by William Cook
On April 2, as the Royals and Celtics held practice sessions at Schmidt Fieldhouse in preparation for game four, news broke that after owning the Cincinnati Royals for less than one week, Emprise Corporation and Louis Jacobs were going to sell the Royals. The new owner was going to be Warren Hensel, a local businessman who claimed that he had a verbal agreement with Jacobs to sell him the Royals. Hensel had been captain of the University of Cincinnati basketball team in 1937, he was a huge fan and booster of Bearcats sports and had helped recruit Oscar Robertson and was also a personal friend of Jack Twyman’s.
Hensel’s interest in buying the Royals had both a positive and negative effect on the current team’s morale. Hensel pledged to keep the team in Cincinnati and announced that he was in hot pursuit of signing Jerry Lucas for the Royals. But he was also announcing his intention to fire coach Charley Wolf and replace him with Cincinnati Bearcats coach Ed Jucker.
Almost totally ignoring the fact that Royals were currently leading the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics 2 games to 1 in the Eastern Division playoffs, Hensel was already talking about the next season, how he felt the addition of Jerry Lucas would strengthen the team. He also wanted the Royals to draft Tom Thacker, who had just completed his college eligibility at the University of Cincinnati.
In regard to Lucas, Hensel told the press, “My thoughts as far as Jerry Lucas is concerned are that he’s one of the greatest players that ever lived. Jerry’s been a personal friend of mine since he’s been in high school. I’ve always felt he would be a tremendous asset to the Royals.”16 To that end, Hensel began to wine and dine Lucas and his wife Treva, inviting them to come to Cincinnati, have dinner with him, and watch the Royals’ playoff games with the Celtics.
Notwithstanding the Royals team, their fans, and the press, the news of the pending sale of the Royals by Louie Jacobs to Warren Hensel was big news to a lot of people.
Congressman Carl Rich, who was president of the Royals, didn’t know about the sale. When Tom Grace, executive vice president of the Cincinnati Royals, was asked about the sale he denied any knowledge of it.
Pepper Wilson, the Royals general manager, was greatly annoyed at the timing of the announcement, regardless if it was true or not—it was a distraction that the Royals didn’t need. “There’s nothing like keeping a ball club upset,” said Wilson. “There have been a lot of things going on lately—but our main concern has been with the ball club and winning in the playoffs.”17
Coach Charley Wolf, who had coached the Royals to two winning seasons in three years, said the team was not doing anything but concentrating on beating the Celtics. But suddenly Wolf was in Warren Hensel’s doghouse for benching Jack Twyman for a good part of the fourth period in game three. Wolf liked coaching but he was not held hostage by it in order to make a living as he had a thriving insurance business.
When contacted, Cincinnati Bearcats coach Ed Jucker said he would listen if the Royals made him an offer. However, at the moment, Jucker was getting ready to coach the American team in the Pan-American Games in Sao Paulo, Brazil later in the month.
Lame duck NBA commissioner Maurice Podoloff, who was going to be replaced following the current season, was contacted in Baltimore where he was providing executive oversight to the signing of a five-year deal to move the failed Chicago Zephyrs franchise to play in that city’s Civic Arena beginning in 1963–64.
Podoloff stated that the sale of the Royals to Warren Hensel couldn’t be considered because the sale of the Royals to Louis Jacobs by the Thomas E. Wood Estate had not yet been approved by the NBA Board of Governors. “The sale to Louis Jacobs has never been formally submitted and formally approved by the board,” said Podoloff. “Until that is approved, no action by Jacobs has any validity.”18
The entire situation was enormous in its magnitude of stupidity. But the most amazing aspect of it all was that such an experienced businessman as Warren Hensel had so little regard for due diligence. It was a gross display of incompetence by a man who wanted to be the CEO of an NBA team.
Amidst all the confusion of not really knowing who was signing their paychecks, over at Schmidt Fieldhouse the Royals were getting ready for game four with the Celtics. Jim Schottelkotte, the Cincinnati Enquirer’s beat writer for the Royals wrote, “Never has one basketball team had so many bosses in so short a period of time.”19
Game four was finally played at Schmidt Fieldhouse on April 3 with 3,498 fans in attendance and the game televised locally on channel 9. The crowd was probably larger than announced as every nook and cranny in the small facility had somebody standing in it. Of course, the would-be Royals owner, Warren Hensel, was there as well.
The Celtics, looking totally rejuvenated, beat the Royals handily, 128–110, to tie the series at 2 games each. The Celtics were led by the playmaking of Bob Cousy, who in the first period scored 15 of his 20 points for the game that gave them a 34–25 lead. Then, the dominating play of Bill Russell in the second period, who scored 14 of his 26 points for the night, put the Celtics in a commanding lead over Royals, 70–55 at halftime. Although the Royals tried desperately to catch-up in the second half, led by Oscar Robertson who scored 25 points in the game, the Celtics kept wearing The Big O down by sending in new defenders causing him to hit only 8 of 23 from the field. Other key Royals were having problems scoring as well. Jack Twyman had 14 points but only made 3 out of 13 from the field, while Bob Boozer had 9 points but was just 3 for 9 from the field, and Arlen Bockhorn scored 10 points but was only 4 for 10 from the field.
In the end, it was not just a case of the Royals not making shots but the incredibly tight defense played by the Celtics who clogged-up all the openings. Once again, Bill Russell was dominating with nine blocked shots and 21 rebounds.
Thirty years later, Jack Twyman, reminiscing on the Xavier fieldhouse game, remarked, “I remember it to be a turning-point—the unfamiliarity with the court, the smaller crowd, the frustration we had. We were disappointed in the lack of confidence they showed in the team by booking a circus for that date.”20
Game five was played back in Boston in front of another packed house and the Celtics put the Royals on the ropes with a hard-fought 125–120 victory. The Celtics fought back from being behind, 34–32 after the first period, to take a 65–59 halftime lead. From that point on, with Bob Cousy leading the fast break, the Celtics pulled away, at one point leading the Royals by 18 points.
The work of Tom Heinsohn and John Havlicek was the key to the Celtics victory. Heinsohn led the Celtics with 34 points and Havlicek had 23. Tom Heinsohn had been dominating the Royals’ Bob Boozer on both defense and offense in games three and four. Coach Charley Wolf came to the conclusion that the reason Boozer was shooting so poorly was because of the stress he was experiencing attempting to guard Heinsohn.
So, in game five Wolf assigned Jack Twyman to guard Tom Heinsohn. But Twyman only hit 3 of 16 from the field. However, the switch apparently helped the performance of Bob Boozer, who after two poorly played games attempting to contain Heinsohn, finally got his jump shot working, scoring 21 points.
Another contributing factor to the Royals loss was that they had allowed the Celtics to out-rebound them by 13 on the defensive boards. Bill Russell had 24 points and 26 rebounds.
Oscar Robertson had a cold first half, hitting only 3 of 12 from the field, but he came on strong in the second half scoring 17 points in the fourth period to finish the game with 36 points, which led both teams.
While the Royals were now trailing the Celtics 3–2 in the series, no one on either team was counting Cincinnati out. Bob Cousy was predicting that the Royals would be fired up for game six in Cincinnati.
Royals coach Charley Wolf, still dodging questions about whether or not he would be retained if Warren Hensel acquired control of the Royals, was advancing the opinion that his team had recently been in the same position in the semi-finals with Syracuse and that they would win game six and put the pressure back on the Celtics.
On Sunday, April
7, at Cincinnati Gardens, the enthusiasm of 7,745 screaming fans and 36 points by The Big O led the Royals to 109–99 victory over the Celtics in game six to set-up a do-or-die game seven in Boston.
It was the first time that the Royals had held the Celtics to under 100 points all season long. The game was a rough and tumble affair from the opening whistle to the final buzzer. At halftime, the Royals led 51–48 and the Celtics were having a tough time getting their fast break working. Charley Wolf was so certain that the Royals were going to win, that during the halftime break he told trainer Ray Baldwin to pack the team’s blue uniforms—the Royals road uniforms.
For a change, the Royals owned the offensive boards and worked well on the defensive boards, out-rebounding the Celtics 80–67. Cincinnati’s Wayne Embry, the Royals 6′8″, 255-pound center, worked feverishly off the boards nearly out-rebounding Bill Russell 22–23. When Embry fouled-out with 59 seconds remaining in the game, he received a standing ovation from the Royals fans.
While Jack Twyman allowed Tom Heinsohn to score 20 points, he had his best game of the series. Twyman found his shooting range again, scoring 24 points, and grabbed 13 rebounds with 2 assists.
But once again, it was Oscar Robertson who led the charge for the Royals. At one point in the third period, Robertson hit five shots in a row and added a free throw before being interrupted by a two-pointer scored by Arlen Bockhorn. The Big O scored 16 of the Royals last 18 points in the period.
After six games, Robertson was leading all scorers in the series with an average of 31.8 points per game. Tom Heinsohn was second with 25.0 points per game and Bill Russell was third with 20.7.
In regard to The Big O’s performance in game six, the Boston Herald stated, “Robertson was simply superlative the last five minutes with a ripped sole on the edge of his sneakers. He twisted, dibbled, dodged and drove through Boston defenders to score 36 points, assisted on 14 other baskets and hauled down 13 rebounds in the greatest one-man show of the series.”21
It was apparent that the Celtics had expected to wrap up the series in game six and they expressed a lot of frustration in the locker room following the game.
Both Bill Russell and coach Red Auerbach were bitter about the officiating and blasted Sid Borgia and Norm Drucker. Red Auerbach quickly pointed out that either Borgia or Drucker had been an official in 14 of the Celtics 22 losses during the season. Drucker had worked in all five home-court loses in Boston.
Auerbach accused Borgia and Drucker of being one-sided, saying that the Royals had been climbing all over the Celtics backs but when his guys started to do it to the Royals, Borgia and Drucker called fouls. Furthermore, Auerbach alleged that Bill Russell couldn’t move because the Royals had their hands all over him.
Red Auerbach and Sid Borgia had been having differences for years. “Sid was working the series out in the West between the St. Louis team and Los Angeles,” said Auerbach. “There comes this beef from St. Louis they don’t want Sid working. So what happens? He gets off the series and comes here to louse up our series.”22
Throughout the game, Auerbach, assisted by Clyde Lovellette, stood on the sidelines heckling Sid Borgia. When Bob Cousy protested a call, he had a technical called on him. Then, in the second quarter, when Arlen Bockhorn loudly protested a foul call on him by Borgia that gave Bob Cousy two free throws, Red Auerbach protested that a technical should have been called. When Borgia ignored his ranting, Auerbach yelled for nearly all to hear in the arena, “You’re a gutless son-of-a-bitch.”23 Then followed up by asking Borgia if he was chicken.
Auerbach went as far as to suggest that Sid Borgia was showing partiality toward the Royals. “It’s Borgia’s ambition to see us lose,” said Auerbach. “There’s no question in my mind that he’s got it in for me and Bob Cousy.”24
Bill Russell’s domination under the boards during the series had been spectacular. After six games, he had 146 rebounds and an average of 24.3 per game. The second-best total was that of Oscar Robertson with 81 for an average of 13.5 per game.
But Russell also had issues with the way game six had been officiated. He was stating that he had been in the game for seven years and had always tried to believe that the officials did the best they could. “But tonight,” he said, “tonight it was too much. Those guys let the game go mad. It was a wild scene.”25 In fact, on one occasion, Russell had been knocked to the floor and no foul was called.
In a most uncustomary move, in the third period, Auerbach had removed Bob Cousy from the game and he never came back in. When asked about the unusual move Auerbach simply replied that Cousy was not playing well. The fact was that Arlen Bockhorn was doing an extraordinary defensive job on him.
Bob Cousy had only 5 points, going one for eight from the field, playing 16 minutes in the first half. Because of his poor performance, Cousy was more conciliatory toward the referees saying that while Borgia and Drucker let everything go, he shouldn’t have played as long as he did.
But overall, Cousy was having a very good playoff series. For six games, Cooz had played 170 minutes was averaging 14.8 points per game and his 49 assists were second best in the series to Oscar Robertson who had 54 at that point.
The evening before game six, Jerry Lucas and his wife had been entertained by Warren Hensel and his wife for dinner at the Hyde Park Country Club in Cincinnati. At Cincinnati Gardens the following evening Lucas was present, sitting center court with Hensel. Prior to the game, Lucas posed for pictures with his former Ohio State teammate John Havlicek and Hensel. When Hensel was asked if he was going to sign Lucas, he replied as if he finally got it. “We can’t talk contract,” said Hensel, “because I’m not really the owner yet.”26
There had been rumors circulating that the current Royals management and GM Pepper Wilson had been having trouble signing Jerry Lucas and were negotiating a trade with the New York Knicks that would have sent the territorial rights for him to the Knicks in exchange for Duke All-American Art Heyman. But when asked about the possibility of going to New York, Lucas indicated that he would prefer to play for the Royals adding, “Yes I believe I will sign if things work out,” referring to the Hensel ownership.27
On April 10, the Eastern Division Championship was on the line and so was the money. “This is the money game,” said Celtics guard Frank Ramsey. “We don’t intend to lie down and let them grab the winner’s share.”28 The oddsmakers had the Celtics as 9-point favorites. Each winning player would receive $1,400 and each losing player, $1,250. The losing shares included money from the semi-final series. The team moving on to the championship series could get as much $14,000 for each player.
Tip-off for the deciding seventh game of the series was scheduled in Boston for 8:00 p.m. But fans watching the game on station WCPO television in Cincinnati would have to catch the game in progress at 8:30 p.m. as airtime by the network couldn’t be cleared.
It wasn’t just professional basketball in 1963 that was still not taken seriously by the television networks but also college basketball. In 1961, Eddie Einhorn, future co-owner of the Chicago White Sox, bought the television rights to the NCAA basketball tournament for just $6,000. However, when he attempted to find stations interested in carrying the championship game between Ohio State and the University of Cincinnati, Einhorn couldn’t find any stations outside of Ohio and Kentucky that were interested in showing the game.
In game seven, the Cincinnati Royals’ Cinderella post-season came to an end as they lost to the Celtics 142–131. The Eastern Division Championship remained in Boston where it had been residing since 1957—seven straight East titles. But the Celtics were aware of the fact that they had not beaten the Cincinnati Royals, they had survived them. Bob Cousy later wrote in The Last Loud Roar that the Royals gave the Celtics everything they could handle.
Game seven had been another rough and tumble affair with two Celtics, John Havlicek and Tom Sanders fouling out, along with Tom Hawkins of the Royals. Red Auerbach had two technicals called on him and three Royals had five fouls
called on them: Bob Boozer, Jack Twyman, and Wayne Embry.
The Royals made a game out of it in the first two periods, trailing at the half 68–64. But playing in front of the third capacity crowd in a row of 13,909 at Boston Garden, the Celtics were all business in the second half as they blazed their way to a 25-point lead, 123–98, in the third quarter. However, the Royals didn’t quit. Led again by players coming off the bench, Adrian Smith and rookie Bud Olsen, the Royals fought back to within 9 points, 126–117, forcing Red Auerbach to send Bob Cousy back into the game. From that point on, Sam Jones, who scored 47 points, and Tom Heinsohn, who scored 31, took charge with a four-point string.
Red Auerbach lit his victory cigar with 1 minute 50 seconds left in the game, and at the final buzzer was carried off the court by the jubilant Celtics fans extremely relieved that the Celtics had finally laid the Royals to rest.
The game included a shootout between Sam Jones and Oscar Robertson. Jones hit 47 points while Robertson scored 43.
It was actually a very difficult night for The Big O. He wasn’t sharp from the floor hitting only 11 of 24 shots. But at the free-throw line, he was deadly, hitting 21 out of 22 foul shots. Robertson didn’t think too much of the officiating done by Mendy Rudolph and Earl Strom, acting like a crybaby each time a foul was called on him. In the third period, Robertson was held scoreless until the final 10 seconds. Despite cold shooting and dissatisfaction with the referees, in the end, the stat sheet showed that Robertson had scored 43 points. Not too shabby for having a bad night.
