Bob Ryan: Legendary Boston Globe columnist and Bas

When I was a freshman, I was in awe of going to the Boston Garden. I made a special effort to go to opening night in 1964, but I played as a trade pistons. And I saved the ticket stuff. And when we had the last game at the original Boston Garden in 1995, the Celix were beaten in the playoffs by Orlando. I asked the Globe photographer who

was at the game, would he mind doing me a favor? And I had my ticket stuff. I went up to the exact same seat where I had sat on October 17th, 1964. And he took a photo of me over my shoulder as they were taking up the Garden floor for the final time. And that photo hangs in our living room. Then you are in our studio

right now. You're talking in the A basketball. You're talking in great teams. You're talking great individual players. Takes it off and there's number 23. And of course, Johnny goes nuts. I just tried to go up there with playing my game. I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't like anybody. I'm not a decent person. Grant, you make the pass. Yes. You catch the ball.

Yes. All the stars are aligned and all the muscles fall at the right time. And I was out of the ground and throw one down. I was saving that as a surprise for you. And now introducing your host for in all airness at a Ryan. Welcome to Episode 116. Thanks for joining me. I'm thrilled to welcome you. Welcome legendary Boston Globe columnists and basketball hall of

fame Bob Ryan. He's excellent book. Scribe my life in sports released in 2014. We'll be the framework of our multi part conversation. I was fortunate to meet Bob in person just after Christmas in 2017. My wife Lisa and I were holidaying in the USA. As we were getting set to board our flight from New York to Boston. I saw a tweet about that night's recording of

the aptly named Bob Ryan's Boston podcast. The tweet said that it was kids night and children could wear a headset and ask a question of Bob. Just before takeoff, I tweeted, can a kid be 42 years old? I'm arriving to Boston this afternoon. Holidaying from Australia. I'd love an opportunity to meet you Bob. In fact, I want to extend an invite for you to guest on

my MBA history podcast. I hope to see you tonight. When our flight landed at Boston, I read Bob's reply with Glee. Yes, indeed. A kid can't be 75. Come on down. Lisa and I had barely settled into our hotel that evening before I took a 45 minute Uber ride to the town of Hingham. Specifically, Wahlbergers at Hingham Shipyard. Bob and his associates were very gracious that

evening. First, he invited that 42-year-old Aussie kid onto his podcast. Then asked him to share a meal afterwards before he generously drove me back from Hingham to our Boston accommodation. On that drive, Bob gave me a history lesson on Hingham, Boston, and the state of Massachusetts. He truly loves his place in the world. That is the context of how this episode came to be. In this

first installment, we cover Bob's early life in New Jersey. His parents influence on his love of sports. The first column he released as an 11-year-old. His transition to grade school and onto Boston College, where he'd first meet, recently retired. He had MBA star Bob Kuzi. A few years hence, the iconic Red Alback. Bob chats about calling the Eagles basketball games on student-run radio, graduating from BC

and transitioning to the Boston Globe. You'll hear the funny story behind Bob's assignment to cover the Celtics. His unique experiences working in the 1970 MBA finals amidst who's who of superstars at Madison Square Garden in New York. All that and plenty more to top it all off, Bob's recall is stunning. Show notes for this episode. An access to a huge archive of past episodes are available

at inallanus.com. Now onto the show. My guests today began an internship at the Boston Globe in 1968. He farewelled his full-time sports writer role of 44 years. After the 2012 London Olympics, the 11th game that he covered. In 1997, he earned the basketball Hall of Fame's highest honor given to journalists outside of induction, honored with a Kurt Gowdy Media Award for print. To this day, he

remains sports columnist, emeritus at the Globe. Bob Ryan, thanks to Johnny Me. Great to have you on the show and I'm really excited to talk about your life today. In your excellent 2014 book, scribe my life in sports, you write that your parents bought you subscriptions to Sport Magazine and the sporting news. You have a great quote in chapter two of the book. I was just

a normal kid with an abnormal interest in Apprinter word. How vital was that to your future vocation and the very point of our discussion today. I think it has everything to do with everything for me because I think that certainly there are millions to grow up as sports fans. But don't take it any farther than that. But I happened to have also been interested in print

and reading words, English language. And it was a natural marriage for me to want to read about sports as well as to participate and watch sports. As far back as I can remember, I was interested in the recording of sport and the stories surrounding sport. I was a normal American child of the 50s and every other way in terms of participation. My year-round clock was built

around playing. We played. Baseball in the summer. We played touch football in the fall and basketball for most of the good weather. And of course, when Wintertime came, it was time for indoor basketball. That was my calendar. But throughout it all, I read it, excessively. Chapter two of your book is also noteworthy. It's titled the sport star. Coincidentally, the name of your first column when you're

only 11 years old. What went into the production of that column, which you cleverly had had a limited circulation? Yes, of one. Whatever I showed to my parents, I wrote about my observations of the grade school basketball league, which I was a participant, went to a Catholic Prokyl school. And it was a very well-organized league in my home city of Trenton, New Jersey. I believe they're

upwards of like 17 teams. It was a very important deal for us. I played in that league. I made my observations about what was going on in the league. And I also made a few observations about the larger sports world. I think as I remember, it was about the NBA and Boston Celtics of 56-57 season. Which turned out to be their first championship season. And that

was it. Years and years I had a copy of that. And somewhere in the midst of moving over the years that I lost it, I wish I had had it. It would have been fun to have. But people are going to have to take my word for it. That such a thing ever existed. I don't have tangible proof. But I assure you it was real. We

absolutely believe you. Just referring to your early years of playing basketball, you said that you were half-wire shamed, that you still had the box score from a 20-point game that you had against St. Francis. You were drawing points off the dribble. Or did Teamite spawn you with an array of passes? My game was definitely a scorers game. I wasn't particularly interested in defense. I was never

a good rebounder. I was an average passer. I liked the score. And I had a variety. I liked to go to the basket. I liked to post up. I liked to shoot for the outside. Anything had to do with scoring. That's what I like to do. That particular afternoon, I'm sure it was a Sunday afternoon. I must have made a few outside shots. But that was

my high game. Never scored more than 20. Any other competition, including when I got to prep school in my high, as the freshman was 20 in my high, varsity was 18. That was it. That was my silly. That's pretty good. A man after my own heart, going for the scoring as well. I like that. Now, thanks to some strong campaigning from your mum. After you excelled

at St. Joseph's grade school, you were accepted to Lawrenceville High School. You became the sports editor there of the weekly paper, which was called the Lawrence. And around then, you were dubbed as the scribe, which obviously is a tip of the hat. So what your books called of 2014. What do you remember most about working on the school paper and then just developing your keen love

for the written word and obviously covering sports in general? The good fun I had working on it with my friends. We worked on Wednesdays and Sunday nights, putting the paper together. And then it was printed up in a place in Trenton. And it was distributed on Fridays. It came out every Friday. I worked for it for three years. And the way the sports editor of the

shipwork was they changed editors in the middle of your junior year, your third year of your four years of higher education. I was also the equipment manager of the football team, American football team. And then there's regular on the basketball world. So it's an unusual combination. I'm very proud of the fact. Usually managers, trust me, are not noted for playing. You're either playing or you don't

play. But I managed to do both. And Nick Nain came from the football coach, Mr. Jack White Dell. Who nicknamed me scribe. He was a history teacher and like my writing as well. I didn't play for him. I was his manager. I played for a man named, Mr. Megna for basketball. But anyway, he's don't want to give you that nickname. And in that law and still

community, I'm known as scribe. And so it was a natural title for the book. Speaking of that equipment manager position. You had, there's some fantastic photos in the book scribe. The one where you are on one knee with three or four other people in the photo. Is that a couple of the gentlemen that you just mentioned a moment ago? Yes. I'm sure I have to remember

now, but I can still picture me there. When the, I believe it was my sport coat. But my time we were good. And I learned a lot. I was the closest I've ever been on the insides of football. And I knew all the plays. My job during the game was to chart the games. I knew what the plays were. And I could tell them off from

sight. This was 1960s. They were filming the game. The film wasn't developed and delivered back to them until the following Wednesday. And totally different world. The coach wanted to go over a review of what had gone on in the game. And my annotation from the game. Technology, obviously at this stage is light years different from what we're experiencing now. Do you mind just pointing a picture

of the technology that was involved at the time? What you are doing? How you communicate this information? And what was involved in actually getting these weekly papers to come to be? They had dummy sheets. I had to organize. I had to lay out that usually be one or two sports pages in the paper. I had to make all the decisions about what we were going to

cover and how much space would be allowed. I had to do different sports. And I would write a column as well. I was not particularly creative in that layout. I was very rudimentary. I learned the basic skills. Maybe got some advice from a little more creative members and other editors in the paper who were more creative about their layouts. I've never been really good with artistic

things that have any kind. Words, yes, but anything beyond that. No. And then you put it out there and you had the copy and you sent it over to the publisher. And they printed it up. And that's that. But the relationships I formed there were really valuable. We really were a team and we're all proud of each other's work. And it was a great community team

effort. A great deal of fun to be a part of that. Our red that your father was involved with Philanova? Yes. Philanova Univer. He was the assistant athletic director for two years there when I was six, seven and eight. And his job was basically a promotion job. He had come up with promotions that were very successful. I don't know why he didn't stay there longer. He

was very good at it, but he did leave there after two years. But I made quite an impression there at the school. I can assure you. Given your location, Trenton, New Jersey between Philadelphia and New York, how is the experience of watching the game of basketball? I think you particularly point out the palestra in Philadelphia. Right. Well, Trenton is 40 miles northeast to Philadelphia and 60

miles southwest of New York. And there's plenty of agencies among the fans of all the different sports to this day. It was an ideal place to be able to absorb professional sports in both cities. We gravitated more to Philadelphia. And I mentioned, Villanova is just located a few miles west of downtown Philadelphia. And we gravitated to Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia during the summer a little

more than New York's time went on. But we did go to New York as well. It was invaluable. And then high school sports were very important. Those are very sports behind a town was in his. But the big opportunity though, I never realized, you don't think about these things. And then later on, I realized, holy, we were the TV capital of America. Most cities in America,

most metropolitan areas in the 50s had the three network stations, ABC, NBC, CBS. And that's it. We got everything in New York. We got everything in Philadelphia. So from channels two to 13, which was the standard dial of the VHF television in America and the 50s, we got every channel, but one channel that we didn't get was channel eight. I would get baseball games from New

York, the New York Giants, the Book of Dodgers and the New York Yankees were all televised and then in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Phillies. So I had that experience. I had that opportunity to watch a lot of baseball much more than people would have another metropolitan areas. So in that sense, the, the, the television aspect of it plus the physical ability to get to these cities and

good to these games. Now you mentioned a plus drug. I'll back to that. That is the home of the New York University of Pennsylvania in downtown Philadelphia. The cluster was built in 1927, the name after of course, Greek. And it remains in use. It is one of the two or three oldest arenas on American college campus. It's still in use. I know one is a little

older in Ford University in a Bronx and there might be one other other than that, though, as old as there is in America. It's a hollow place was a tremendous place to absorb a game and still is a great place to see a game. You had a terrific grounding there. Obviously, as you're growing up, you actually earned a degree in history at Boston College whilst there

you were expanding your writing experience with a student newspaper. At the time, you also were working for BC's student run radio station. You've been a UV BC. Another great line from scribe. One of your greatest takeaways was earning my graduate degree in topology. The course being taught by Professor Robert Joseph Coosie. He just been hired as BC's coach. You first met the 13 time All Star

in 1964. He just retired from the Boston Celtics the year prior after winning his sixth title in seven seasons. What brings to mind for you when you reflect back on that first meeting with Coosie, developing that role. You had to get over the sheer sense of all the rise that you were in fact in the presence of Bob Coosie. I had a number of good friends

who were basketball fans. We used to go to the daily practices at BC. And we just couldn't believe that Bob Coosie was our basketball coach. One of the handful, most famous, which figures in America in the 50s. And the idea, here's our coach. We were so impressed. He had told people that he would not accept any phone calls during practice. We took that as a sign

of his fidelity to the program. We thought that was really impressive. He's taken this very seriously. In fact, I know he made $12,500 as a salary at BC in the beginning. I was the play by play basketball broadcaster on the student radio station starting right away in my freshman year. I won the job. And so I did interact with him. And it was beginning of a

strong acquaintance. I don't want to overplay my hand here and claim that we're close friends. But we are friendly. And I still speak with him. He's 92 years of age. He lives in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 40 miles west of here. So remarkably agile. Thank God he's got all his marbles as we say in America. It was just mind numbing to think that my God, I'm in

the presence of Bob Coosie. You can imagine 18 year old kid who loved basketball. And there was Bob Coosie. It's almost inducing goosebumps on me on the other side of the world. As you're talking about this, all these years removed. Now there's also a wonderful photo that is in your book. It's a 20 year old Bob Ryan interviewing the iconic Red Alback during a Boston college

game from 1966. You wrote in the caption there that he was there to scout one of BC's star players at the time. How did you maintain your composure to interview red at that particular time. It's a terrific photo where you're right next to him there with the microphone chatting with him. And also what was it like to have that opportunity to speak with him at that

stage. Another gentleman, of course, you develop a relationship with for many decades to come. Well, why don't we move? I don't remember, is sitting there the game is at half time. I look at and someone is leading Red our back across the court to me. I don't recall if they gave me any warning whatsoever. We want to see Red our back. We'll come over and speak

to you. Or whether somebody just did it. Anyway, here he comes. I was stunned. You can imagine I was nervous. I didn't have a chance to prepare any coherent line of questioning. And I remember one of the first questions I asked him had to do with their position in the standings at that moment. He was just shy of. Doesn't matter where we are in the standings

right now. Anyway, he settled down. He was fine. It was gracious. It was a thrill beyond belief. And I must say I'm proud. I had that photograph autographed by him. The original copy is autographed. And I have that one of my precious possessions. Never did I dream at that moment that I wouldn't have to get to know him much better. I would be covering the Celtics

all those years. And I would be interacting with Red our back. Or that I would be someday in his apartment in Washington DC or going out to dinner with him and his wife in Washington DC. That would have been totally unimaginable. But those things did happen. Remarkable to think about. What do you think goes into making these relationships that you developed going through college? What do

you think was the most important way to foster those as the years went on? Knowledge. I had basketball junkies as we say. And a baseball one too. And I knew stuff. I had frames of reference to talk with people about. And that was not true. Not only with a Red our back, but with any number of athletes that I went encounter. I think if you do

your homework by definition, you learn where the players are from, where hometown, what college they went to, what high school. I think I was able to impress people with a base of fundamental empirical knowledge. And the other thing is enthusiasm. The obvious reading a love of the game that was not forced. It was completely natural. I wanted to note things about basketball. But I had a

chance to bring up a frame of reference that I think people could appreciate about bragging. I'm just telling the truth. This is just what I was good at. How about your play by play with the radio station there when you're at Boston College? Was it just you by yourself? And how did you develop your skills there? And take to being on the microphone as a broadcast

at that way? Well, you have to start somewhere. And there was an audition. What we call the Scrimmage against Syracuse University. And I sat on a Saturday morning in November of my freshman year. I'm warning of an afternoon football game. And Syracuse came in. You'll like this. But the back court that they came in with was Future Hall of Famer Day Bing and a Bespectacle 6'4

skinny guard named Jim Bayheim. That was the back court of Syracuse. I remember we beat them. John Austin had that 40 point. He's the player that read our back. I'd come to scout by the way. And it's 66. So anyway, there were a couple of us that split doing that broadcast. And I was given the job. I was the play by play guy. There was a

partner. I had a couple of them over there. The course of the four years. The original one was a year or two older than me. So he eventually graduated. But I was the only play by play guy for four years at the BC broadcast. It was all home games and the student radio station. Although there were by senior year, we did do a road game in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania against the Kane University. It was a great experience. I loved it. I always say about as much fun as I ever had doing anything. It was the play by play broadcasting. And we were very good, by the way, in those four years. We had an excellent record and four really good teams. And so the whole experience was totally enjoyable. I wouldn't have been all

that common I would imagine for an MBA star, such as Bob Cursy, to have just finished his career virtually the year prior. And then taking over as head coach of a college program. And having significant success. You said in your book that the BC made it to the in IT tournament. And also the NCAA tournament at various stages throughout that period that Bob was the head

coach. Yes, we went to two NITs the first three years. 64 65 65. And that's when the NIT was still very, very important. The NCAA tournament, which now has 68 teams, only had 25. It was very difficult to make the tournament. We went to the NIT for the first two years. And then in 1966, 67, my junior year at college, we were 23 and three. And

we were really good. Went to the NCAA tournament. One two games and we finally were beaten by North Carolina in the round of eight. And that was Dean Smith's first trip to the final four in 1967. They eventually lost to UCLA and Lew out there. And then in 1968, we went back to the tournament. And on the first round, we drew St. Bonna Venture, who were

led by a fellow named Bonna linear, a future home, a 6 foot 11. Great player. We lost it. I'm in a high scoring game. One, two, ninety three. And I did broadcast that game. I can remember at the University of Rhode Island, there was a stage behind the basket that I set up on that stage and did that game. That was the last game I did

for BC. But we were good. And then the next year after I get out, they went to the NIT finals. Bob Cursy announced that the NIT was going to be a great player. And then I was going to be a great player. And then I was going to be a great player. And then I was going to be a great player. And then I was going

to be a great player. And then I was going to be a great player. And then I was going to be a great player. And then I was going to be a great player. People with a love it or hate it. So their fan base was strong. And our arena was not that big. Seated, I remember the exact number 3,116. The current arena seats 9,200. But

that one had been built in the late 50s and really suited BC. Hockey was the number one sport. And by the way, still is at BC. I'm sure a lot of the BC fans were also Celtic fans. But many people just didn't pay attention to college basketball in Boston. And still don't. It's been a tough sell for those of us who love college basketball over the

years to get people interested the way we think they should be. Would you be attending Boston Celtics games when you're there at BC? Did you mostly rely on radio or newspaper reports the following day? We and I say week because I said I had these fans that were deeply fervent basketball fans as I the basic idea. And those days, Adam, they had double headers, not often,

but they occasionally had double headers. The first game would be two other teams and then NBA and then the Celtics playing the second game. We would circle those games. Three tiered arena at Boston Garden, the original Garden, sitting a second balcony for two dollars. And it was 25 cents to ride the 12th transportation from the Boston College campus to downtown Boston. So it was a pretty

cost efficient deal. And then we also tried to go to the Philadelphia games with when Will Chamberland would come in and maybe the Lakers with Elgin Bell or in Jerry West. So I would go to a handful of games a year. I mean, I'll three or four at least while I was at BC. I made a big effort to go to my very first one though.

When I was a freshman, I was in awe of going to the Boston Garden. And I made a special effort to go to opening night in 1964. I played as a trade pistons. And I saved the ticket stuff. And when we had the last game at the original Boston Garden in 1995, the Celtics were beaten in the playoffs by Orlando. I asked the globe photographer who

was at the game. Would you mind doing me a favor? And I had my ticket stuff. I went up to the exact same seat. Where I had sat on October 17th, 1964. And he took a photo of me over my shoulder as they were taking up the Garden floor for the final time. And that photo hangs in our living room. Oh, that is tremendous. I see

it every night, every day, the memories, everything. By the way, it was my wife's idea to hang these things in the living room. I just want to go on record. My wife, I mean, is a wonderful fan. And it was her idea to do this. So if you were to come in my living room, don't assume that I come in there that I bullied her. No,

no, no, no. But that photo was one of the four that hang that pertains to basketball at the garden. I'm really proud of that photo. You got the grain light to hang them up in the living room. That's fantastic. Is the photography reference here wouldn't be stable. Apostle. Would it? No, no, this was a globe photographer. Steve was a independent photographer. By the way, one of

the four photos I mentioned that are hanging is a Steve Leposky photo of my wife and my daughter sitting together in our seats. I was a seasoned tickleholder for 22 years. And I asked Steve if he would take their picture and he did. And so funny you mentioned Steve, I grateful for Steve for doing that. Oh, that's great because Steve is a former guest of the

show quite a few years ago now, but he came on and talked about his many years covering the Celtics, particularly and some of the iconic photos that he got. So good to hear. And if Jess is listening, hello to Jess too. Now that you mentioned her name as well. Now you graduated from Boston College in June of 1968. And through the 1969 season, the Celtics had

won their 11th title in the previous 13 seasons. Thanks. You know, small part of course to the legendary Bill Russell. You covered your first NBA game as a 23 year old. And in your book, you describe the Celtics as a team in a complete transition. Bill Russell and Sam Jones had recently retired Tommy Hansen had replaced Bill Russell as the head coach of the Celtics. The

whole setup. I was a summary intern in 68. I had joined the US Army Reserve. There was a high in the Vietnam War. And I joined them. The Army Reserve Unit near the conclusion of my senior year in college. And I would call it up to report for active duty, basic training that was going to take place at the end of October. I asked the globe,

could I stick around until I have to go and do my active duty. And they said, yes, so I stuck. And then I finally went and I came back out. I did four months of active duty. And then I do do five and a half years of going to meetings and some of duty, which I did. Anyway, so I'm back at the globe. And in the

spring of 1969, they gave me a verbal promise of the next opening on the staff. I don't know why they couldn't put it in writing, but I was going to argue. I was working Monday through Friday and the office and doing a few occasional writing things. Now we drift into October 1969. It's a Wednesday. An opening night is Friday. The swirth editor comes up to me

and says, Bob, you think I've forgotten all about you, but no. The opening is here now. Oh, by the way, you're covering the Celtics on Friday night. Oh, really? I had no exhibition games. I hadn't met anybody. I had not met the new coach. I had not seen a team for a day in person. They just relied that I was a basketball fan. I knew I

had basketball knowledge of basketball. I loved. You think there'd be some heir apparent to the great Bob sales. The man I was replacing, but no, they gave the kid me. So opening night, who are they playing? But the Cincinnati Wales, who's the new coach of the Cincinnati Wales? It's Bob cozy. So that was the one familiar face that I had to interact with the whole evening.

They played a game. They lose it one 10 to 108. And after the game, I go do the new interviews to get professional writing. I didn't budget my time very well, Adam. It was my first professional assignment on a deadline for the Boston Globe ever because all the assignments I had had as a intern were not deadline. They were feature assignments. So I blew the first

deadline. The first night, the first edition I messed up never happened again, but they put up with the kid. And that was my first year. And boy, talk about trial and error. Talk about trying to learn on the fly, build relationships, learn about the nuances of the NBA. One thing I could do was write a game story. I could write basketball, but all the other things,

it's an all on the job training. And there is no manual that teaches anyone how to cover a team. The human relationships to factor, the interviewing factor, the time budget factor, just no manual. And you learn it all, as we cut here, say, your OJT on the job training. It was a memorable year. And I can tell you that and not to mention the fact that

the Celtics were in a hugely different posture. They say it from the one that they had enjoyed for 13 years previous. They weren't very good. There was old guys, new guys and height since new to his own job. It was really an amazing baptism for me. Incredibly as well as fate would have it, you'd be covering a game where Bob Kuzi was encroaching this incident. He

was so quite remarkable. Actually, that same game, Oscar Robertson had 25 points six boards, six assists. I think the stats were as per basketball reference when I had a look last night. Well, very interesting. You mentioned ask me. The thing I remember about that evening, other than going to deadline was last night. I was talking to the soccer room and I'm going up to the great

Oscar Robertson. It's like a flash from heaven came. Oh my God, I'm talking to Oscar Robertson. That's what I'm ever thinking. And I was, I did this role as I could with the interview. And what I didn't know at the time was that already there was a, so we say a very frosty relationship that have been developing between Kuzi and Oscar. They weren't on the same

page as we say now at all. And eventually it would be traded before the season was over. As would Bellas star Jerry Lucas. He wasn't on the same page with the Kuzi there. Kuzi expunge them. You said Lucas to San Francisco when he sent Oscar to Milwaukee, where of course two years later he would win a championship with then Lou Alcindor. By the way, you mentioned

Oscar. That's the one Vignette. I can assure you I'm thinking, oh my God, I'm talking to Oscar Robertson. I mean, this is, this is just hard to fathom for me. Quite incredible. And I really appreciate you sharing these wonderful memories from your life in sports. But barely a month later after Boston played Cincinnati, Bob Kuzi briefly came out of retirement and played seven games with the

royals. What was that experience like given your history with Bob going back to Boston College years? What did you make of that transformation for a brief seven games? Kuzi got over a little bit, a little bit of hubris. I think at that point I think that he could have pulled this off. He was 41 years of age. He had retired seven years. He was a junior

year. And he thought he was making some stability to the back court. He had a young back court, Norm Van Lear. He embarrassed himself in those games. And most notably on a night when the New York mix set a record of consecutive games. One, he put himself in the game and threw it all away and contributed to his team's downfall on the end of the game.

Now Boston got involved in this red hour back. Every the pragmatist was not going to let Bob Kuzi unretire when he still technically owned the rights to Bob Kuzi services. Bob Kuzi was a great player. He was still technically property of the Boston Celtics. I guess he had not bothered to fire whatever retirement papers or whatever. It's a matter of fact, it never happened again because

of what happened here. So red wouldn't let him do it until he extracted something from Cincinnati in return. And he wound up getting a player, a journeyman forward named Bill did we an exchange for the rights to give Kuzi a commission to unretire himself and play for the royals. It showcased reds, while in this, I don't know that anyone else would have done that. And to

do it, the Kuzi who read loved like a son. He had no sons, by the way, he had two daughters loved Kuzi and an awful lot to Kuzi for keeping a team of float before Russell showed up in 1956. The only main attraction they had was Bob Kuzi, but if he could help the Celtics by exploiting Kuzi's desire to do play for the royals, he was

going to do it. And he did it. It's quite an interesting contrast to say the least. The Celtics went 34 and 48 in your first season covering the team. And they missed the postseason. However, you did not. You were sent to cover the 1970 NBA Finals. Incredibly. What happened in the lead up to being at Madison Square Garden for one of the most famous games in

NBA Finals history, which I'm sure you might talk about in a moment. We weren't about to send the globe right or around to cover playoffs if they weren't in it. No, it's days except the Knicks were involved. And it was the year that Knicks with the great breakthrough year for them. And they were the toast of America. And the notice I didn't go to games. I

was in the first season, but I didn't want to. But when they came back from Los Angeles for game five, they sent me down. I believe it was a Monday. And I hurry over to Logan Airport and jump on the four o'clock Eastern Shuttle down the LaGuardia. I arrived just in time for the game in the York. Quite frankly, I covered game five, which was an

interesting game because that's the game in which Woolest Read went down and did not play in a second half. And they managed to come from behind and beat this Lakers with with Will Chamberlain and Weston, Bailer, et cetera. With no player over six six playing in the whole second half. And they sat him on the bench. Nate, he's six, 10. They used Dave stalwart and the

busher and they ran wings around the Lakers and won that game. They go out to Los Angeles for game six and will goes for 45 points and 27 rebounds against Nate Bowman to bring it back to New York. And now as you said, I went down on that Friday night. May 8th, 1970 took the train. First time I ever done that. They go to New York,

covering rather than the flight. But the only time I ever did it, the other time I went, I drove or flew. I was there. As you said, I was there. I was sitting up in the upstairs press box. I had not yet achieved the respect from the New York public relations people to put me down on the floor with the big fellas. I was the kid.

They set me upstairs. You'll love this. The next step the floor. Of course, without Willis Read, they took the floor warm up. And then a large black fellow came out and the crowd go excited. Oh, no, it wasn't Willis Read. It was Kazzy Russell. And finally, Willis makes his appearance and trudges out there and a place goes wild as you can see. And imagine, and you

know how that game started. Willis made the first two baskets of the game outside jump shots. The only two baskets he made in the game. And people remember it as the Willis Read game. But as you well know, it was not the Willis Read game. It was the wall Frazier who went up with 36 points and 19 assists. And they won this game quite handling. And

the game's over now. This is how the times have changed. In those days, they actually allowed the media. We weren't media. We were the press. There was nothing as media. It was press and press meant print. And that's what it meant. And nobody. They allowed the writers into the locker room to await the entrance of the next. We were in there. The door opens. And here

comes Frazier. And his first words were, man, I need a beer. That appears in my game story. Now there's a line. You're not getting today, folks. Nobody is getting that line. And first of all, they don't even do game stories anymore. We can talk about that later. But nobody's getting a line like that for their story anymore. But that's the world I live in. I lived

in 1970. Unbelievable. There's so many different ways I could go for me. You're a big fan of a great opening lead. But what do you think was the basis of them? Thousands of game recaps in game stories you did over the course of your career, Bob. At the risk of sounding incredibly pretentious. I will tell you that I often thought of it as I was not

a sports writer. I was a drama creator. I was reviewing the game for someone for two reasons. One, for the person who saw it to fush out some insights that helped you be kindle your memory of the game. Secondly, for people who didn't see it, what you missed. This is my observations about what was important. What it wasn't important. And I kept meticulous notes. I took

me year, year and a half to get the system down. But I got one down. And it was highly impressionistic and highly opinionated. My good fortune was that the Boston Globe accommodated that kind of writing. I assure you there were other papers that would never have allowed a young, brash, opinionated writer to inflict his opinions. So heavily on the public, seriously. Same as two of my

good friend Peter gamons in baseball. We had started out as fellow interns and I'd fateful day in 1968. He branched out into baseball where he belonged. And I branched out in the basketball. And we were given a freedom and a leeway that was enviable. And people would say that to us and other papers. So I knew the good questions to ask. And I had a feel.

Thank God I had a feel for the games I never could have had. Not the same feel for football. Certainly no, God knows not the same feel for hockey. But I do think I will have used it as writing it as a drama critic. And I was allowed to do that. Great. No, I appreciate you sharing this with us. What do you might give today's coverage

of the NBA in the media? The access or lack thereof compared to back in the 1970s, ideas, etc. Well, first of all, right now, of course, everything's skewed because of the COVID situation. Everything is on zoom. You don't even have any direct physical contact. People are doing broadcasts from remote locations. So we'll go back one year from today when we didn't have any COVID issues. I

used to get to the locker room two hours before the game roughly. Tom Heinsen had a rule with the Saltics. The team had to be there two hours before the game. I could mingle, participate and talk to people up to 45 minutes before the game. And that's when we were ushered out, 45 minutes before the game. Now everything is rigid. There's a specific time where the

coach comes out before the game to speak to the media. And then you're given a very small amount of time to go in the locker room. And if you go in there, you'll find out that you have to time to hiding in the trainer's room with some sanctum and the ease that the camaraderie doesn't exist. And then of course, practices are almost 100% closed. And I

used to go to practice and I learned the entire Celtic offense in 70 split me. I knew every damn play and I knew what I was watching. And therefore I knew what I saw a play called what opposing players were good at, defencing them. And then travel, I arrived at the airport and we checked in together. We went to the gate together. We went in the

plane together. I played cards with them. You got to the next city and you took the bus to the hotel. You went out the dinner. The next day you got in the bus. You went to the suit around. You went to the game with them on the bus. Doesn't exist. You don't even travel with them at all. They traveled their way on charter and we travel

our way. How anybody develops relationships today. I have no idea. I don't have any idea. I appreciate you sharing this with us. There's another great photo in your book where it shows you sitting at a typewriter at Boston Garden and you have some fans right around you as you're there typing away. Set the scene for us working a game as it's unfolding. How did you manage

to stay focused? And of course, get that game story done. Of all the photos in that book, that's the one that confounds and meses people in my business more than any other. It's almost as if they found one of those wall paintings in the cave in southern France. I think it's 40,000. It's in the science times today. Anyway, this picture, it's an unimaginable scene for them.

First of all, we're sitting on the floor, which you don't do anymore. That's A. B, I'm writing on this typewriter. What it was is this. I don't know if that was half time or after the game. But at half time, I would have to write. We called half time running for the first edition. He would summarize the first half and delivered back to the paper. And

then as soon as the game was over, you had to write your, we call it the first lead. And people were watching over my shoulder. They watched everywhere. I wrote the cluster of people. That's just what you did. You didn't even think about it. It just blows people's minds today when they see that photo. But that was my life in the 70s and 80s, two to

a degree. That's what we did. Well, the only two people would have been doing that with the two morning papers. So my compatriot, whoever happened to be at the herald at Boston, herald our rival at any given time would be doing something down at the other end of the floor. Maybe they they clustered around me and people love that photo and it is a funny photo.

It's a tremendous photo. Just an absolute sign of its time. Well, it's been a real treat to chat with you Bob. I really appreciate your time. Round one. Round one is complete. I look forward to chatting more about the 1970s Celtics, the development of the NBA, the introduction of magic and bird. What was to come in the 1980s and beyond. So thanks for sharing some fantastic

memories with us. And I look forward to round two at some stage in the not too distant future. Very good. Thanks for listening. I welcome your interaction with the show. You can suggest topics or guests you want to hear conversations with. Send me an email and audio clips. I welcome in all anus at gmail.com worldwide. The show has 175 ratings on Apple podcasts with an average

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