On this day in Boston Celtics history, an investment group headed by Wycliffe K. Grousbeck, of Highland Capital Partners, and Stephen Pagliuca, managing director of Bain Capital, began the process of buying the Boston Celtics from the Gaston family in 2002.
The sale had been announced by Paul Gaston, whose father Donald purchased the team in 1983 for $18 million. Grousbeck, Pagliuca, and partners purchased the team for $360 million 19 years later. Pagliuca and Grousbeck described themselves as lifelong fans of the franchise, and the latter was extremely excited about the purchase of the team.
Buy Celtics TicketsSo much so that he said he felt “like the tooth fairy” had visited him, at the time according to the New York Times’ Fox Butterfield.
On this date in 1977, the Celtics signed guard Dave Bing as an unrestricted free agent.
A graduate of Syracuse, Bing was taken second overall in the 1966 NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons.
He played nine seasons for that team before joining the Washington Bullets (now, Wizards) for two more before joining Boston.
The single season with the Celtics was his last in the NBA. He averaged 13.6 points, 2.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and a steal per game while with the team.
Finally, it is also the date Boston signed center Darko Milicic in 2012 as an unrestricted free agent for one of the shortest Celtics stints in history that actually saw a player take the floor.
Milicic played five minutes of one game with the team, recording a single rebound. He was released soon after at his request to deal with personal matters.
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