Red Auerbach, RIP

"Legend." It's one of those terms, like "hero" or "star" or "amazing" or "historic" that we toss around blithely, burying their meaning through overuse. And yet there are legends, just as there are heroes and stars, just as there are historic and amazing events. If ever the term "legend" applied to someone in the world of sports, it applied to Arnold "Red" Auerbach, the de facto paterfamilias of the Boston Celtics and arguably both the greatest coach and the greatest front office administrator in the history of sports. Red Auerbach died yesterday at his longtime home in Washington, DC. He was 89 years old.

One cannot grow up a Celtics fan without a heightened sense of awareness of the larger than life presence of Red Auerbach. The stories -- the unprecedented run of championships; his integration of the NBA and his willingness to be the first coach to field five black starters; the victory cigar that tickled Celtics fans and infuriated opponents; the ability to see three steps of the other guy on the court and in the front office; the competitive fire; the wins the wins the wins. The Boston Celtics are one of the historic and great franchises in all of sports, and Red Auerbach overwhelmingly represents the reason why. Bill Russell and Larry Bird marked just two of his innumerable coups (with Russell furthering Red's reputation on matters racial when Red hired Russell as the first black head coach in American professional sports after Auerbach stepped down at the end of his unprecedented run on the Celtics sidelines).

In today's Boston Globe two marvellous tributes from Dan Shaughnessy and Jackie MacMullen can at least begin to place this historic figure in his time and place. I'm sure many more are to come, and I especially await Bob Ryan's inevitable column (Update: And here it is.), as well as that of Sportsguy (see below) and others. Red was sui generis. In the last decade or so of his life, health restrictions kept him down to one of his beloved cigars a day. Light up all you want now, Red, for victory defined you, the ultimate winner. Go well.

Update: I am at home watching ESPN Classic's eight hour Red marathon and am reading Sportsguy's wonderful piece on Auerbach. It's a bit of a misty afternoon here at Casa de Catsam.
More: The Globe's Shira Springer has a piece on Celtic memories of Auerbach and on that page are lots of links.