Auerbach had soft side beneath gruff exterior

BOSTON -- More than a decade ago, a reporter nervously approached Red Auerbach at a Celtics practice. He just wanted to say that his mother and the sometimes gruff sports legend had been high school classmates.

Auerbach listened with a serious face. Then he smiled and chatted pleasantly about the old days at Eastern District High in Brooklyn, N.Y.

That side of Auerbach conflicted with his public image -- a straight-talking, cigar-puffing guy who delighted in tweaking opponents verbally and outsmarting them in trades.

His players, though, loved him as much as he loved the Chinese food that was a staple of his diet.

At a Boston Celtics game on April 8, 1999, Hall of Famer Bill Russell explained why he decided to succeed Auerbach as coach for the 1966-67 season.

"That's the one time I could make sure that I have a coach I like as much as I like you," he recalled with his characteristic cackle, "maybe more."

Auerbach died Saturday at 89 in Washington, D.C., where he lived. The Celtics plan to dedicate the season to him.

Auerbach's Celtics won nine championships before he became general manager and then president and led them to seven more. But there were sad times.

Len Bias, one of Auerbach's counselors at a summer basketball camp, died two days after Auerbach drafted him with the second overall pick in 1986. Rick Pitino stripped Auerbach of the president's title when he became coach in 1997. And Auerbach's wife, Dorothy, died in 2000.

Still, Auerbach kept advising the team wisely.

But, as age took its toll, he showed up at Celtics games using a cane. Last April, he appeared at one in a wheelchair.

He had planned to attend next Wednesday's season opener in Boston on the 60th anniversary of his first NBA victory, as coach of the Washington Capitols. It would have been his 57th season with the Celtics.

"To this day," team owner Wyc Grousbeck said last week, "he's the sharpest mind I've ever met."