On this day in Boston Celtics history, guard Saul Mariaschin was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1924. Mariaschin played his college ball at Syracuse and Harvard University, the latter of which he also played baseball at as a teammate of future United States President George HW Bush.
He helped drive the Crimson to a 19-1 record and their sole NCAA Tournament appearance until the 2011-12 season with Jeremy Lin. The Brooklyn native was drafted 63rd in the 1947 Basketball Association of America (BAA — a precursor league of the NBA) by the (now defunct) Washington Capitals, but he did not report to that team.
Instead, he signed with the Celtics, for whom he played one season. He was the last Harvard graduate to make an NBA or BAA postseason until Lin did it with the Houston Rockets in 2013. Mariaschin averaged 7.7 points and 1.4 assists per game. Rebounds were not yet tracked as a statistic.
It is also the date of Celtics Jaylen Brown and Bill Russell weighing in on the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a black Minnesota resident killed by police soon after the George Floyd killing that sparked nationwide protests.
Caught on video, the graphic details of the incident disturbed many profoundly, including Brown and Russell.
“There is inequalities and injustices that carry HARSH punishments for people of color!!” related the Georgia native in response to the incident. “I watched a man get shot seven times in front of his children they will never be able to unsee what they just saw every nerve in my body is on fire.”
“Amen!” tweeted Russell in reply to a similar reaction by Utah Jazz wing Donovan Mitchell. “This has to stop!”
Finally, it is also the date former Boston big man Robert William “Bevo” Nordmann, who died today in 2015.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1939, Nordmann played collegiately with his hometown school St. Louis before being drafted by the (then) Cincinnati Royals (now, Sacramento Kings).
Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
He played stints with the (then) St. Louis Hawks (now, Atlanta) and New York Knicks before joining the Celtics, for whom he only appeared in 3 games.
He logged 2 points, 2.7 rebounds, and an assist per game while with the team.
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