by William Cook
Jerry Lucas would never see any of the money from the contract he had signed with George Steinbrenner and the Cleveland Pipers. Lucas told author and sportswriter Bill Madden, “I signed with George because he offered me $40,000, which was $10,000 more than the Royals had offered me. But, in the end, I never got a nickel of the $40,000 because the league folded.”8
Lucas had come under a great deal of criticism for signing with the Cleveland Pipers. A lot of sportswriters were charging that Lucas signed to play in the ABL rather than the NBA because the lesser league would not be as taxing on him. He would not have to play the brutal NBA schedule and face opponents such as Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Bob Pettit, and Walt Bellamy.
There was also growling out of Cincinnati Royals fans asserting that Jerry Lucas had snubbed the Royals and the city because he was still smarting from his Big Ten Ohio State Buckeyes losing the championship game in the NCAA tournament two years in a row (1961 and 1962) to the University of Cincinnati Bearcats from the Missouri Valley Conference.
It was a fact that The Ohio State University did hold a rather smug attitude toward the University of Cincinnati. The interstate athletic indifference of OSU toward UC was epitomized by an incident prior to the Bearcats and Buckeyes meeting in the champions game in the 1961 NCAA Tournament when an overzealous Buckeyes fan crept under the cover of darkness onto the University of Cincinnati campus and painted across the doors of the Armory Fieldhouse: “OSU EATS LITTLE SCHOOLS LIKE U.C.”9 Beginning in the early 1930s, an aura of athletic snobbery had begun to permeate the Ohio State University athletic department and to a degree, it still exists today. Although Cincinnati and Columbus are located about 90 miles apart, the Buckeyes refused to schedule football games with the Bearcats for 68 years between 1931 and 1999. Following a game played in Cincinnati in 1897, the two schools would not meet again on the gridiron in the Queen City until 2002.
Furthermore, through 2018 the two schools have only met in basketball six times since 1961 and three of those games came as a result of the two teams colliding in the NCAA tournament with the Bearcats defeating the Buckeyes twice for the national championship in 1961 and 1962, while Ohio State defeated Cincinnati in the 2012 NCAA Regional Semi-Finals. The most recent meeting between UC and OSU in basketball took place on November 7, 2018, at UC’s Fifth Third Arena with the Buckeyes defeating the Bearcats 64–56.
The University of Cincinnati, with a current enrollment of 40,000, is not the only inter-state school that has been traditionally snubbed by the Buckeyes in athletics. OSU has had a dismal record over the past 80 years in scheduling Division I Ohio schools, such as Kent State, Bowling Green, Dayton, Xavier, Miami (O), and Ohio University, both in basketball and football. The lame excuse more often than not offered by OSU athletic directors is that the Buckeyes would rather play non-conference games against out-of-state schools. Translation: Ohio State, a charter Big Ten school, does not wish to give credibility to the American Conference, Atlantic 10 Conference, Mid-American Conference, or any other in which rival Ohio colleges and universities compete—all of which they consider collegiate bush leagues compared to the Big Ten.
But in the case of ex-Buckeye Jerry Lucas, all of this was unfounded. He harbored no prejudice toward the city of Cincinnati, the UC Bearcats, or the Royals. Jerry Lucas was a superior and gifted player. Arthur Daley of The New York Times described Lucas’ skills as follows: “[Lucas] has hands with a feather touch. He even tips in rebounds delicately and he has the complete repertoire of hooks, jumpers and everything else. When two men guard him, he’s untouched.”10
With the Cleveland Pipers belly-up, Jerry Lucas would find himself on the basketball sidelines for the first time in fourteen years. So, while waiting for the 1963 NBA draft, he returned to school at Ohio State and finished his degree in marketing. While on the campus, he even helped out Woody Hayes get his Buckeyes football players prepared for exams.
George Steinbrenner had lost a considerable amount of money in his ABL venture and was embarrassed to walk around the streets of Cleveland. But he eventually paid off all the investors in the Pipers. Still interested in sports-team ownership, Steinbrenner would now turn his attention to acquiring a Major League Baseball team. In 1971, along with a group of local investors, Steinbrenner would attempt to buy the struggling Cleveland Indians franchise from frozen food magnate Vernon Stouffer. However, two years later, along with another group of investors, Steinbrenner would be successful in acquiring the New York Yankees from CBS.
8
The Royals Move to the Eastern Division & Cooz Retires a Champion
In 1962–63, the Philadelphia Warriors with Wilt Chamberlain relocated to San Francisco. In a geographical re-alignment of the divisions, the Cincinnati Royals were moved from the Western Division to Eastern Division to allow the Warriors to play in the West. The move would be a disaster for the Cincinnati Royals. Just at the Royals were improving they suddenly found themselves confronted with an insurmountable obstacle in having to defeat the perennial champions, the Boston Celtics, in order to reach the NBA Finals.*
The Cincinnati Royals opened the 1962–63 season October 20 on the road with a 115–104 loss playing the Chicago Zephyrs who, over the summer, had swapped out the team name Packers which commemorated the Windy City’s glory years of being the nation’s primary butcher to a more modern identification.
While the Royals rebounded with a stunning 116–115 home opener win against the Los Angeles Lakers at Cincinnati Gardens, they were soon confronted with the reality of having been gerrymandered in the league’s franchise shift to the Eastern Division with the Boston Celtics.
In his first few years in the NBA, Bob Cousy had felt that he was the best player in the league and took the floor game after game determined to prove it. But after twelve seasons, he recognized that he was slower and that it was possible, on occasion, for younger players to make him look bad. Cousy had become concerned that people were expecting him to do things that he could no longer do. His worst fear was that there would be a father sitting in the stands who might remark to his son, “‘Look, there’s Bob Cousy, the greatest player in the world,’ and there I am tripping over my feet.”1
So Cousy announced that 1962–63 would be his last season. The Cooz wanted to go out while the Celtics were on top, and he was bound and determined to give everything his 35-year-old body could give to accomplish his goal.
The Royals met the Celtics for the first time on November 12 in Boston and lost 137–126. Bob Cousy scored 17 points in the game while Oscar Robertson electrified the Boston Garden crowd in a losing effort with 42 points.
Then on November 17, the Royals lost to the Celtics at Cincinnati Gardens 106–105. Tom Heinsohn led the Celtics with 25 points while Bob Cousy and Sam Jones each scored 19. For the Royals, both The Big O and Jack Twyman each scored 26 points.
At this early juncture in the season, it was clear where things were headed. The Celtics were now 9–2 and playing in high gear while the Royals at 5–6 were struggling to reach .500.
The Boston Celtics starters were still Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, Sam Jones, Satch Sanders, and Tom Heinsohn with K.C. Jones, Clyde Lovellette, Frank Ramsey, and Jim Loscutoff coming off the bench. But now the Celtics had become even stronger as a result of the 1962 NBA draft when, having the seventh pick, Red Auerbach selected 6′5″ forward John Havlicek from Ohio State and signed him for $15,000.
George Steinbrenner had offered John Havlicek $15,000 in cash and $10,000 worth of stock in the American Shipbuilding Company to sign with the Cleveland Pipers of the ABL. In addition, the Cleveland Browns were interested in Havlicek as a wide receiver; they gave him a new car and $15,000 and after a tryout, cut him.
Everyone was surprised by the Celtics’ selection of Havlicek. Jerry Lucas, a teammate of Havlicek at Ohio State, remarked, “When John was drafted reporters were asking me ‘do you think John Havlicek can make it in the pros?’ They just didn’t see him play enough in college to learn how good he really w
as.” When asked to compare Havlicek with Bill Bradley, Lucas stated, “While I never had seen Bill Bradley play in college, I can say that John was a far better pro.”2
John Havlicek turned out to be a great pro and fit right in the Celtics running game. He would go on to play sixteen years for the Boston Celtics, become a 13-time All-Star, score 26,395 points, have his number 17 jersey retired, and become the third winningest player of all time, behind Bill Russell and Sam Jones, winning eight NBA championships.
While the Celtics seemed to have the upper-hand playing against the Royals, the games between them were becoming more intense—there were no blowouts. Celtics coach Red Auerbach was convinced that the Royals were as good as the Syracuse Nationals in the Eastern Division, maybe even better.
The Celtics, 16–5, and Royals, 13–9, met for the fourth time in the season on Sunday afternoon, December 2, at Cincinnati Gardens in front of 8,719 fans that yelled themselves hoarse in a game that turned out to be a raucous affair.
The Celtics won 128–127 in overtime with Sam Jones scoring 27 points, Tom Heinsohn, 22, and Bill Russell, 20. Also, Bob Cousy had 14 points including going 6 for 7 from the free throw line. For the Royals, both Oscar Robertson and Jack Twyman had 29 points while Arlen Bockhorn had 22. Oscar Robertson was 7 for 8 at the free throw line.
The Royals had lost the game on a questionable call by referee Sid Borgia with 22 seconds left in the overtime period when Borgia called goal-tending on Tom Hawkins on a shot by Tom Heinsohn that gave the Celtics a 128 to 126 lead. Adrian Smith hit a free throw to make the score 128–127 Celtics. Then, Bob Cousy missed a shot and the Royals called timeout. They set up a shot for Oscar Robertson and he missed it with 5 seconds to go.
Royals coach Charlie Wolf was asking what it took to beat the Celtics. The Royals had taken more shots, made more field goals and out-rebounded the Celtics. The answer was that the Royals had lost the game at the free throw line where they hit 23 and the Celtics hit 30.
Boston coach Red Auerbach was angry at Royals officials for throwing him to fans and not providing enough police protection. Following the game, as the Celtics left the floor, Auerbach was attacked by a fan. Auerbach alleged that 32-year-old Edward Finke, a former Elder High School athlete in Cincinnati, had directed foul language at him and kicked him. So, Auerbach decked him with a punch in the jaw.
In the locker room, Red Auerbach was livid. “The guy cursed me and kicked me in the leg so I belted him. I’ll tell you one thing I want when I come here and that’s a little protection. We wouldn’t treat them like this in Boston. At least we would have a few police around to keep them from being attacked.”3
Edward Finke alleged that Red Auerbach had sucker-punched him; both parties filed charges and later warrants were filed, and Auerbach and Finke were arrested by Cincinnati Police.
On December 29, a peace accord was reached between Red Auerbach and Edward Finke in the Cincinnati Police Court of Judge Clarence Denning. Through their attorneys, both parties withdrew assault and battery charges and the matter was closed.
At the All-Star Game break in mid-January 1963, the NBA Eastern Division leader was the Boston Celtics with a record of 28–14, followed by the Syracuse Nationals with a record of 24–19, closely pursued by the Cincinnati Royals at 23–22, while the New York Knicks occupied last place with a record of 14–32.
The 1963 NBA All-Star Game, the thirteenth, would be played in Los Angeles. For Bob Cousy and Oscar Robertson, the game would provide a rare opportunity to be teammates playing on the Eastern Division squad coached by Red Auerbach.
The Western Division had won the previous two All-Star games. In 1963, the West team, coached by Fred Schaus, included such very tall and very talented players as 7′1″ Wilt Chamberlain, 6′6″ Elgin Baylor, 6′11″ Walt Bellamy, and 6′9″ Bob Pettit, and they were favored to make it three in a row.
Fred Schaus’ strategy for the game was to move Walt Bellamy to forward with Bob Pettit where they both would tower over either Tom Heinsohn or Jack Twyman and then team Elgin Baylor at guard with Jerry West in order to counteract the slick passing and high scoring potential of the East’s Oscar Robertson and Bob Cousy along with Richie Guerin coming off the bench. The 6′9″ Bill Russell would have to contend with the behemoth Wilt Chamberlain.
At game time, 14,816 fans had packed the Los Angeles Sports Arena and 3,000 still seeking tickets were turned away. The game was to be televised on a special 19-city network. At that point in time, the networks did not yet act like they owned the NBA as they do today and the game was scheduled to start at 11:30 p.m. EST, a time when a lot of fans in the eastern time zone would be fast asleep for the night.
Jack Nicholson, who later became a very visible Lakers fanatic sitting at courtside waving his arms spastically, was not in the building. In 1963, Nicholson was still a struggling actor and was probably walking the streets of Hollywood looking for roles to follow up on his 1960 film The Little Shop of Horrors.
Still, it was a true Hollywood affair, as Pat Boone sang the National Anthem and Doris Day, who was one of the official hostesses for the game, sat looking fresh and glamorous in a courtside seat.
East coach Red Auerbach started an all-Celtics/Royals lineup with Cousy, Heinsohn, Russell, Twyman, and Robertson and it paid off. At halftime, the East, playing racehorse basketball with Bill Russell controlling the boards, Oscar Robertson with 16 points, and Jack Twyman scoring 10 points in 6½ minutes, gave the West a 56–50 lead.
However, the East kept the pace going in the second half with Oscar Robertson and Bill Russell putting on quite a show as they beat the West 115–108. The Big O scored 21 points in the game, and it was clear that the torch had been passed by Bob Cousy—Oscar Robertson was now King of the Backcourt.
Fred Schaus’ experiment of moving Elgin Baylor to guard to control Oscar Robertson lasted exactly six minutes before he called it off and sent Guy Rodgers into the game and moved Baylor back to forward. During that time Baylor never got a field goal.
But it was Bill Russell, who was named the game’s MVP, that really made the East click, scoring 19 points and getting 24 of the East’s 32 rebounds. Time after time Russell took the ball from Wilt Chamberlain, Bob Pettit, or Walt Bellamy and whipped it across the floor to Oscar Robertson or Bob Cousy who then started the East on a fast break and two more points.
For the West Bob Pettit was the scoring leader with 25 points while both Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain had 17.
The combination of Bob Cousy and Oscar Robertson had put on a dazzling display of dribbling and laser-like passes that thrilled the crowd. When both were not in the game together the East found it hard to operate successfully and the West would mount a comeback.
But it was Bob Cousy who, with two minutes to go, put the game out of reach of the West. Following three free throws by Tom Heinsohn, Cooz had set up Richie Guerin underneath for an over-the-head pass and two-pointer, then suddenly swept in an underhanded layup to give the East a safe 108–93 lead.
After the game, Oscar Robertson remarked, “It was a thrill to play with Cousy.” Then, he added modestly, “I can’t say I was doing much to stop Baylor when I was on him. He’s gonna get his points off anybody.”4
In thirteen years in the NBA, Bob Cousy had played in all thirteen of the league’s All-Star Games. Oscar Robertson, in his third year in the league, had played in three All-Star Games and been on the winning team each year in addition to being named the game’s MVP in his rookie season.
The 1962–63 season was Bob Cousy’s last in the NBA. On March 17—St. Patrick’ Day—13,909 fans (many who were already highly emotionalized by celebrating the “wearing of the green” in Boston saloons) and the Celtics management provided Cooz with a memorable and highly emotional farewell ceremony at Boston Garden prior to the last regular season game in his career with the Syracuse Nationals. The game and retirement ceremony were also being carried on channel 5 in Boston as well as by television stations throughout New England. It was one of
the most emotional events in Boston sports history.
As the ceremony proceeded, sports writers for the Boston Globe and Boston Herald pecked out asinine analogies on their typewriters for their morning papers comparing the farewell ceremony for Bob Cousy to Lou Gehrig, suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, addressing the crowd at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939, saying he was “the luckiest man on the face of the earth” and Babe Ruth diagnosed with terminal throat cancer standing on wobbly legs addressing fans at Yankee Stadium on April 27, 1947.
None of it made any sense. If there was any hidden meaning in the powerful display of emotion displayed by the Celtics fans toward Bob Cousy it should have been written that they were not just Celtics fans but Boston sports fans who may have been suffering the psychosocial effects of misplaced hero worship, unresolved from the rejection by narcissistic Boston Red Sox slugger Ted Williams in his uncaring farewell in 1960.
Maybe Boston needed to say goodbye to one of their sports legends. Frugal Tom Yawkey who owned the Boston Red Sox for several decades was never much on spending money for ceremonies. When Ted Williams played his last game at Fenway Park on September 28, 1960, there were only 10,454 fans in the stands. There was even confusion of whether it was William’s last game or if he would accompany the team to New York for the season-ending three-game series at Yankee Stadium—which he did not. Nonetheless, there was a brief ceremony at home plate and the game began. When Williams hit a home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, he rounded the bases, sprinted to the dugout and refused to come out to tip his hat to the cheering crowd. The fans continued yelling, “We want Ted!” but although he was sitting on the end of the bench in his blue Red Sox jacket, in his mind Ted Williams had already left the building.
Two and a half years later, on March 17, 1963, many of those same fans came to say goodbye to another hero, and Boston Garden was dripping with love from the rafters to its parquetry floor as the fans showered Bob Cousy with their affection.
