Former Celtics coach Red Auerbach dies

[DeclinetoState]

By JOSEPH WHITE, AP Sports Writer 44 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Red Auerbach, the Hall of Fame coach who led the <form class="yqin" action="http://yq.search.yahoo.com/search" method="post"> <input name="p" value="&quot;Boston Celtics&quot;" type="hidden"> <input name="sourceOrder" value="c1,i,yn,c3" type="hidden">Boston Celtics (http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=Boston+Celtics) to nine NBA championships in the 1950s and 1960s, died Saturday. He was 89.

</form> Auerbach won 938 games with the Celtics and was the winningest coach in NBA history until Lenny Wilkens overtook him in the 1994-95 season. As general manager, the straight-talking Auerbach, who celebrated victories with a postgame cigar, was also the architect of Celtics teams that won seven more titles in the 1970s and 1980s.

Auerbach's death was announced by the Celtics, for whom he still served as team president. The team said the upcoming season would be dedicated in his honor.
Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061029/ap_on_sp_bk_ne/bkn_obit_auerbach_4)

[Beowulf]

Over the most recent years, I haven't cared for pro basketball with all of it's street punk mentality and overpaid thugs but today is a sad day for this Celtic fan of old. Truly, the days of Bird, Dr. J, Magic Johnson, Chamberlain and the many greats who played for the love of the game are gone. Here's a fitting tribute courtesy of ESPN:

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/ivp/index?id=2642276