On hearing about a robot bee , maturing in a Harvard lab, a crow’s flight from the South Str
eet train station and the arena where the Boston Celtics playing out their genesis. A stream of NBA, the priceless ingredients of team basketball , these post WW2 athletic young men, playingout their alter ego consciousness A selflessness of passing, dribbling, shooting, driving, weaving, give&go, feinting,rebounding, fouling,…..playing for the last shot , the shot clock ticking away…12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21 .
All of this ballet movement, played on parquet boards, orchestrated by an impresario named Red Auerbach. A Darwinian* n disguise from Brooklyn New York’s playground reality.(Cambridge University*)
From Boston(Cambridge), Massachusetts to the GalapagosIsland of Pauley Pavilion and NBA basketball.
I n this Cambridge, Massachusetts reality, the Boston Celticsowner saw in Auerbach, a brash ego driven human, “(I hate to lose”)who could lead the franchise to glory and profits. A full court “mojo”, Red ‘s cigar smoke drifting over the parquet floor and the fans in the sell out arena…. after each ‘w’.
Brooklyn born Auerbach’s karma was to be sure, not unlike Darwin’s evolution to the Galapagos, don’t you think. A metamorphosis a kin to our discovery of Red’s Bill Sharman, that night in 1945 at Ucla’s men’s gym when Sam Barry’s SC Trojans vied Wilbur Johns Bruins
Sharman, the pure one handed set shooter from Placerville ,California, playing out his dream at forward..
II
Sam Balter, the Bruin announcer and Klac radio spots, may nothave known of the Hank Luiseti connection from Northern California. A one handed flame thrower out of Sanford, Luiseticould very well have been Sharman’s I.D. and inspiration. . Those swishes from downtown, outside the three point line in today’s split second trance.
However a basketball junkie could very well see Bill Sharman emerge from the Trojan horse’s b elly on the USC campus whereto fore “John Wayne” emerged, to be discovered. Riding shotgun in John Ford’s “Stagecoach”.
His teammates that “ Freshman” eye opener at the Ucla gym .…Alex Hannum at center, Tex Winter at guard were lucky in their own NBA module, cyber space in the run and gun fast lane.
III
Maestro Auerbach was waiting for the Trojan “swish”, pairing him with Holy Cross’s playmaker Bob Cousy of Queens. Bill Russell a 6’9 inch center from San Francisco State (along with KC Jones) Sam Jones John Havlechik off the bench, and thecurrent Celtic announcer Tom Heinsohn, at the corners , rounding out the first five.
No amnesia here These dynamic players into their full court press, realizing their dreams and the chemistry of their Dorothy Roberts ,head counselor Middle and Senior High counselorinsights, into role playing through the classrooms. (6-12).
. IV
Bill Sharman into his own Darwinian evolution, stayed with his unconscious, returning to the West Coast in the role of a coach, a la Red Auerbach….. into the psyches of his players.
A disenchantment in Utah, reverted into a Globetrotter masterpiece in the City of Angels. A 33 game winning streak ,akin to Ucla’s coach Wooden’s 77.
His cast included Jerry West Elgin Baylor Gail Godric h Pat Riley (“Riles”) Wilt Chamberlain Norm Nixon…”Happy” Hairston , Chick Hearn doing the play by play , the time clock winding down.
V
Meanwhile Tex Winter and Alex Hannum were into their karma,Winter coaching at Kansas State, Hannum playing in the BA. Winter rode his C lair Bewe (LIU) academics.
The triangle into the weak side….Michael Jordan, Scotty Pippen…..John Paxton, later Steve Kerr at the 3 point killer instinct, the fans erupting.
Phil Jackson orchestrating those 6 time Bull Champions, Tex Winter, sitting on the bench ,behind Red Holtzman’s sixth man;into his role with the Knicks during their run in the70’s.The Zen master, notwithstanding Hubie Brown, a tactician and a math“brain” in his own right.
VI
No Walpurgis Night for our Ulysses, spawn out of the Trojan Horse’s reality that day 87 years ago on the USC campus.
His passing ….Redondo Beach, California..
The city that never sleeps, November 4, 2013..
