Havlicek, John (1940—)

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Havlicek, John (1940—)

While the National Basketball Association's Boston Celtics have had a history of illustrious players, perhaps none is as closely associated with a single moment in the team's history as John Havlicek. Few Celtics fans cannot imitate long-time Celtics' announcer Johnny Most's raspy yell, "Havlicek Stole the Ball, Havlicek Stole the Ball," describing the player's crucial steal as time ran out in the seventh and deciding game of the 1965 Eastern Division Finals against perennial Boston rival Philadelphia, which preserved a narrow one-point win for Boston and opened the way for another Boston championship.

Perhaps it is ironic that Havlicek is so famed for a single play, for his career was marked by a longevity and consistency which few players in NBA history have been able to match. Havlicek's steal came early in a distinguished career, during which he played on eight NBA Championship teams and appeared in 13 All-Star games, among his many honors. His hallmark was an almost supernatural endurance, as Havlicek remained in perpetual motion on both offense and defense throughout entire games. At 6 feet, 5 inches, Havlicek was able to play both guard and forward, using his size and strength to overpower smaller guards and his quickness to beat larger, slower forwards with drives to the basket and quick passes. In addition to his physical stamina, Havlicek also was an avid student of the game. Longtime Boston sportswriter Bob Ryan notes in The Boston Celtics that Havlicek's "physical abilities were exceeded by his extraordinary basketball mind. If he saw his opponents run a play, he made a note of the hand signal or verbal call that initiated it. Thereafter he always got the jump on it. He couldn't understand why other players didn't retain basketball knowledge equally well."

A three-sport star in high school, Havlicek initially played both baseball and basketball at Ohio State University, although he cut short his baseball career at OSU to concentrate on basketball. Nonetheless, Havlicek's versatility and athletic ability was so great that he was drafted by both the National Football League's Cleveland Browns in the seventh round of the NFL draft and the Celtics in the first round of the NBA draft following his graduation from OSU in 1962. Havlicek was the last player cut by the Browns, where he tried out as a wide receiver, which allowed him from that point on to devote himself solely to basketball.

Havlicek joined the Celtics in the midst of the team's run of eight consecutive championships between 1959 and 1966. For his first four seasons, a time when the Celtics were rich with veteran players, Havlicek enjoyed the role of "Sixth Man," coming off the bench late in the first quarter of games to provide instant scoring at a time when other players were putting their weaker reserve players in the game. While Havlicek played this vital reserve role on the Celtics championship teams of the early and mid 1960s, he became an even more central figure in the teams' 1968 and 1969 championship seasons, as older veterans gradually became less effective. In 1968, for example, Havlicek scored 40 of Boston's 100 points in a hard-fought seventh game victory over Philadelphia in the Eastern Division Finals, which put the Celtics into the NBA Finals.

The early 1970s were a more difficult period for the Celtics following the retirement of Bill Russell in 1969, although Havlicek raised his level of play to a new high, enjoying his best scoring seasons in 1970-71 and 1971-72 and leading the league in minutes played in both seasons. In 1972-73, the Celtics had their best-ever regular season record, 68-14, but lost in the Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Knicks, hampered by a shoulder injury that Havlicek suffered in the third game of the series.

Havlicek, or "Hondo," as he came to be known by Celtics fans in an homage to the John Wayne movie of the same name, concluded his career as a leader and elder statesman for a younger generation of Celtics during championship campaigns in 1974 and 1976, both of which offered a number of memorable moments. In the 1974 NBA Finals, the Celtics defeated the Milwaukee Bucks in a seven-game series that included one overtime and one double-overtime game. Havlicek was named the Most Valuable Player in that series. In the 1976 NBA Finals, the Celtics faced the Phoenix Suns, who played the Celtics in the first four games of the series for a 2-2 tie. Boston won Game Five by a score of 128-126 in three overtimes in one of the greatest games in NBA history, due in no small part to several key baskets by Havlicek, and returned to Phoenix to close out the series in six games.

Following the 1976 season, the Celtics nucleus of the past two championships began to disperse for various reasons. Havlicek retired following the 1977-78 season, one of the worst in Boston history, at age 37, as the sixth-leading scorer in NBA history, scoring an impressive 29 points in his final game at Boston Garden. Havlicek's all-around play and consistency is reflected in his career statistics. Havlicek holds Boston records for most games played, most minutes played, and most points scored, and he ranks second in team history in assists and third in rebounds. He was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1983 and named one of the NBA's 50 greatest players in 1996.

—Jason George