The Boston Celtics had two good guards in 1956, Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman, swingman Frank Ramsey from the University of Kentucky’s national championship team, and rookie forward Jim Loscutoff.

Cousy was a great ball-handler, solid scorer and top assist man; during his pro career, he averaged 18 plus points a game and about half that many assists; he had 28 assists in one game. Cousy came to the Celtics in 1950 soon after Red Auerbach became the coach; Cousy had played on the national champion Holy Cross team in 1947 and for a Chicago pro team.

Bill Sharman, the shooting guard, came to the Celtics in 1951 and lead the league in foul shooting for seven of the years he played for them; he left in 1961 to coach in the ABA. Sharman coached the Lakers to the 1972 NBA title. Ramsey played guard or forward. Auerbach used him as a sixth man for a while; he called Ramsey “Instant Offense.”

In 1956 the University of San Francisco won its second consecutive national championship in basketball, lead by center Bill Russell and guard K.C. Jones.

That summer Jones and Russell lead the USA to olympic gold in basketball. Auerbach traded all pro center Ed Macauley and rookie Cliff Hagan to get Russell from the St. Louis Hawks. Auerbach had also drafted Tommy Heinsohn and K.C. Jones.

With Sharman and Cousy averaging plus 20 points each in the backcourt, Heinsohn, who averaged 16.2 points and 9.8 rebounds a game, and Jim Loscutoff, 10 points and 10.4 rebounds a game, at the forwards and Russell in the middle, the Celtics proceeded to win the NBA title for the 1956-57 season.

After losing the 1958 title to the Minneapolis Lakers, in the fall the Celtics finally had Russell’s old running mate, K.C. Jones, fresh from two years military service. Second year shooter Sam Jones played more, but the starters were Cousy, Sharman, Ramsey, Heinsohn and Russell with the Jones boys and Loscutoff in relief.

The pro league would never be the same, for the Celtics won eight straight NBA titles. That’s right, from 1958-59 to 1965-66, there was only one NBA champion, the Boston Celtics.

Cousy lead the league in assists each year from 1952-53 to 1959-60. Sharman, Ramsey, Heinsohn, Cousy and Sam Jones put up the points, K.C. Jones shutdown the other team’s best guard, Loscutoff battled the boards and Russell either lead the league or came in second to Wilt Chamberlain in rebounding.

Russell averaged 22.5 rebounds a game for his career, with a high of 51 rebounds in one game; he averaged 24.9 rebounds in playoff games.

The Celtics had a simple strategy in the playoffs: Get a big lead and keep it. Of course, they also won a few close games over the Royals, Hawks, Lakers and 76ers.

Coach Auerbach kept the team fresh with new player Thomas “Satch” Sanders in 1960; he played great defense and averaged about ten rebounds a game in the 1961-62 season.

In 1962 John Havlicek, from Ohio State’s 1960 national champion team, and backup center Clyde Lovellette were added.

Cousy retired after the 1963 championship, and the 1963-64 starting lineup was Russell, Heinsohn, Sanders, K.C. Jones and Sam Jones. Frank Ramsey and Jim Loscutoff retired after helping the Celtics win the 1964 title.

Havlicek played an increasingly important role in the later championship years, including his famous steal of Hal Greer’s inbounds pass with five seconds on the clock to seal the win in the seventh game of the 1965 divisional finals with the Philadelphia 76ers, and then was the team leader on the 1974 and 1976 title teams after Russell retired; Tom Heinsohn was the Celtic coach of those championship teams. Larry Siegfried from that same 1960 OSU championship team played for the Celtics from 1965 through 1969.

The Celtics had several different starting lineups during the championship years from 1959 to 1966, but the constants were Coach Red Auerbach, Russell, Heinsohn, K.C. Jones, and Sam Jones.

Those five, plus Cousy, Sharman, Ramsey, Sanders and Havlicek, had their numbers retired by the Boston Celtics.

Jim Loscutoff asked that his number, 18, not be retired so a future Celtic could wear it; Dave Cowens wore it and now it is retired.

Dan Rapp is pastor of Ohio Baptist Church and a south Ironton resident.