The Greening of Jo Jo White, 1977

[The NBA great Bob Cousy published a book in the late-1980s titled Cousy on the Celtic Mystique. It was Cousy’s attempt, with a big editorial hand from the Boston Globe’s Bob Ryan, to explain why the Boston Celtics were the most-dominant of the NBA’s then-23 franchises. In the book’s prologue—and specifically referring to the shrewd Red Auerbach, mastermind of the Celtic mystique—Cousy wrote: “The proliferation of retired numbers speaks to the very heart of Celtic mystique . . . Auerbach has never put this down on paper. He has never said, by honoring a Don Nelson, I am trying to impress fans in New Orleans or Keokuk that by choosing to root for the Celtics they have chosen an elite organization. That would never occur to Red. But that is exactly what has happened.” An elite organization that Auerbach populated with a mix of good-to-great players who viewed basketball as a team sport and were willing to fill their defined roles in Boston. This all-for-one willingness made the Celtics…