Gary M. Pomerantz is the author of
The Last Pass: Cousy, Russell, the Celtics, and What Matters in the End. From the transcript of his--and Bob Cousy's--interview with NPR's Scott Simon:
SIMON: Gary Pomerantz, let me turn to you first. What, in addition to their sheer excellence, what set apart this Celtics team in their times?
POMERANTZ: Well, we can look at the Hall of Fame and nine of them are members. That's almost two full rosters. And, you know, Bob Cousy, Bill Russell - what was exquisite to watch, Scott, was Russell getting the rebound, turning and throwing the outlet past to Cousy, sometimes before, you know, Russell's feet had hit the ground, and then Cousy turning, taking that photograph in his mind of where players were. And he was the gold standard on running the fast break.
SIMON: Bob Cousy, the Celtics were integrated, black men and white men playing for the same team at a time so many other enterprises in America weren't.
COUSY: I'm 90 years old. I still, Scott, I cannot understand why you hate one person because of the color of their eyes or their skin or their hair and therefore you hate all people who have that color hair or - you know what I mean? It's so irrational, but I give the credit, really, to...[read on]
--Marshal Zeringue
Gary M. Pomerantz is the author of The Last Pass: Cousy, Russell, the Celtics, and What Matters in the End. From the transcript of his--and Bob Cousy's--interview with NPR's Scott Simon: