Boston’s Legendary Trio

A crowd of Celtics fans lifted Tommy Heinsohn, Red Auerbach and Bill Russell in the air after another win. For nearly three decades, from 1950 to 1978, these three men played a role with the Celtics either as a player or coach. That era accounted for 13 of the franchise’s 17 NBA World Championship titles. Heinsohn later said that Auerbach “got us to believe that playing for the Boston Celtics was like the Cosa Nostra; it was our thing.”