and you know,
that would be my only time with my dad in
this and I would see he was coaching at that time.
I would see him on TV and watch the games,
but I didn't, you know, I didn't really get to
and say what about this, Dad, what about that? It
was like he'd come back and it's like I just
want to sleep, you know.
Speaker 4 (34:02):
It's it's so interesting to me.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
And I'm sitting here and just listening to you guys,
and to tie a full circle into tonight, which is
the reason why everyone is here for opening night of
the twenty twenty five to twenty six season, is so
much has changed, but so much is also still probably
the same, and that those kids that we talked about,
the Horfords, Deuce Tatum, Derek White's children, these kids are
(34:24):
probably going to be having a very similar conversation sitting
in a similar situation forty to fifty years from now,
which is just so interesting to me to hear you
guys saying this, and they're probably going through the exact
same experience decades separated from when you right now.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Yeah, I will say, that's an iconic picture of Deuce Tatum. No,
you know, I'm so happy has that memory. We were
all here the Celtics confetti, you know, guys, and lots
and lots of cons I've been to a lot of
Democratic conventions and I've seen confetti and the Celtics have,
like the Celtics of I was found the owner.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
I was like, oh my god, what did you guy?
Speaker 4 (35:05):
Endless amounts of confetitition.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Yeah, yeah, you know, I think that I think those
kids will be okay. But and I'm glad that they
get to share this with their parents, and it's you know,
we all stand on the shoulders of giants, right, it's
and it is still a family, and you know, I
think that they'll probably have some challenges bumped down the
(35:27):
road because you know, you're you have this, you're on
the jet right, you have the ring right, and so
but I think one of the other values, at least
that was my experience with and I think it holds through.
You know, we just had that Shamrock foundation that like education.
People are making sure their kids are educated, their kids
(35:48):
are healthy, they're you know, they're good role models.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
And so I think we have been blessed with that
over the past five, ten, fifteen years. I mean everyone
who has come through the doors has really been a
great person.
Speaker 4 (36:01):
That's what it's felt like with the Celtics.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
And I was just watching like Celtic City, and I
was got to the episode of Larry's retirement, and I
was like, I was like crying, right, And so you
have like Larry birds in your circle, right, they can
only make you better, right, And so I think that's
one thing that I really loved about Celtic City was like,
the reason we win is because everyone in this room
(36:26):
is part of the team. You know, even the person
who's wearing the Laker shirt, right, that fan that we
all hate, right.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
Because you need a joint enemy.
Speaker 5 (36:38):
Right, But they're not part of the team.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
Yeah, in the arena.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
The concept is the reason Celtics are so successful is
that everyone plays a role, even the role of a gadfly.
Speaker 4 (36:50):
Yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker 5 (36:51):
My dad, my dad was so thankful to this environment.
I remember to the day he died. We come into
a game and the concessionaires and he'd be talking to
everybody coming in and he just was was you know,
it amazed me because he knew their names. He would
he would see the same people all the time. How
(37:13):
you doing, how your granddaughter and this and that, And
that's what I think this organization ultimately is about it.
And I would go back to one thing you're just saying,
I think what Red did is Red. My dad told
me Red, you know, sawn out players that were very
competitive and liked to play basketball. But I think there
(37:34):
was a third element. I think they were good people, yes,
and I think that I think that Red was always
cognizant of the chemistry of the team. And when you've
looked at periods of time with the Celtics where they
weren't as sexful as successful, there's some questionable Yeah, there
was some questionable staffing.
Speaker 8 (37:56):
He's got some late seventies stuff going on.
Speaker 7 (37:58):
Yeah, he's got some Curtis Rodney Wicks, Marven barn stuff
going on. But it is It's true, absolutely, But that's
what we do. But that it makes the perfect point.
It's why one of the challenges of my job, particularly
when it was apparent to me that the team was.
Speaker 8 (38:13):
Gonna win two years ago was to tie it together.
Speaker 7 (38:16):
And it's why I've always felt that Jason and Jalen specifically,
they are Celtics, they are your Dad's they are the
they are the perfect people.
Speaker 8 (38:28):
To carry that banner. And the duality of the two
of them. We just spent you know, an hour talking
about being a parent, family and social causes and being
involved in the community. And here are two.
Speaker 7 (38:40):
Guys who easily, if their roles had been reversed through
fortune or whatever, they would have been this.
Speaker 8 (38:46):
You know, Jalen would have been Jason. Jason would have
been Jalen.
Speaker 7 (38:48):
I love the duality of the two of them, that
both are really more like each other than you think.
And they are the perfect too to carry that a toon.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Jason's mom the other night, and you know, so it is.
It is a family and those values that I was
talking about, you know, like, you know, we're going to
invest in science and math and do things in the community.
And I think that is red Aurbach. I think that's
you know, the dynasty values. And that was when I
was working with your dad. You know, he wanted to
make a lasting piece of art that was beautiful.
Speaker 5 (39:21):
I think he did.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Yeah, and the quotes, don't sleep on the quotes to
the statue.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
No question.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
To tie it all together just a little bit more,
we're talking about the current team and how close you
were just at dinner with Jason's mom the other night.
Speaker 4 (39:37):
What has it that brought has brought you.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Guys to be such great fans of this group right
now that just won a championship recently.
Speaker 4 (39:45):
But what is it about this group that's drawing you in?
Speaker 6 (39:48):
I see my dad in Jalen, Really yeah, I see.
I actual see also the rustle in him too, because.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
That's a heck of a compliment right there, to see
those two men.
Speaker 6 (40:00):
Oh yeah, I see that. Because when he's plays, he's
he's here. He loves the game. He's here, he's he's
not here to puff himself up or try to make
a name for himself. He's here because he loves this city.
And he's diving into the city, seeing kids at school
and just showing up at their schools and getting involved.
And he goes beyond basketball. He goes into science, which
(40:22):
I wish I did because again, as an artist, I
don't know anything about it, but I wish I had
that same desire that he has, but how he's spreading
that two different generations, and he've been touching me and
the build a science guy. I love that guy. I mean,
he brought him up. I said, that's amazing. So so
as a dad, and he's talking about he wants to
focus more on defense, and I said, my dad's smiling
from heaven because of that. So when I saw it,
(40:45):
I said, I just wish I was there the night
he was drafted. I would have been the biggest fan
and been drowning out those other people. And so I
see him as dad. But then how he's going for
the civil rights movement and how he's just moving in
there and just amazing. So I just see them. He
doesn't laugh as much as your dad. Your dad was
(41:06):
a so he'll get there though, get Joe there first.
Speaker 5 (41:10):
Yeah, But you know, it's it's funny because I have
been I've been in Boston this whole time, and so
as my dad was broadcasting, I would go to games.
You guys would see me at games with my dad,
and so I really developed an affinity for the team.
(41:30):
And you know, once they specifically drafted Jason because he's.
Speaker 4 (41:36):
A duke guy, and guy, it's like okay, It's like.
Speaker 5 (41:41):
Okay, and actually you're like, actually, I have a daughter
that played soccer for Duke and she actually knows Jason.
So it was like and so it's there's there's some proximate.
I don't I've met Jason a couple of times, but
I wouldn't say that I know him because of that.
But you know, it's just as I sit back and
look and I like, I bring my friends and we
(42:02):
all come to the games, and it's just it's something,
it's it's a difference, and it's I enjoy sharing this
with my friends because it's something unique and they get
to come to a situation that you like this. A
friend of mine's here with us tonight, is watching this,
(42:22):
and not everybody gets to do this.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
And I hadn't come to a game until the Bill
Russell game, which was so amazing to see the six
and the key, and at that time I was actually
in a wheelchair and the Celtics were kind of like
my goal, like I could get to a trip and
then I.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
Was in a walker.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
We had our reunion and at the finals, I had
a cane and today no, I'm came free to dad.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
So you know, I think my dad always talked about
surrounding yourself with people who raise your game.
Speaker 3 (42:58):
We're talking about that before the show.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
And so just to get ready for the trips to
come out here, you know, i'd kind of like swim
more and you know, walk more, and so you know
it's I conceive myself developed and these two men and
Al Horford.
Speaker 6 (43:16):
You know.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
And so what was funny is I've been trying to
meet Al Horford for a couple of years and I
was here and I had a crazy hat on.
Speaker 8 (43:23):
He's like, it was like crazy fan lady.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
But the last game I was here, we were like
the last people. He's like, I love him. So we
were here and we were literally like closing, you know,
the the the garden, and I come around the corner
and he's giving an interview in Spanish and I'm like, oh,
(43:46):
you're you know, you remind me of my dad. So
I got I finally got my picture the last game
I came to last year.
Speaker 4 (43:52):
We're gonna have to put that up Randow.
Speaker 3 (43:54):
Yeah no.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
And one of my friends online, one of my Twitter
friends put like, you know, ray on it, and so
you know, I have my own Horford meeting Al Horford, meme,
which I love, Boston and DC, and so you know,
that's the thing is, it's it's so wonderful. The upside
of social media has been every time I'm here, I
met Marie, I meet you know, fans, and it's it's
(44:17):
so wonderful. And also there are people working here who
knew my parents and they're like, you look like your mom.
So I'm hugging you know, ushers and people you know,
and so I don't get that where I live. So
it's so fun for me to be here, especially with
my family, my chosen family, and laughing and just you know,
(44:38):
absorbing it all. And you know, in ninety nine we retired,
we retired Daddy's number.
Speaker 3 (44:45):
I just love.
Speaker 2 (44:47):
Seeing those banners and the raptors and knowing that our dads.
Speaker 4 (44:52):
Had an enormous role in that.
Speaker 7 (44:55):
I was so curious, when you come to games, do
you look up at the number?
Speaker 8 (44:59):
I think, I.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
Picture every time and then we you know, we were
fortunate that we can go stand un lucky and so
I'll take a picture of red signature and then there's
still the six there, so you know, so I have pictures.
Speaker 5 (45:11):
It's funny because I look at that flag every time myself.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
By the way, all three numbers in the rafters just
in case young things.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
First flag, first fla first flag flag.
Speaker 1 (45:23):
Yeah, it's incredible. Well you just talked about having fun.
This has been an incredible conversation. We are so thankful
for you three for coming by.
Speaker 3 (45:32):
I'll do anything.
Speaker 2 (45:33):
Jeff Twist tells me that, yeah, we are is the best.
Speaker 4 (45:38):
He is the.
Speaker 3 (45:38):
Best half of our group. Chat is how much we
love that Mark.
Speaker 8 (45:41):
I never got to say this.
Speaker 7 (45:43):
Obviously, your dead and your dad meant so much to
the organization and to me from Afar.
Speaker 8 (45:47):
I met them maybe once or twice.
Speaker 7 (45:49):
I spent twenty years with your dad, eating dinners before games,
traveling on flights and buses, the degree, the amount of
things that I simply learned, and I never got to
tell him that. So I got to tell you today
how grateful I am for it. I got to do
one game with him one because of you know, fluke Oft,
the schedule whatever, and I'm sitting next to him, We're
doing a game and there was a shaky call by
(46:11):
the referee and he was like, I stop. I pulled
back and he goes, no, that wasn't so, and I
was like, that's it.
Speaker 8 (46:18):
The one game I'm going to get to do with you,
and that's all. That's all I get.
Speaker 7 (46:22):
I was, you know, I was crushed, but that was
you know, as Mike. Mike would always tell me, you
were very lucky to spend all the time with Tommy
and I and I absolutely was.
Speaker 5 (46:31):
Thank you. My dad loved all you guys, and I
mean there was a reason he basically worked up until
he passed, and there was you guys all kept him going.
And this is the whole entity. The organization. The owners
has been fantastic.
Speaker 3 (46:49):
We don't talk about about them, yes they and I
love the new owner.
Speaker 1 (46:54):
Well, if you all can't feel it out there, we
can definitely feel it here. This is what makes the
Boston Celtic special. That started with their parents, it's carrying
through to now in twenty twenty five, and hopefully well
well into the future. So thank you three again for
coming by and enjoy opening night.
Speaker 4 (47:10):
Hopefully we go grab.
Speaker 3 (47:14):
Much.
Speaker 4 (47:14):
Thank you guys much.
Well, folks, we have a very special edition of you
from the Raptors today. I believe the count is thirty
one championship rings between the three of these and their
parents and their fathers. Who are They established a dynasty
back in the day and now they are carrying it on.
Karen Russell, Bill Russell's daughter, Paul Heinsen, Tom Heinsen's son,
(00:32):
and then we've got Briana Jones Casey Jones's daughter. What
an unbelievable opportunity for us to talk to the three
of you today and listen. We've had a lot of
kids around the Celtics over the last few years. Horford's kids,
We've got Deuce Tatum, We've got Derek White's kids. What
was it like for you guys to grow up around
the Boston Celtics and being around your dad's playing And Karen,
(00:54):
we'll have you tee this up here.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Well, I don't have a lot of memories of watching
my dad play, but I do have memories of our
Christmas parties with the Bruins, and all the Bruins' kids
could really skate like they you know, shot out of
the womb on skates, and all the Celtics kids were.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Very awkward.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
So it sounds like you both remember that.
Speaker 5 (01:16):
Oh yeah, brought back a memory, like I hadn't thought
about that all the time. But you know, the funny
part about that is I remember our dads because I
was always told that they couldn't be on the ice
contractually because from Jim Warmboard Torpusny and then oh no, no, no,
you can't be on the ice on.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
So okay, so they had to they had to sit
back and watch you guys try to figure it out.
Speaker 5 (01:40):
Well, they were out there. My dad was out there
with a chair, one of those old wooden things that
they had in the garden way back when.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Oh my god, what do you remember about growing up
around the Celtics organization.
Speaker 6 (01:51):
I remember the dads every one's dads, but off the court,
and how lovely they were and how friendly and and
the one that I'm most famous for is when dad
was retiring as a player and I was a kid
bouncing all around thinking that the photographers were my friends,
and so I was jump here and jump there. My
dad was about to break up and cry, but then
(02:12):
he saw me acting a fool and he goes, oh,
this is great. You know, go ahead, and so I
just I just remember that and Uncle Bill picking me up,
Karen's dad picking me up, and I tried to honk
his nose and he would have honked, So I went
back to my dad to honk his nose. So I
remember that being, you know, acting like that.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Daddy Casey were.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
College roommates, right, so you know our families and her
parents moved in with my parents after they got married.
Speaker 6 (02:36):
Yes, because they couldn't afford when he got to the subtests.
He couldn't afford at the time to have a place
to live. So they said, let's give me move it.
I mean, you all offered for us to move in
with you. I wasn't there yet, but my dad and
mom moved in.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
That would have been a heck of a household.
Speaker 6 (02:53):
Yeah, so that was a blessing and that's that my mom,
I'll still talk about that to this day, that she's
so blessed to have them in our family. And as
part of.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
That, you call them Uncle Bill.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
So I'm really curious just about the relationships that you
guys established with the other dads around the team, and
maybe some of the guys who actually weren't fathers at
that time.
Speaker 5 (03:14):
I think that the way we were all raised, first
of all, we were never really put out in front
of any of this. Our families kept.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Little different than stadium he's on, he's on ESPN, ABC.
Speaker 7 (03:30):
I would read and felt, if you were out there
taking layups, no, no.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
No, I will tell you that it's it's a blessing
and it's a curse. And Deuce is going to learn
that later in life.
Speaker 7 (03:43):
Unfortunately, every night I elbow Max, I'm like, hey, how
would Bill Fitz do with this?
Speaker 8 (03:48):
Right now?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Well, and you know, from Celtic City, my family had
constant death threats, right, and so it was an effort
to keep our family safe. There's that famous story of
them coming in and spray painting, and I always joke
about breaking all of Daddy's trophies, which actually took a
lot of work, and then you know, defecating in my
parents' bed. But I was telling these guys a story
(04:12):
that my dad never left lost his sense of humor.
So he was mowing the lawn one day in reading
and this guy pulls over and he's like, hey boy,
how much do you charge to mow the lawn? My
dad doesn't miss it, beat me says, they don't pay me,
they let me sleep with the woman who lives here,
(04:33):
which was true.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
So he didn't go like that.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
But you know, my parents were joyful people despite those things,
and so you know, having a relationship with having the
family really helped them.
Speaker 5 (04:52):
That's what my mom always talked about in that. You know,
we talked earlier about the Koozies, and my always talked
about this the wives role, and that was what was
really unique about the Celtics back then is the other
teams tried to keep the wives separate, and Red always
had them basically under his thumb so he could watch them.
(05:13):
But the bond that they all, you know generated it was,
you know, babysitting for each other. And there's different age
groups between us.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Missy Coosey was the queen Bee, and so when people
came into town, the wives, and she made a special
effort actually with the black women, knowing that they might
be adrift here, people coming from the South, people coming
from small towns, and so, you know, I think that's
one thing that's unique about the Celtics is that we
(05:43):
still continue to be a family.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree. I mean we were we were
not sitting with each other all of our lives. But
I feel like I could pick up the phone and say, hey,
I need a favor. Yeah, you know, and you know,
or you know, there are things that we have in
common that I'm not even sure that the players today
(06:07):
have in common, you know, because the game, you know,
they were they were just trying to really establish the
game back when our fathers were part of it, and
you know, it's you know, it's vastly different from what
it is today. I know. I know my dad instead
of playing in the Olympics with your dad, he went
(06:27):
out on a tour with the Harlem Globetrotters and they
had ten games. They got two hundred bucks a game,
and my grandfather always used to moan abize, so that
was the most morning. That was more money than he
had ever made in his life. And my dad did
it in ten games and so the money was was
always good. But you know, my dad sold life insurance.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
My dad sold the cards, you know, and they all
were the same dealership.
Speaker 6 (06:55):
Connected with my godfather, Yes, John Mellon.
Speaker 5 (07:00):
Who's a curdular he was.
Speaker 6 (07:02):
He was the executive of Forward at the time and
so he helped get supposed to be black with the
same thing. Black players to get another more income and
any other player.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
Because we had all those because dads Pontiac right.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
And the fighters didn't get endorsements in the same way
that you know. And also, you know, I have the
honor of working with Paul's dad on the Bill Russell statue.
And when Paul and I were reunited last year, we
were standing un lucky and he had me laughing for
two minutes straight. And he is definitely a chip off
(07:36):
the old block. Because not only was your dad just
an incredible artist and I love the statue, but you know,
he brought his artistry and we toured, We went to
go see Red Statue, We went around town. But like
our meetings were so much fun because of your dad.
Speaker 5 (07:55):
Well, he definitely was a character.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Watching and hear I think everyone knows that very well.
Speaker 5 (08:03):
Wait, oh my god, the pictures I got of him
in the seventies, It's like, I'm embarrassed now.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
That's a great thing about Bravado is what he was carrying.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
All those pictures. That's how I met Bryana on social
media through images, yes, and we kept people kept posting
these amazing images of our fathers that we'd never seen,
and then well, you should tell us why we are here.
Speaker 6 (08:30):
Oh.
Speaker 5 (08:30):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (08:30):
So one day on Twitter, I was talking my favorite
book Folks, Frosty Bias and Larry Bird's mullet Larry, and
I said, we're going to go to the game. My
brother Steve Curly, who's known are back and my dad
since nineteen sixty nineteen fifty nine. And I said, we're
going to the game. And then a DM came in.
It was from Karen. I want to go with you too, well,
(08:52):
come on, And then here comes Aubrey Jones, Sam Jones's
oldest son. I want to go too, Oh, come on,
And so we got the group together, made it out
there and Paul goes, well, I'll be there because I'd
be at the gate. And then that's how the first dynasty.
This was two years ago.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Yeah, it was four twenty one, the year that the
Celtics won.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Okay, twenty twenty four. Yeah, yeah, I can't even think.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
And my friend Lawrence O'donnald who's the NSNBC host who
is from the Dot. He got reunited with Mike Gorman
because they grew up in the same neighborhood and they
hadn't seen each other in like forty years, and he said,
oh my god, Mike Gorman was.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
The guy in the neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
He was the best baller, shocking he could. He was
the West best dressed. And so Lawrence is over in
Africa now, so he was. He is an honorary Celtics
kid and that's one of his badges of honor. Yes, yes, what.
Speaker 8 (09:46):
Is remarkable about social media bringing you together?
Speaker 7 (09:49):
You've already talked about some of the darkest moments of
our society that you and your dad and your family
had lived through, and social media today oftentimes is the
darkest part of the society we have. And yeah, it
not only has brought you together, all right to tell
everyone how you for this began because you went to
social media to post pictures with your dad.
Speaker 6 (10:09):
That's true. I was posting a lot of before this.
I was posting a lot of TV shows that I loved,
The Mandalorian, Hawaii, Fi Bo, Psych and all those good things.
And so I was always talking to those folks and
became really good friends of that fan base, which I
still am. And then when my dad passed, I was like,
you know what, I've always been quiet about who my
father was, and a person that myin nameless kept on saying,
(10:34):
nobody wants to know about your father. This was in
a different state, nobody wants to hear about nobody knows
him anything like that. Yeah, thank you. And so after
he passed, I said, you know what, I'm going to
start talking about that. And that's when those three Frosty Bias, Honest,
Larry and Larry Bird's mullet started talking to me and
they're like, hey, what about this? And they started asking
questions about that, and I said, you know, that's a
good question. Let me answer it. And then more people
(10:55):
started following. And that was August. That was August before
he passed, August twenty twenty. I don't forget, and so
they would, I said, ask any more questions because Dad
was so quiet. I didn't even know about things until
I became sixty about what my dad did. So that's
how it started. And then the more after Dad passed,
and then the Celtics you know, share but he passed,
(11:17):
and after he told him, of course, and then all
of a sudden, Jim Palmer came and said, oh, your
full and all these other athletes from different NFL and
MLB was reaching out and I was like, oh my gosh,
well I'm gonna just keep doing this and talking about that.
So that's how it shipped.
Speaker 7 (11:33):
The beauty of it to me, specifically with your dad
is that he was always the one who was unappreciated
as a player on these great teams and then and
isn't it funny how history always repeats. Joe Missoula in
twenty twenty five is looked at as a coach. Well,
he just has great players, so everyone looks past him
as a coach, And it's funny. It wasn't there another coach, Yes,
there was who had the exact same thing.
Speaker 8 (11:55):
Do you think.
Speaker 7 (11:57):
Through Celtic City, through everything we deal with now social
media looking back and people understanding a little bit more
of the nuances now that your father's legacy has grown
because of it.
Speaker 6 (12:06):
Absolutely, And thank you for bringing that up, because again,
just like you said, oh, he just has Larry Bird
on there, you could just you didn't have to coach them.
I said, it's the egos. They already know how to play,
but to play as a team, because some teams aren't
doing very well, but their ego management, you know, So
it's no skill. Yes, all the men, you know. So
(12:31):
something that.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
My dad always talked about Red was that he it
wasn't so much excess and noise. In fact, I remember
him talking about coming back to the highline. Anybody got
an idea. It was he knew how to stroke one guy,
beat another guy whatever. Absolutely and put you know, put
the egos to use for the team. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
I think you know, Red was the first coach who
was kind to my father and he kind of said,
you know, I'm not quite sure what it is doing,
but you.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Know, keep doing keep doing it.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
And I think the fact that he did treat people differently,
and everyone's motivated by different things. You know, some people
are visual learners, some people need to read, and I
think he was had high emotional intelligence to be able
to figure out which buttons to push to motivate people.
Sometimes he would let my father not practice, which I
knew irritated other players like well I was Russ not practicing,
(13:27):
and like, well, when you're a Russ, you cannot practice.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
I remember my dad specifically talking about that. Yeah, and
what but he said, he says, well, what's played every
minute of every damn game? So why what did he
need to practice for and he would build Russ what
did he need to practice? And so at least my
dad understood that. I don't. I'm not sure if that
was him as a player understanding that or him later
as a coach understanding what he had to do.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
There was no load management.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
That he didn't have to practice the times there were
ten guys on the roster back then, right well, and.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
I'm a hooya.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
So poor John Thompson played backup center for my dad,
which I think is probably a very thankless you know,
a few years for him.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
You know what's interesting that I'm just thinking about now
and it hadn't done on me before. We're sitting here
and I'm listening to you guys, is that all three
of your fathers were also coaches of the Boston and
very successful at that.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
All three led the team to champions championships.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
It's one thing growing up as the son or daughter
of a professional athlete, but it's probably something else that
they're also coaches. Did you feel like you were coached.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
By your fathers as you were growing up. I feel
like that always penetrates into the personal life as well.
ChIL Missoula.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
I'm sure isfter feeling that right now, so's the medium.
Speaker 8 (14:48):
By the way, I.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Went to live with my dad at eleven, so a
single dad at eleven, and everything was Dad, I have
boy plumps number one, number two, number three, Dad, I
need a braw number one, number number three.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
He always had those three lessons.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
I have to say at a time, you know, when
there's some challenges with history, you know, we are so
proud that Daddy was the first black player coach and
the first I think player coach.
Speaker 6 (15:23):
Yes, the.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Coach and the first player coach for the Celtics, and
that's something. But I will say when I was writing
his biography, the Medal of Freedom, his most favorite title,
which is a title that has not been shared by
as many people, was captain of the Boston Celtics because
he said his blood ran green.
Speaker 8 (15:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
So, but and then he was the coach of the
sawn next growing up.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
So and I was the.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
First ball girl in the NBA because I knew someone.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
But it was fun.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
Here.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
I remember one time because I was very diligent, I
was very nerdy, so you know, someone was really sweating.
So it's at the top of the key on my
knees and all of a sudden, I look up and
it's a fast break and there's ten giant men running
towards Yeah, and I look at my dad. He looks
at me, and I just like levitated out there.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
But you can see the look on his face. My
baby's baby trample the dads coach. I'm sorry I went on.
Speaker 5 (16:32):
I you know, my father taught me more about basketball
than I realized. And you know, I played football and
basketball in high school. I got recruited at Division one
level for both, but football was my was my destiny.
And then Memorial kids. But back in the day, you know,
(16:55):
I could virtually drop his playbook at this point, and
that what he passed on to me. And then I
started coaching on girls basketball third and fourth grade baths
and the first time I remember walking into the gym's
parochial school in Walpole and the team was losing by
like fifty points and they hadn't gotten the ball over
(17:16):
half court and I'm like, oh my god, this is
you know, so I volunteered. Then I ended up that
sounds like me.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
I was just going to.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Again, sorry to interrupt, and I'm just thinking that that
happened recently.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
That's a whole other story continue.
Speaker 7 (17:36):
Sorry, but podcast, but I didn't realize how much he
taught me.
Speaker 5 (17:42):
And then, you know, and then I applied that what
I was able to teach other kids, and I thoroughly
enjoyed that. But a lot of it all comes back
to there was a certain steal to what they were doing.
They were all tough men emotionally and physically, and that's
(18:04):
what I remember my dad trying to pass on to mate.
Was not so much the exes and the oils, although
I learned a lot from that. It was you know,
somebody hits you with an elbow in the head, you
hit him back. And that was my dad, you know, So.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
That was more of a lover than a fighter.
Speaker 5 (18:22):
My dad would throw down with anybody.
Speaker 6 (18:27):
My dad would quietly throw down. But for my dad
teaching me, I was when I was one year old,
one and a half years old. On those pictures when
you see Dad retiring, people thought it was four cause
I came up to his hip and they're like, oh
you sure, I thought I just I was about to
turn too, so as you could tell, I was gonna
be a tall girl. So when I was in I
refused to go to his camp to play. He had
(18:49):
a camp every year. My brother had no choice. Until
he was two, we had a basketball in his hand,
so he was playing all. He was a professional by
the time he was sixteen. But for me, I was like, no,
I'm not gonna play. I'm gonna be an artist. I'm
a flautista. That's it. And and then I was embarrassed
because when I had to play for elementary school or something,
I was horrible. So seventh grade that you know, are
you going to play? No, I'm going to play.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
No.
Speaker 6 (19:10):
So he was very gentle. And on the eighth grade,
Dad goes, you're coming to my camp, and you have
to do something with your height because.
Speaker 8 (19:16):
You were getting tall. That's it, you were getting tall.
That's why.
Speaker 6 (19:18):
Okay, that's exactly what I was. Six feet in seventh grade,
six feet.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
In sixth grade.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
She's an inch taller than my fourth grade teacher here
in Massachusetts. I will tell you the first game my
dad came to in sixth grade, I fell away from
the three times by the end he turned sideways, and
(19:50):
then by the end he turned all.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
He wouldn't.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
Your time was kind to you. My dad was. My
dad would sit behind my coach in high school and go.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
S sounds about it.
Speaker 8 (20:05):
I heard him say that word.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
I see.
Speaker 6 (20:10):
My dad again was a gentle the juntle one. So
when he took me to a camp and then he
had to teach me to do a layup, teach me.
Speaker 8 (20:17):
And I was awful.
Speaker 6 (20:18):
And my brother was there he could test because again
my brother was already coaching by that time and he
was still in high school. And so I the first
two days I cried. I was too embarrassed to say,
this is my father's camp that you all are coming to,
and I can't play anything. I can't do nothing. And
then by the third my brother's no, you take the
ball and don't just give it to you. Just said okay.
So the next game, somebody tried to get the ball
(20:38):
for like a jump ball, and I went and that
girl flew over all it was a friend of mine.
Aunt I flew over and she goes, oh my god,
and that said, oh, I'm sorry, but this feels good.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
You know, yeah, this is not like you know, yes,
you know sympathy for NEPO kids, but our dads did
cast white child. Yeah, you know, I people sometimes you know,
I was a basketball player and I was a debater,
but you know, there were different paths, and I understand
why people didn't necessarily follow and their dad's what stuff's
(21:10):
like your football, Yeah, because it's you know, it's.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
Not the easiest path to watch with Bill Russell, Tom Hines,
Casey joneson, you know, no complaints about it, but it
definitely was something that you know, you had to respect
and you had to learn how to keep your mouth
shut and carry yourself with a certain amount of dignity.
(21:38):
You know. I didn't always do that when I was
young here well.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
And it's funny I recently have become friends with fans
and with sports writers, with people who you know, were
sort of like the enemy growing up right that you would,
you know, And it's been so wonderful to spend time
here in Boston, and my family was here.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
I was here with my nieces and nephews.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Recently with the unveiling of the Bill russege amazing with.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
The governments probably a couple hundred feet away from us
where we are right now, truly amazing, how.
Speaker 8 (22:06):
Poetic by the way that it's a bridge.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Yes, And I wrote an op ed in the Boston
Globe about how Bill Russell was a bridge, and he
was a bridge. And I am so happy that the
community has recognized this. I mean, he didn't like you know,
he was an extroverted introvert, but I think he would
be happy because it's also beautiful and it has the
(22:30):
bust lane and the bike lane means and so that
was wonderful.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
You know. I think that one of the things that
has to be said is how much our fathers all
really cared about each other. And I will tell you
that I heard from Bill, I heard from Sam, you know,
I heard from the Ramses, the Woozies as my father was,
(22:56):
you know, as he was dying, and they they all
there was a genuine bond that I don't think. I don't.
I don't even know if players today have that with
their teammates.
Speaker 7 (23:11):
They have cell phones on the buses, right, they also
weren't going through the same circumstances that they these guys are.
They deal with their own different hardships right in the
world of twenty twenty five. But it's not the whole
team can't stay at this hotel. The different kinds of
hardships that bonded this group together.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
I'm going to tell you a funny story I don't
know if you I'm.
Speaker 7 (23:33):
Already laughing, because before you even start, I want I
don't want the moment to pass.
Speaker 8 (23:40):
When you hear Karen laugh.
Speaker 7 (23:42):
You hear the unmistakable, unforgettable of your dad, and that
lives on and that's magical.
Speaker 5 (23:49):
Yes, So, way back in the day, they used to
play I forget how many preseason games, and they used
to go up into New Hampshire, Mainemont, and they didn't
have a team bus, so they used a carpool and
they talk about my dad would talk about how bad
a driver, and so.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
Our friend Jeff Twist can tell us about.
Speaker 5 (24:14):
But my father was telling the story I just took
off me. So they're they're driving up and through the
back roads of wherever, New England someplace, and there's one
of those old gas stations, you know, with a cover
on top, and they're they're they're in a car there,
they're all carpooling and they're shooting bottle rockets out the
side of the car at each other and they're zooming
(24:35):
through the gas station. And what that brought to me
was these are just young guys. They and they were
having our ball and they were teammates and much more
teammates than they were pros. And I think that and
that's why I tell the story, because I think that
makes the difference between what what they were and what
(24:58):
they are now.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Back before email, before cell phones, you could call twice
a year from red hour box.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Where are you? I was Georgetown? What are you doing?
What's your job?
Speaker 2 (25:11):
And I still think. I mean, like, there was hundreds
of kids that he was you know, old school, did yeah,
you with a letter letter open, you had plenty of those, yeah, yeah,
And it's remarkable.
Speaker 5 (25:27):
But he was much nicer to you guys.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Haircut.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
He is really the scariest person.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
And his daughter says he's a pussy cat. I know
people are intimidating by my dad, and I'm like, he's
a pussy get but read our boxcar. Yes, I never
called him anything, but mister mister never never read.
Speaker 6 (25:50):
Everybodys nod called the uncle's uncle, sax, uncle Willie.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
There was a little bit of.
Speaker 5 (26:02):
My family was all very much no, it's mister, it's missus.
There's no familiarity here. So my my parents were very
strict about the social norms and being in public. And
you know, so I love your dad too.
Speaker 6 (26:21):
I loved when when Dad would hang out with mister
Hinson right out of mister hinesl going to Twan Desert
and he's eating and he was having a ball. Then
he would go with Uncle Bill and either be one
or two things. It'd be Bill, yeah, and they'd be eating,
and then the next time you get together, they're silent.
Just so it was you know, because that was from
(26:43):
when they're in college.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
You know, lived with Casey for three months before Casey
said a word to him.
Speaker 6 (26:48):
The first words were past assault and he goes, he's
not new. I can't believe he could talk.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
And then there were I think the other thing too
that I loved about Celtic City too is you know,
my dad, I think would be ninety one this year,
and I think there was this idea that Bill Russell
didn't like Boston and Boston didn't like Bill Russell. And
I do think that that Dart Adams in Celtic City
established that.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
The black players were having.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
A great time in Black Boston and Black Boston loved them,
so that there was a difference. You know, there was
suburban but there was this also this cultural life.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
So you know, I'm.
Speaker 5 (27:25):
Proud, but I'll tell you my dad talks about fondly
about going with your dad and your dad into Harlem
to listen to jazz when they'd go down and play
the next Yes, yes, you know, so I think there
was there was more.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
There was more, yeah, but I'm just saying there was. So.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Lenny Wilkins just had a we had had a statue
in veiling in Seattle for Lenny Wilkins, and Lenny told
me that when he was here on the here playing
a game against the Celtics, that my dad said, please
come over to the house because in that era, some
of the players from other teams didn't feel safe going
out to eat. So, you know, I grew up in
this crazy household where Muhammad Ali taught me how to box,
(28:04):
you know, ROBERTA.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Flock taught me piano, my hands.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
At World about me.
Speaker 8 (28:09):
But you don't know what you don't. Yeah, my son
grew up on this. I'm flying on the team plane.
Speaker 7 (28:14):
He doesn't doesn't think it, wouldn't think anything of it,
because why would you.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Yeah, So you know, there was this cultural thing also
going on at that time, and that's when sort of,
you know, my daddy became more radicalized and did sit
ins and other things political.
Speaker 5 (28:28):
So you know, I remember going to a party at
your guy's house, and I remember how good of dancer
your dad was, and I remember the being and listening
to I think it was the fourth tops in world dancing. Yeah,
and that's there. There were there was a point in
(28:50):
time where I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. And
I think that what I learned from all of your
father's was that everybody's people.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
We have more.
Speaker 5 (29:07):
Right absolutely, And and you know, I mean I saw
that I went to school down south, and you know,
I played with some guys that were their parents were
migrant sharecroppers. I went to do and so you know,
these guys they had something some brains too. And but
you look at it. I mean, I'm not sure what
(29:28):
you guys experienced in your college Georgetown. I kind of know,
but I don't know much about it. What you know,
the difference in the people, and you know, I don't know.
I mean I look at this today and I don't
feel as disenfranchised from from either you or you then
(29:49):
then I think we're supposed to be. And I just
you know, there's a love here that that I feel
for you guys. That you know, I don't, I don't differentiate.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Now it's a safety too, you know, I mean it's again,
it's it's weird because you know, you never know why
people are your friends boohoo, like nobody cares right, like
you're on the jet right, your kids on the jet right.
Speaker 8 (30:16):
So exactly right.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
It's tiny violin. But you know there is a safety
in numbers. And then also just these memories and images.
So you know, in the in sixty nine when they
beat the Lakers, right and the lake.
Speaker 7 (30:31):
There's the balloons, there were the balloons and the rafters
can't cook with the balloons in the rafters, right.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
And out there there was the program that the USC
was going to play Happy Days Are Here Again, and
one of the Jones is brought the and so that
program was posted in our roup chat.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Yep, the original program that they gave to my dad.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
My Dad's like, and this is something that's so interesting
because you can will yourself to win, right, So yep.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
He was like, those balloons are not coming down. We
are not going to hear from USC.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
And so I share that story because I believe that
you can will yourself to win absolutely, which is what
I think we're.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
Going to don.
Speaker 7 (31:18):
One of the things that bonds you together, and this
is amazing to see all these years later, is that
for all the great things that come with being the
kids of your parents and your dad's I've talked to
my son every day on FaceTime in my travels, and
I've had Max tell me stories that he'd go on
(31:39):
a two week growth trip and it was like, see
when I get back. And that's what I think people
can't really process, is that there was an enormous sacrifice
that came with your childhoods, with your Yes, well.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
I feel like my dad every holiday and every Sunday
played Wilt Chamberlain, no question. But Christmas is Thingsmas, Merry Christmas.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Daddy on TV. Yes again Tony Violin.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
But and he felt like he was playing every Sunday
and every holiday.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
I guess Willed. So I also am very excited.
Speaker 8 (32:11):
But that's a real that's a real Violin.
Speaker 7 (32:12):
I think there's there's something real about that and something
that as an adult you have to sort of come
to grips with and then you don't really have that perspective,
you get mad as a kid.
Speaker 5 (32:21):
That was me.
Speaker 6 (32:24):
Because I was like, why can't Dad be like everybody
else's dad and come home at five o'clock and then
he can put me to bed, and he could do
this and that.
Speaker 8 (32:30):
And so you were able to make peace with him
about that.
Speaker 6 (32:33):
Yes, thank god, yes, because I went the other way.
Speaker 5 (32:38):
I never got mad at my dad. I just wanted
to change my last name. And I remember my uh
my senior year, I made all scholastic in football, and
I think who was in charge of was at the
Boston call. But who calls me in and he says, uh,
I just want you to know that you didn't get
(32:59):
this because of what your name is. He said you
had to be that good because we did not want
any And I'm like, well, I'm sitting there thinking to myself, well,
I'm not going to get it in basketball by armor.
And that was some of the stuff that you know,
small violin. Nobody understands. But when you know your dad,
what they used to do is they would go out
(33:20):
and they had franchise in Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago, and they
come back through Kansas City and Cleveland, and then they'd
do Philadelphia, New York and they would do these circuits
and he'd be gone and I wouldn't I wouldn't see
my dad for two weeks at a clip, and then
I would get to go to the Celtics practice when
you know that Sunday it was over the Lexington Christian
(33:42):
Academy and I would go over there, and you know,
that would be my only time with my dad in
this and I would see he was coaching at that time.
I would see him on TV and watch the games,
but I didn't, you know, I didn't really get to
and say what about this, Dad, what about that? It
was like he'd come back and it's like I just
want to sleep, you know.
Speaker 4 (34:02):
It's it's so interesting to me.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
And I'm sitting here and just listening to you guys,
and to tie a full circle into tonight, which is
the reason why everyone is here for opening night of
the twenty twenty five to twenty six season, is so
much has changed, but so much is also still probably
the same, and that those kids that we talked about,
the Horfords, Deuce Tatum, Derek White's children, these kids are
(34:24):
probably going to be having a very similar conversation sitting
in a similar situation forty to fifty years from now,
which is just so interesting to me to hear you
guys saying this, and they're probably going through the exact
same experience decades separated from when you right now.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Yeah, I will say, that's an iconic picture of Deuce Tatum. No,
you know, I'm so happy has that memory. We were
all here the Celtics confetti, you know, guys, and lots
and lots of cons I've been to a lot of
Democratic conventions and I've seen confetti and the Celtics have,
like the Celtics of I was found the owner.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
I was like, oh my god, what did you guy?
Speaker 4 (35:05):
Endless amounts of confetitition.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Yeah, yeah, you know, I think that I think those
kids will be okay. But and I'm glad that they
get to share this with their parents, and it's you know,
we all stand on the shoulders of giants, right, it's
and it is still a family, and you know, I
think that they'll probably have some challenges bumped down the
(35:27):
road because you know, you're you have this, you're on
the jet right, you have the ring right, and so
but I think one of the other values, at least
that was my experience with and I think it holds through.
You know, we just had that Shamrock foundation that like education.
People are making sure their kids are educated, their kids
(35:48):
are healthy, they're you know, they're good role models.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
And so I think we have been blessed with that
over the past five, ten, fifteen years. I mean everyone
who has come through the doors has really been a
great person.
Speaker 4 (36:01):
That's what it's felt like with the Celtics.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
And I was just watching like Celtic City, and I
was got to the episode of Larry's retirement, and I
was like, I was like crying, right, And so you
have like Larry birds in your circle, right, they can
only make you better, right, And so I think that's
one thing that I really loved about Celtic City was like,
the reason we win is because everyone in this room
(36:26):
is part of the team. You know, even the person
who's wearing the Laker shirt, right, that fan that we
all hate, right.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
Because you need a joint enemy.
Speaker 5 (36:38):
Right, But they're not part of the team.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
Yeah, in the arena.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
The concept is the reason Celtics are so successful is
that everyone plays a role, even the role of a gadfly.
Speaker 4 (36:50):
Yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker 5 (36:51):
My dad, my dad was so thankful to this environment.
I remember to the day he died. We come into
a game and the concessionaires and he'd be talking to
everybody coming in and he just was was you know,
it amazed me because he knew their names. He would
he would see the same people all the time. How
(37:13):
you doing, how your granddaughter and this and that, And
that's what I think this organization ultimately is about it.
And I would go back to one thing you're just saying,
I think what Red did is Red. My dad told
me Red, you know, sawn out players that were very
competitive and liked to play basketball. But I think there
(37:34):
was a third element. I think they were good people, yes,
and I think that I think that Red was always
cognizant of the chemistry of the team. And when you've
looked at periods of time with the Celtics where they
weren't as sexful as successful, there's some questionable Yeah, there
was some questionable staffing.
Speaker 8 (37:56):
He's got some late seventies stuff going on.
Speaker 7 (37:58):
Yeah, he's got some Curtis Rodney Wicks, Marven barn stuff
going on. But it is It's true, absolutely, But that's
what we do. But that it makes the perfect point.
It's why one of the challenges of my job, particularly
when it was apparent to me that the team was.
Speaker 8 (38:13):
Gonna win two years ago was to tie it together.
Speaker 7 (38:16):
And it's why I've always felt that Jason and Jalen specifically,
they are Celtics, they are your Dad's they are the
they are the perfect people.
Speaker 8 (38:28):
To carry that banner. And the duality of the two
of them. We just spent you know, an hour talking
about being a parent, family and social causes and being
involved in the community. And here are two.
Speaker 7 (38:40):
Guys who easily, if their roles had been reversed through
fortune or whatever, they would have been this.
Speaker 8 (38:46):
You know, Jalen would have been Jason. Jason would have
been Jalen.
Speaker 7 (38:48):
I love the duality of the two of them, that
both are really more like each other than you think.
And they are the perfect too to carry that a toon.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Jason's mom the other night, and you know, so it is.
It is a family and those values that I was
talking about, you know, like, you know, we're going to
invest in science and math and do things in the community.
And I think that is red Aurbach. I think that's
you know, the dynasty values. And that was when I
was working with your dad. You know, he wanted to
make a lasting piece of art that was beautiful.
Speaker 5 (39:21):
I think he did.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Yeah, and the quotes, don't sleep on the quotes to
the statue.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
No question.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
To tie it all together just a little bit more,
we're talking about the current team and how close you
were just at dinner with Jason's mom the other night.
Speaker 4 (39:37):
What has it that brought has brought you.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Guys to be such great fans of this group right
now that just won a championship recently.
Speaker 4 (39:45):
But what is it about this group that's drawing you in?
Speaker 6 (39:48):
I see my dad in Jalen, Really yeah, I see.
I actual see also the rustle in him too, because.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
That's a heck of a compliment right there, to see
those two men.
Speaker 6 (40:00):
Oh yeah, I see that. Because when he's plays, he's
he's here. He loves the game. He's here, he's he's
not here to puff himself up or try to make
a name for himself. He's here because he loves this city.
And he's diving into the city, seeing kids at school
and just showing up at their schools and getting involved.
And he goes beyond basketball. He goes into science, which
(40:22):
I wish I did because again, as an artist, I
don't know anything about it, but I wish I had
that same desire that he has, but how he's spreading
that two different generations, and he've been touching me and
the build a science guy. I love that guy. I mean,
he brought him up. I said, that's amazing. So so
as a dad, and he's talking about he wants to
focus more on defense, and I said, my dad's smiling
from heaven because of that. So when I saw it,
(40:45):
I said, I just wish I was there the night
he was drafted. I would have been the biggest fan
and been drowning out those other people. And so I
see him as dad. But then how he's going for
the civil rights movement and how he's just moving in
there and just amazing. So I just see them. He
doesn't laugh as much as your dad. Your dad was
(41:06):
a so he'll get there though, get Joe there first.
Speaker 5 (41:10):
Yeah, But you know, it's it's funny because I have
been I've been in Boston this whole time, and so
as my dad was broadcasting, I would go to games.
You guys would see me at games with my dad,
and so I really developed an affinity for the team.
(41:30):
And you know, once they specifically drafted Jason because he's.
Speaker 4 (41:36):
A duke guy, and guy, it's like okay, It's like.
Speaker 5 (41:41):
Okay, and actually you're like, actually, I have a daughter
that played soccer for Duke and she actually knows Jason.
So it was like and so it's there's there's some proximate.
I don't I've met Jason a couple of times, but
I wouldn't say that I know him because of that.
But you know, it's just as I sit back and
look and I like, I bring my friends and we
(42:02):
all come to the games, and it's just it's something,
it's it's a difference, and it's I enjoy sharing this
with my friends because it's something unique and they get
to come to a situation that you like this. A
friend of mine's here with us tonight, is watching this,
(42:22):
and not everybody gets to do this.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
And I hadn't come to a game until the Bill
Russell game, which was so amazing to see the six
and the key, and at that time I was actually
in a wheelchair and the Celtics were kind of like
my goal, like I could get to a trip and
then I.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
Was in a walker.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
We had our reunion and at the finals, I had
a cane and today no, I'm came free to dad.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
So you know, I think my dad always talked about
surrounding yourself with people who raise your game.
Speaker 3 (42:58):
We're talking about that before the show.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
And so just to get ready for the trips to
come out here, you know, i'd kind of like swim
more and you know, walk more, and so you know
it's I conceive myself developed and these two men and
Al Horford.
Speaker 6 (43:16):
You know.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
And so what was funny is I've been trying to
meet Al Horford for a couple of years and I
was here and I had a crazy hat on.
Speaker 8 (43:23):
He's like, it was like crazy fan lady.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
But the last game I was here, we were like
the last people. He's like, I love him. So we
were here and we were literally like closing, you know,
the the the garden, and I come around the corner
and he's giving an interview in Spanish and I'm like, oh,
(43:46):
you're you know, you remind me of my dad. So
I got I finally got my picture the last game
I came to last year.
Speaker 4 (43:52):
We're gonna have to put that up Randow.
Speaker 3 (43:54):
Yeah no.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
And one of my friends online, one of my Twitter
friends put like, you know, ray on it, and so
you know, I have my own Horford meeting Al Horford, meme,
which I love, Boston and DC, and so you know,
that's the thing is, it's it's so wonderful. The upside
of social media has been every time I'm here, I
met Marie, I meet you know, fans, and it's it's
(44:17):
so wonderful. And also there are people working here who
knew my parents and they're like, you look like your mom.
So I'm hugging you know, ushers and people you know,
and so I don't get that where I live. So
it's so fun for me to be here, especially with
my family, my chosen family, and laughing and just you know,
(44:38):
absorbing it all. And you know, in ninety nine we retired,
we retired Daddy's number.
Speaker 3 (44:45):
I just love.
Speaker 2 (44:47):
Seeing those banners and the raptors and knowing that our dads.
Speaker 4 (44:52):
Had an enormous role in that.
Speaker 7 (44:55):
I was so curious, when you come to games, do
you look up at the number?
Speaker 8 (44:59):
I think, I.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
Picture every time and then we you know, we were
fortunate that we can go stand un lucky and so
I'll take a picture of red signature and then there's
still the six there, so you know, so I have pictures.
Speaker 5 (45:11):
It's funny because I look at that flag every time myself.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
By the way, all three numbers in the rafters just
in case young things.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
First flag, first fla first flag flag.
Speaker 1 (45:23):
Yeah, it's incredible. Well you just talked about having fun.
This has been an incredible conversation. We are so thankful
for you three for coming by.
Speaker 3 (45:32):
I'll do anything.
Speaker 2 (45:33):
Jeff Twist tells me that, yeah, we are is the best.
Speaker 4 (45:38):
He is the.
Speaker 3 (45:38):
Best half of our group. Chat is how much we
love that Mark.
Speaker 8 (45:41):
I never got to say this.
Speaker 7 (45:43):
Obviously, your dead and your dad meant so much to
the organization and to me from Afar.
Speaker 8 (45:47):
I met them maybe once or twice.
Speaker 7 (45:49):
I spent twenty years with your dad, eating dinners before games,
traveling on flights and buses, the degree, the amount of
things that I simply learned, and I never got to
tell him that. So I got to tell you today
how grateful I am for it. I got to do
one game with him one because of you know, fluke Oft,
the schedule whatever, and I'm sitting next to him, We're
doing a game and there was a shaky call by
(46:11):
the referee and he was like, I stop. I pulled
back and he goes, no, that wasn't so, and I
was like, that's it.
Speaker 8 (46:18):
The one game I'm going to get to do with you,
and that's all. That's all I get.
Speaker 7 (46:22):
I was, you know, I was crushed, but that was
you know, as Mike. Mike would always tell me, you
were very lucky to spend all the time with Tommy
and I and I absolutely was.
Speaker 5 (46:31):
Thank you. My dad loved all you guys, and I
mean there was a reason he basically worked up until
he passed, and there was you guys all kept him going.
And this is the whole entity. The organization. The owners
has been fantastic.
Speaker 3 (46:49):
We don't talk about about them, yes they and I
love the new owner.
Speaker 1 (46:54):
Well, if you all can't feel it out there, we
can definitely feel it here. This is what makes the
Boston Celtic special. That started with their parents, it's carrying
through to now in twenty twenty five, and hopefully well
well into the future. So thank you three again for
coming by and enjoy opening night.
Speaker 4 (47:10):
Hopefully we go grab.
Speaker 3 (47:14):
Much.
Speaker 4 (47:14):
Thank you guys much.
Host
Marc D'Amico
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