Bob Cousy
Bob Cousy
Robert Joseph "Bob" Cousyis an American retired professional basketball player. Cousy played point guard with the Boston Celtics from 1950 to 1963 and briefly with the Cincinnati Royals in the 1969–70 season. Cousy first demonstrated his basketball abilities while playing for his high school varsity team in his junior year. He obtained a scholarship to the College of the Holy Cross, where he led the Crusaders to berths in the 1948 NCAA Tournament and 1950 NCAA Tournament and was named...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth9 August 1928
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
I grew up in the heart of the Depression.
There were riots in just about every game we played with Syracuse.
The MVP award was very satisfying in terms of personal accomplishments, but the championship was the most important thing of all.
I had endured six years of frustration so I think winning it all meant more to me than most of the others on the team.
I was the original socially depraved shy ghetto kid.
We lived in Yorkville, which is located on the East End of Manhattan. It's further east than Hell's Kitchen, and back then it was the kind of place where the roaches and cockroaches were big enough to carry away small children.
Back then every small town had a gym, and if itseated more than 2,000 then we'd be interested in playing in it.
I won the city scoring championship as a senior.
Cooper was my road roommate, and also happened to be the first African American player drafted by a National Basketball Association team.
The NBA wasn't a big deal at that time, so it wasn't really in my career plans.
We ran an up-tempo, transition-style of game at Boston College - very similar to what we ran when I played for Arnold.
You have to remember that coaching wasn't sophisticated back then - you didn't have the camps, clinics and all the technical advances that are available today - so from that standpoint, playing with a cast on my arm was a fortunate event in my life.
I dribbled by the hour with my left hand when I was young. I didn't have full control, but I got so I could move the ball back and forth from one hand to the other without breaking the cadence of my dribble. I wasn't dribbling behind my back or setting up any trick stuff, but I was laying the groundwork for it.
My biggest win was getting the meal money bumped from $5 to $7.