Bob Cousy was with the Boston Celtics for their first NBA championship in 1957. Now, he'll get to be a part of their league-leading 18th title.
The legendary Celtics point guard and Basketball Hall of Famer will receive a 2024 championship ring along with current C's players ahead of their 2024-25 home opener. Team governor and majority owner Wyc Grousbeck told Cousy the news in person Tuesday while visiting his home in Worcester, Mass., per Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram.
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"I think it’s fantastic," Cousy said after Grousbeck and Celtics vice president of media relations Jeff Twiss arrived at his home with the 2008 and 2024 Larry O'Brien Trophies. "It’s completely unexpected.”
"You’ve been instrumental in all the championships," Grousbeck told Cousy, per Doyle.
Cousy, who turns 26 in August, told The Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy in June that "one of the last things I want to be able to see" was the Celtics raising Banner 18. The C's made Cousy proud by steamrolling through the 2024 playoffs and defeating the Dallas Mavericks in five games of the 2024 NBA Finals to capture their 18th title.
That means Cousy can watch the Celtics raise Banner 18 to the rafters and receive a perk he didn't get to enjoy as a player: Cousy's Celtics teams of the 1950s and 1960s weren't awarded trophies after their championships, and Cousy told Doyle he only remembers receiving one ring.
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Cousy told our Chris Forsberg last month he plans to be in attendance under one condition: that Satch Sanders, his Celtics teammate for three seasons from 1960 to 1963, joins him at TD Garden.
"It's something I would love to participate in," Cousy said of the Celtics' banner-raising ceremony. "I would have one condition: that I share it with my dear friend and the only remaining player left from the '50s and '60s, Satch Sanders, who doesn't get enough attention. I would love to have him at my side."
While the Celtics' 2024-25 regular season schedule has yet to be announced, the NBA confirmed the season will begin Oct. 22, so it's possible that's the date when Banner 18 gets raised to the rafters.