Red Auerbach – Victory Belongs to the Team
By Vikki Brock
Red Auerbach (1917-2006) was a legendary figure in the field of professional basketball who became coach of the Boston Celtics at the age of 24. When Red retired, he had accumulated the extraordinary record of 1,037 wins for the Celtics, and he won the NBA Championship in nine out of his last ten coaching seasons. He is credited with building both the Celtics team and their remarkable organization.
Auerbach’s areas of expertise were spotting talent and getting the most of his players. He said that his kind of player had the ability to absorb coaching. He wanted a kid “who was great yet never stopped being nice.” From this perspective, his coaching philosophy was about the team rather than the individual in that the victory belongs to the team.
According to Evered and Selman (1989), Auerbach participated, along with Wooden and Gallwey, in Werner Erhard’s October 1987 satellite session to identify the common characteristics of coaching across all disciplines.
What influence has Red Auerbach had on you?
Vikki G. Brock, Ph.D., EMBA, MCC
Leadership & Mentor Coach
Director, History & Archives Division
Comment by Vikki G. Brock on 3 July 2008:
Hi Dean,
I just returned from Europe or would have responded more quickly. You are right on target about his contribution in the area of diversity – in a time when it was not always popular. Thanks for this contribution,
Vikki Brock, director
Division of History and Archives
Comment by dean on 27 June 2008:
Vikki,
Red was also a humanitarian in a time of great racial injustice. Red brought in black players with the biggest being eventual superstar Bill Russell. In Russell’s book he describes how his home was broken into with the intruders leaving behind feces and urine in his bed.
Red understood talent no doubt. He got the best out of his talent as well. But Red’s true contribution was that he did not buckle under to the racists of Boston–he stood for humanity.
Dean — the inner architect