Sports History On This Day: April 26

April 26, 1966 – The legendary Red Auerbach retired as the Boston Celtic’s head coach. Auerbach was reportedly hired by Celtics owner Walter Brown just before the 1950-51 NBA season. The Celts were struggling on the court as well as financially and Brown told a group of reporters that he basically lacked knowledge of basketball and asked the newsmen for advice on a coaching candidate.

They recommended Arnold Jacob “Red” Auerbach for the job, and Walter Brown obliged them. It may have been one of the best front office decisions in hoops history! Red’s Boston teams went 795 and 397 in the regular season for an amazing 0.697 winning percentage. Auerbach coached Celtics teams had won 9 NBA Titles in 16 seasons, he earned Coach of the Year in 1965 and had the honor of coaching an NBA All-Star squad 11 different times.

After 16 years coaching the Celts he became the team’s General Manager until 1984, and then served as the Boston President and Vice-Chairman through the 2006 season.

To find more great daily sports history make sure to check out the Sports Jersey Dispatch and Pigskin Dispatch.

Boston Celtics center Bill Russell sitting on the bench next to head coach Red Auerbach on December 26, 1956.
The photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of Boston Celtics center Bill Russell sitting on the bench next to head coach Red Auerbach on December 26, 1956. Special thanks to the resources of Newspapers.com and OnThisDay.com for the information obtained.

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