Opening night for the Boston Celtics on Oct. 17, 1964 was bittersweet. The team celebrated winning its sixth NBA championship, and also honored its original owner, Walter A. Brown, who died on Sept. 7, 1964.
The Celtics went 59-21 in the 1963-64 season, beating the then-San Fransisco Warriors in the NBA Finals to take the NBA Finals Trophy (which was renamed in ’64 to honor Brown.) Led by Red Auerbach, the roster featured Bill Russell, Satch Sanders, John “Hondo” Havlicek, Sam Jones and K.C. Jones.
In this week’s edition of Throwback Thursday, join the Celtics courtside on that October night in 1964, when the team retired uniform No. 1 in honor of Brown, and the team also raised its sixth NBA championship banner. Check out the pregame ceremony in the video above (just a note, the video contains no audio).
