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Red Auerbach was an American basketball coach for the Washington Capitols, the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, and the Boston Celtics.
After retiring from coaching, Auerbach served as president and front office executive of the Celtics until his passing. As a coach, he achieved 938 wins—a record at the time of his retirement—and secured nine NBA championships in ten seasons, a feat surpassed only by Phil Jackson, who won 11 titles in eighteen seasons. As general manager and team president of the Celtics, he added seven more NBA championships, totaling 16 titles over 29 years, establishing him as one of the most successful executives in North American professional sports history.
Auerbach is remembered as a pioneer of modern basketball, transforming the game into one focused on team play and defense, and pioneering the fast break as an effective offensive strategy. He developed numerous players who later entered the Basketball Hall of Fame. Furthermore, Auerbach played a key role in breaking racial barriers in the NBA by drafting the league’s first African-American player, Chuck Cooper, in 1950; starting the first African-American lineup in 1964; and hiring the first African-American head coach in North American professional sports, Bill Russell, in 1966. Known for his distinctive personality, he was famous for lighting a cigar when he believed victory was certain, a tradition that came to symbolize triumph during his time in Boston.
In 1967, the NBA Coach of the Year award—an honor he earned in 1965—was renamed the "Red Auerbach Trophy." He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1969. In 1980, the Professional Basketball Writers Association of America named him the greatest coach in NBA history, and he was also named NBA Executive of the Year that same year. Additionally, Auerbach was recognized as one of the NBA’s 10 Greatest Coaches, was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, and is honored with a retired number 2 jersey at TD Garden, the Boston Celtics’ home arena.
