On this day in Boston Celtics history, franchise legend Red Auerbach coached his first game as head coach and general manager of the Boston Celtics in 1950. Auerbach had just joined the team after the resignation of the first coach in team history, Alvin “Doggy” Julian, having previously worked as an assistant coach at Duke, and as head coach of the (then) Tri-Cities Blackhawks (now, Atlanta Hawks) before leaving the latter post after a disagreement with ownership.
Red had inherited a team with a 22-46 record and a desperate owner trying not to go belly-up who made an unusual decision towards that end that panned out in a big way.
That owner, Walter Brown, actually asked a number of local sportswriters who he ought to hire as a coach for the team, and after being recommended Auerbach by the crowd, extended an offer.
The future Celtics legend accepted and immediately got to work avoiding Bob Cousy in the draft (he would end up on the team later that fall after a dispersal draft sent him to Boston) while breaking the color barrier in professional basketball by drafting Chuck Cooper.
When October 18 rolled around, it was time for the very first test of the Auerbach-helmed Celtics, and Boston won the friendly preseason tilt against the Baltimore Bullets (now defunct, and not the team that became the Washington Wizards) 102-92.
The rest, as they say, is history.
It is also the date of a number of players making their NBA debuts with the Celtics, least of which includes former Boston big man Rich Johnson.
A product of Grambling State University taken by the Celtics with the 46th pick (there were many more rounds to the draft in that era) of the 1968 NBA draft, Johnson played his first minutes in the game in a 106-88 blowout of the Detroit Pistons.
It was a modest debut that saw the Louisiana native score just 2 points.
Happy birthday to the guy Bob Ryan called: "the most physically gifted forward the Celtics drafted since John Havlicek. Happy birthday Ben Clyde. pic.twitter.com/4plyx1AZ2D
— Honest☘️Larry (@HonestLarry1) June 10, 2021
It is also the date of Florida State product Ben Clyde’s debut with the Celtics in 1974, which saw the big man play his first game in a 126-119 loss to the Buffalo Braves (technically, the team that is now the Celtics now, though that is a long story).
The Georgia native had a slightly better debut, logging a 2-point, 1-rebound inaugural outing in four minutes of play.
It was also on this day in 2017 that both Daniel Theis and Abdel Nader made their debut for the team in a 108-100 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Theis had the better game of the two despite playing less than 5 minutes to Nader’s 11 and a half, putting up 6 points and 2 boards in contrast to the Iowa State product, who recorded 4 points and an assist.
In another of several debuts, it was also the day Joe Mazzulla spent his first game on Boston’s sidelines as the head coach, having been elevated to interim status after Ime Udoka was suspended for an improper workplace relationship in the summer of 2022.
The game was a 126-117 home win over the Philadelphia 76ers that was also a special night for other reasons after the Celtics elected to pay homage to the great Bill Russell in that game a few months after the Boston great had passed away.
Special uniforms and patches, a global retirement of the No. 6 jersey on all rosters, and a special court with a large No. 6 on the lane to honor the civil rights icon and NBA superstar were but some of the honors for Russell.
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