Boston Celtics retired numbers

Bill Russell - #6 - (Number retired March 12, 1972)

Regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, Russell anchored the Celtics teams that won nine, eight in succession, NBA world championship titles in 1957 and from 1959 through 1966, and two more in consecutive seasons in 1968 and 1969...A five-time NBA Most Valuable Player (1958, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965)...A 12-time NBA All-Star in his 13-year career, missing the team in his rookie year (1956-57)...Was the 1963 NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player...Is the Celtics all-time leading rebounder with 21,620 rebounds (an average of 22.5 per game), and led the NBA four times in this department...Was on the All-NBA first team in 1959, 1963 and 1965, and the NBA All-Defensive first team in 1969...Named to the NBA 25th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1970; 35th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1980 and One of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996...Was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1975...Declared the Greatest Player in the History of the NBA by the Professional Basketball Writers' Association of America in 1980...Was Head Coach of the Celtics for three seasons, 1966-67 through 1968-69, finishing with a record of 162-83 (.661) and two world championship titles in 1968 and 1969.

JoJo White - #10 - (Number retired April 9, 1982)

JoJo White was the point guard who led the Celtics offense and propelled the 1974 and 1976 teams to NBA World Championship titles...Was a member of the gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic Team in 1968...Played for the Green and White from 1969-70 to the 1978-79 season...Named to the 1970 NBA All-Rookie team...Named to the All-NBA second team in both 1975 and 1977...Was a seven-time NBA All-Star...Was the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player in 1976, which featured him playing 60 minutes in the famous triple-overtime Game 5, 128-126 triumph, over the Phoenix Suns at the Boston Garden.

Boston Celtics Retired Numbers

Here we go again. Another season is upon us and we have a good possibility to repeat. We need to keep away from serious, long-term injuries.

The C's have a total of 22 players with retired numbers and I will highlight about 6-7 each week, starting with #1, Walter Brown.

Walter Brown - #1 - (Number retired October 17, 1964)

The founder and first owner of the Boston Celtics franchise...Owned the Celtics from 1946 through 1964...Passed away after suffering a heart attack at his Cape Cod house on September 7, 1964...Born on February 10, 1905...Also was the owner of the Boston Garden-Arena Corporation, and President of the Boston Bruins hockey team...was instrumental in the creation of the first NBA All-Star Game in 1951, which was played in the Boston Garden.

Arnold 'Red' Auerbach - #2 - (Number retired January 4, 1985)

The number signifies the fact that Auerbach is second only to Walter Brown as the most significant person in the history of the Boston Celtics organization...Was Head Coach of the team from 1950-51 through 1965-66, winning nine NBA world championship titles, that included eight straight from 1958-59 through 1965-66...He went on to serve as President and General Manager, leading the Celtics to an additional seven NBA championships...Named NBA Coach of the Year in 1965...Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1968...Named the NBA 25th Anniversary All-Time team coach in 1970...NBA Executive of the Year in 1980...Was selected as the "Greatest Coach in the History of the NBA" by the Professional Basketball Writers' Association of America in 1980...Was named one of the Top 10 Coaches in NBA history in 1996...passed away on October 28, 2006.

Dennis Johnson - #3 - (Number retired December 13, 1991)

"DJ" played for the Celtics for seven seasons, from 1983 through 1990...He helped lead the Celtics to a pair of NBA world championship titles in 1984 and 1986...Was also a member of the Seattle SuperSonics world championship team in 1979, and earned Most Valuable Player honors that year in post-season play...Was named to the All-NBA second team in 1980...Was named an All-NBA first team member in 1981...Was named to the NBA All-Defensive first team five consecutive seasons (1978-79 through 1982-83) and again in 1987...Was named to the NBA All-Defensive second team three straight years (1984, 1985, 1986)...Was a five-time NBA All-Star 1979-82 and 1985...Was an Assistant Coach for the Celtics from 1992-93 through 1996-97...Passed away on February 23, 2007.