Russell is already smelling Auerbach's victory cigar.
April 28, 1966: Game 7 of the NBA Finals is played at the Boston Garden. The Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 95-93. It was their 9th NBA Championship, and their 8th in a row. This is easily a record for North American major league sports.
Bill Russell scored 25 points, and had 32 rebounds. Sam Jones scored 22, and John Havlicek 16. For the Lakers, Jerry West scored 36, but nobody else scored more than Elgin Baylor's 18.
The '66 Celtics included 7 eventual members of the Basketball Hall of Fame: Russell, Havlicek, Sam Jones, K.C. Jones (no relation), Tom "Satch" Sanders, and 2 men whose main contributions would come later, as coaches: Don Nelson and John Thompson. Head coach and general manager Arnold "Red" Auerbach would also be elected.
This would be Auerbach's last title as head coach: He resigned to concentrate on the front office, and named Russell as the NBA's 1st black head coach. If you don't count the early NFL as being truly "major league," a legitimate argument, thus eliminating Fritz Pollard of the 1921 Akron Pros, then Russell was the 1st black head coach in North American major league sports.
The New York Yankees won 5 straight World Series from 1949 to 1953, but no team has won 6. The Montreal Canadiens won 5 straight Stanley Cups from 1956 to 1960, but no team has won 6. The Green Bay Packers won 3 straight NFL Championships, from 1929 to 1931, and again from 1965 to 1967, but no team has won 4.
Does this make the 1959-66 Celtics the greatest dynasty in North American sports? Not really: While some of the greatest basketball players ever were then active -- including Russell, Havlicek, West, Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson -- the NBA wasn't getting as big a share of great athletes as it could have.
The era's top 2 pitchers, Sandy Koufax and Bob Gibson, had both gone to college on basketball scholarships. And it's not hard to imagine baseball stars Willie Mays and Lou Brock as point guards, or fearsome defensive ends Gino Marchetti and Willie Davis as power forwards. Indeed, the Celtic team that won 3 out of 6 titles in the 1980s was probably better, top-to-bottom, than the team that won 8 straight titles.
The Celtics and Lakers have both won 17 NBA Championships, tied for the most of any team. However, the Lakers won 5 of those while they were in Minneapolis, from 1947 to 1960, so, in a way, the Celtics are still on top. And Auerbach was general manager for the 1st 15 of those Championships, giving up that title in 1984; and team president for the 1st 16 Championships, giving up that title in 1997. He died in 2006.
They've won the Finals over the Lakers in 1959, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1984 and 2008; the St. Louis Hawks (now the Atlanta Hawks) in 1957, 1960 and 1961; the San Francisco Warriors (now the Golden State Warriors) in 1964; the Milwaukee Bucks in 1974; the Phoenix Suns in 1976; and the Houston Rockets in 1981 and 1986.
They've also lost the Finals to the Hawks in 1958; the Lakers in 1985, 1987, and 2010; and the Warriors in 2022.
UPDATE: The Celtics won an 18th title in 2024, beating the Dallas Mavericks.
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April 28, 1966 was a Thursday. This was the end of the NBA season. Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals was played at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-2. The Wings had won the 1st 2 games of the series, but this game started Les Habitantes on a streak of 4 straight, to win the Cup.
Football was out of season. These baseball games were played that day:
* The Cleveland Indians beat the California Angels, 2-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The Indians were now 10-0 on the season. And still, they were only in 1st place by 1 game, because the Baltimore Orioles started out 9-1 -- extending that to 12-1. The Indians went 71-81 the rest of the way, and finished 17 games out of 1st place.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Athletics, 13-5 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Mickey Lolich outpitched a young Jim "Catfish" Hunter. Al Kaline went 2-for-4 with a home run, a walk and 3 RBIs. Jerry Lumpe and Don Wert each had 4 RBIs, in each case including a home run.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs, 9-6 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The Pirates tied the game with a run in the 9th inning, then scored 4 in the 10th, and the Cubs could only come back with 1 in their half. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Willie Stargell went 2-for-5 with a walk and an RBI. Ernie Banks did not play for the Cubs, but Ron Santo hit 2 home runs.
* The Houston Astros beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2 at the Astrodome in Houston. Lou Brock went 0-for-4.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves, 8-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Hank Aaron hit a home run off Don Drysdale, but "Big D" still went the distance, allowing 5 other hits, striking out 10 and walking none.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-0 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Juan Marichal pitched a 4-hit shutout. Willie Mays did not play. Pete Rose went 1-for-4.
* The New York Yankees and the Washington Senators were rained out at Yankee Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 8. The Senators won the opener, 7-6, tagging Mel Stottlemyre for 5 runs before the Yankees even came to bat. The Yankees won the nightcap, 7-5. Fritz Peterson went the distance for the win. Mickey Mantle hit a home run in each game.
* The Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox were rained out at Fenway Park in Boston. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 8. The Red Sox swept, 3-1 and 5-1. Carl Yastrzemski went 2-for-7 with a walk and 2 RBIs.
* The Baltimore Orioles and the Minnesota Twins were rained out at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on September 30. By that point, the O's had dethroned the Twins as American League Champions, so the games were meaningless, except to see if Frank Robinson could win the Triple Crown. The Twins swept, 10-7 and 8-2. Frank went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI in the 1st game. Brooks Robinson did the exact same. Both men sat out the 2nd game. Harmon Killebrew went 3-for-6 with a home run in each game, 4 walks and 3 RBIs. Frank did win the Triple Crown.
* And the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies were not scheduled.
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