By: Michael D. McClellan | He played in the league with that red, white and blue ball, teaming with the great Rick Barry and doing battle with the incomparable Julius Erving, but his ultimate thrill was winning an NBA Championship with Dave Cowens, John Havlicek, Jo Jo White, and the rest of the 1975-76 Boston Celtics. Game 5 of that ’76 NBA Finals will forever be known as “The Greatest Game Ever Played,” a triple-overtime heart-stopper in the fabled Boston Garden, and Jim Ard, pressed into duty following the disqualifications of Cowens and Paul Silas, stood tall when his team needed him most. From winning the tip in that third overtime to canning the decisive three-throws in what would be a 128-126 nail-biter, Ard proved himself a worthy middle man in the Celtics’ bid to gain control of the series. Anonymous to many, especially to those outside of Boston, Ard’s spirited play in the final five minutes helped the Celtics capture that all-import Game 5 – and, in the process, take a 3-2 series lead back to Phoenix for the championship clincher. How big was that win? Had the Suns, behind a miracle shot by Garfield Heard, the dubious officiating of Richie Powers, and the spectacular play of Paul Westphal, somehow managed to wrest control of the series by winning that Game 5 classic, Phoenix would have been playing for the 1976 NBA Championship on its home floor. Who knows what might have happened. Instead, it was the Suns who had their backs against the wall in Game 6. Demoralized and weary-legged, Phoenix proved no match for the Celtics in a must-win game. The rest, as they say, is history.
While never a star at the professional level, Ard was heavily recruited out of Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Illinois. He was a rugged big man with decent footwork and a good feel around the basket, and more than a hundred schools offered scholarships. The University of Cincinnati won out, in large part because of its storied basketball tradition. He finished his senior season by being named All-American, at which point both the established NBA and the fledgling ABA heavily courted his services. The ABA, with its lure of the bigger contract, ultimately proved too appealing for Ard to pass up. He signed a four-year deal with the New York Nets, played there for three of them, and then found himself a member of the dreadful Memphis Tams. It was during this period that Red Auerbach, ever on the prowl for talent, plucked Ard from the waiver wire. Ard was thrilled.
“It was a big moment for me,” he recalls. “In the ABA, I had a chance to play with, and against, some very special players – Rick Barry, John Roche were teammates, while Julius Erving and Dan Issel were rivals. And while the quality of play in the league was good, everything else just didn’t measure up to the NBA. So, to join a championship contender, especially a team with a storied tradition like the Boston Celtics…it just didn’t get much better than that.”
Signed to relieve Cowens and Silas, injuries instead thrust Ard into the spotlight far sooner than expected. He struggled through 59 games that season, never growing comfortable in the offense, and the Celtics failed to repeat as NBA Champions. A year later, Ard was ready to help his teammates reclaim what they’d lost. He proved himself a key reserve, coming off the bench to play tough, hard-nosed defense, and the Celtics were suddenly far deeper – and healthier – than the year before. They finished with a 54-28 regular season record, muscled their way past the Buffalo Braves and Cleveland Cavaliers in the playoffs, and faced off against those young, resilient Suns in the Finals.
That ’76 championship would be Ard’s zenith. He would play one more full season in a Celtic uniform, before being waived on November 8, 1977 – just one game into the 1977-78 campaign. He would retire nine games later as a member of the Chicago Bulls.
“I had an enjoyable and rewarding basketball career,” Ard says with a smile. “I was able to play for a storied collegiate program, and I was fortunate enough to win an NBA title with the greatest franchise in professional basketball. How many people can say that?”
Not many.
Celtic Nation is honored to bring you this interview.
You played basketball at Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Illinois, but your early years were spent out West.
I was born in Seattle, but my family moved south to Richland not long after that. Richland was home to the Hanford Site, or better known as the home of the first nuclear power plant in the United States. We lived there though junior high school, at which point we relocated in Illinois. In junior high I wanted to play football, but I found out that I didn’t like it. I ended up playing basketball instead. My father put up a backboard – I could either play by myself and work on the various aspects of my game, or I could have friends over to play against. It was a valuable tool in my development. I think that’s the thing that really got me hooked on basketball.
You led Thornton to the state championship in 1966, received dozens of scholarship offers, and decided to play collegiate basketball for the University of Cincinnati. What led you to sign with the Bearcats?
I was part of the team, but I can’t really say that I led Thornton to the championship. It was exciting to win it all, no question about that, and it helped to open doors at schools like Cincinnati. In selecting a college, I wanted the right combination of academics and athletics. There were several schools that had the right blend, and I was able to narrow my choice down to two – Cincinnati and Michigan. But the Big Ten was more of a football conference, while Cincinnati had a rich basketball tradition and a very strong nucleus of players. I had a chance to sit down with Oscar Robertson and talk about the University of Cincinnati, and my place in the basketball program. It was a great meeting. I was in awe. He’s the one who sold me on the school.
During were named All-American following your your senior season. What was it like to be recognized as one of the best basketball players in the country?
It was rather surprising to be named All-American, to tell you the truth. We had a great team during my senior season – I think my selection was a result of the team’s success, and not anything that I did that was extraordinary. That’s the way I’ve always looked at it. I just went out and did my part to help us win games, which was the attitude all of my teammates had that season. We preferred team achievements over individual accolades. Still, it was an honor to be selected. Cincinnati has a storied basketball program, and there have been so many great All-Americans to play there – Oscar, Tom Thacker, Ron Bonham, Bob Wiesenhahn, Paul Hogue, and Tony Yates, to name a few. It was an honor to join a group like that.
Socially, there was a lot going on in our country during my time in high school, and later at Cincinnati. You had the Vietnam War, you had the assassinations of Martin Luther King and President Kennedy, and you had the British Invasion. It was a very interesting time to grow up. In professional basketball, you had Bill Russell and all of those great Celtic championship teams. You also had the rivalry between Russell and Wilt [Chamberlain], and the rivalry between the Celtics and the Lakers. In that context, I later found it hard to believe that I had won an NBA Championship playing for those same Celtics. It was a great thrill.
Following college, you found yourself coveted by two leagues: The Sonics drafted you with the sixth overall selection in the 1970 NBA Draft, while the fledgling ABA also made its intentions known. What led you to spurn the NBA in favor of the league with the red, white and blue ball?
Basically, I think I may have gotten to the same place either way – playing basketball in the NBA – even though I knew I wasn’t going to play for Seattle. My agent and the owner of the Sonics were not on the best of terms, and that led to some hard negotiations with Seattle. The fact that another league was involved in the bidding process helped financially, because it drove up the dollar amount that the [ABA] New York Nets were willing to pay.
I think we finished just under .500 during my first year with the Nets. We had some characters on that team – a young Rick Barry, and Bill Melchionni, who had gone to Villanova and won an NBA championship with Wilt Chamberlain in Philadelphia. My rookie year in the ABA was definitely an eye-opening experience. The travel, the accommodations, the facilities – none of that was on par with what was being offered in the NBA.
The ABA was able to compete for players because of something known as the “Dolgoff Plan”. What role did this plan play in luring top talent to the ABA, and what impact did it have on player salaries?
Well, first I’ll tell you about the lure of the Dolgoff Plan, and then I’ll tell you about the reality of that arrangement. The lure was that it made the value of the ABA contract far larger than what the NBA was offering. The face value of the contract with the Nets was $1.4 million, and that’s what was reported in the news, but the actual dollar value was nowhere near that dollar amount. It worked out to be $250,000 over four years. The Nets also agreed to put $8,000 a year for 10 years in a Dolgoff Plan, which was an annuity that I would collect starting at age 41. That sounded all well and good, given the financial forecasts at the time of my signing, but the stock market took a horrible turn almost immediately after the ink had dried. The money was locked into some really bad investments – so bad that the plan was worthless by the time I was old enough to begin collecting. I went to court over the way the plan was constructed, and eventually received a small settlement. It was nowhere near the $1.4 million face value of the contract.
The Dolgoff Plan was a valuable tool in the ABA’s battle to attract talent that would have otherwise gone to the NBA. The deferred payments allowed the ABA to offer contracts that, on paper at least, were far greater than those in the National Basketball Association. But that was only on paper. The ABA used it to sign guys like Spencer Haywood, Billy Cunningham, and Dan Issel. But in each case, the plan just didn’t pay off as expected.
While with the Nets, you were coached by a young Lou Carnesecca. What was it like to play for Lou?
Very intense. He was a very demanding coach, detail-oriented, and also very focused. Those are the traits that made him so successful wherever he coached. He was also a very good teacher. He could watch you do something once, and then tell you exactly what you were doing wrong – and how to fix it.
Lou was just a great, great coach. He led the Nets to the ABA Finals, and he had all of those great teams with St. John’s University. He was the Big East Coach of the Year, and the National Coach of the Year. He’s in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. You look at what he’s accomplished in his career, and it just doesn’t get much better than that.
For the 1970-71 season, owner Roy Boe acquired superstar Rick Barry from the Virginia Squires.
It was very interesting playing for the Nets that season. Rick was supposed to play for Virginia, but he refused, stating that he would not play for the Virginia Squires. So, when he arrived in New York, I wonder what we’ve gotten ourselves into with this guy. He was known to be so over-the-top, and so vocal, that I wasn’t sure that he would fit in.
Well, when Rick arrived, Lou asked me to work with him after practice. We went to a local playground for two straight weeks, immediately after practice, and worked on our shooting and our defense. He was such an unbelievable shooter. He could hit from anywhere, and with consistency. Those one-on-one practice sessions really helped both of us, and it didn’t take me long to realize that Rick wasn’t the arrogant star that the press had written about. That’s not to say that he didn’t have a lot of confidence in himself. He had enough ego for three basketball teams. He definitely spoke his mind. But away from the game he was a decent guy.
During the 1972 ABA Playoffs, the Nets pulled off a huge first round upset of the mighty Kentucky Colonels.
That was a special season for us. We signed John Roche, who had been drafted by Kentucky, and who had been a three-time All-American at South Carolina and the MVP of the Atlantic Coast Conference. We signed [Tom] Trooper Washington. He wasn’t a big guy, maybe 6’7”, but he always established great position underneath the glass. I think he averaged close to ten rebounds per game that season. And Rick managed to stay healthy the entire season, which was a huge advantage for us. He finished the season just behind Charlie Scott for the ABA scoring title. We also had the first winning season in team history. So, we had a lot of momentum going into the playoffs. We felt confident that we could compete against Kentucky, even though we’d only won 44 games compared to their 68. We weren’t intimidated.
The first two games of that series were in Louisville. We went into their place, which was rocking, and we won both games. Rick scored 50 points in the series opener – the Colonels tried everything, but they just couldn’t stop him from scoring that night. They kept applying more and more pressure, forcing Rick to take shots farther from the basket, but it didn’t matter. He just kept draining them. He was too much for Kentucky to handle, and that gave us a great mental edge. We played loose. Kentucky played tight.
We shut them down in the first half of Game 2 – I think we held them to 34 points. Rick and John played great ball. We won that game decisively. The best thing was that no one gave us a chance to win a game in the series, and we left Louisville up 2-0. We split games in New York, and then lost Game 5 back in Louisville. That sent the series to Nassau Coliseum for Game 6. We were pumped up. The crowd was deafening. We knew we didn’t want to play Game 7 back in Kentucky, so we went out on the court and played aggressively. It was an unbelievable win for us.
One round later, you faced Julius Erving and the favored Virginia Squires in the Eastern Division Finals. What was it like to play against a young Dr. J?
It’s hard to describe to someone just how gifted Julius Erving was, because words fall short of adequately explaining his impact on the game of basketball. He was Michael [Jordan] before Michael. He was able to defy gravity in a way that was almost preposterous. He was an athletic freak, and I mean that in the most sincere way possible, because the gifts that he had come around once in a generation. That’s how special he was as an athlete. Beyond that, he was just as special as a person. Very bright. Articulate. Great flair. He was the biggest star the ABA had to offer, and our signature player. Later, with the 76ers, his appeal helped to propel the game to new heights. He became a true ambassador of the game of basketball.
I remember that series against Virginia very well. The Squires won the first two games in Virginia, Dr. J was the biggest reason for that. He scored 26 points in Game 1, and then 38 points in Game 2. At that point, it looked like we were going to be swept out of the series. We couldn’t establish any momentum – Rick didn’t play particularly well, at least by his standards. And even though we did a decent job of containing Julius, he was still able to hurt us down the stretch.
We returned home for Game 3, but there was a big delay – ten days – because the Nassau Coliseum was booked for other events. Something like that would be unimaginable today, and even back then the NBA didn’t run into those kinds of problems. But that was the norm in the ABA. It was struggling to survive and flourish in the shadow of an established league. Anyway, the delay was necessary because neither team wanted to play a playoff game at the Island Garden. It had bleacher seating. It was adequate for high school basketball, and maybe small college ball, but that was it.
The long layoff turned out to be an advantage for us. It enabled us to regroup and heal – we were pretty banged up by that point in the season. We won both games at home to even the series, then split the next two games to force Game 7. Up to that point, neither team had won on the other’s home court. Game 7 was in Norfolk. The place was packed. Julius played great – I think he finished with 35 points – but Rick hit a huge three-pointer late in the game and Virginia was unable to answer. It was a great series, and one of the most exciting that I’ve ever played.
Following a stop in Memphis, you found yourself plucked off of the waiver by Red Auerbach.
I found myself very fortunate to join a team with the rich history of the Boston Celtics. It was amazing. My expectation was that I would come in and provide backup relief to Dave Cowens and Hank Finkel – injuries changed all of that. I remember signing my contract, and thinking that I’d have a couple of weeks to get ready to contribute, and then getting thrown into the fire immediately. It wasn’t an easy adjustment. The biggest difference between the ABA and the NBA, in my opinion, was the size of the men in the middle. The ABA had Artis Gilmore, who was 7’2”, but there weren’t many other players his size in that league. The NBA had imposing players on just about every team – and sometimes two. Washington had Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes. Bob Lanier was out there to be reckoned with. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. There were just so many talented big men, so you faced one almost every night. In the ABA, it was basically Artis as far as size and strength were concerned. Thankfully, Dave and Hank were able to come back quickly, and we were able to establish a solid rotation. That helped us mesh the next season, when we won the championship.
What was it like to play center for the Boston Celtics?
It was probably the best-managed organization that I’ve ever been a part of, and that includes my post-NBA career. Since retirement I’ve worked for a number of tech companies in Silicon Valley, very successful enterprises, and none of them comes close to the way the Red Auerbach and the Celtics ran things in Boston during my time with the team. It was also a great thrill to be a part of such a legendary team. Playing in front of the Boston fans, playing in the fabled Boston Garden, playing beneath all of those championship banners…it was a very special experience, and unlike any other in basketball. It must be akin to playing baseball for the New York Yankees, or playing football for the Green Bay Packers. It was more than just about the game of basketball. It went much deeper than that. Looking back, being a Boston Celtic was the highlight of my basketball career.
The Celtics won 60 games that season, but stumbled against the Washington Bullets in the Eastern Conference Finals.
What stands about for me was the respect that I had for guys like Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes. They were the big guys that made life so difficult for us in that series. They dominated us in that series. We just couldn’t find an answer underneath the basket, and fell behind 3-1. That was too much of a hole to dig out of, even with all the great players we had on the roster. I think we lost that series in six games. That kept the Celtics from a chance to repeat as champions, and it also put the Bullets into the ’75 NBA Finals. Rick [Barry] was playing for Golden State then, and the Warriors won that championship series, 4-0.
Fellow ABA-er Charlie Scott joined the Celtics for the 1975-76 season. Please tell me about Mr. Scott.
Charlie Scott was a very, very bright individual. Very talkative. You put those two elements together, and you realize that he should have been a lawyer [laughs]. He was a thrilling player. I didn’t know him very well prior to his joining the Celtics, and I was a little apprehensive at first because of the stories that I’d heard. There were rumors that he had been a malcontent in Phoenix. My concern was what impact he would have on team chemistry, and how he would mesh with established stars like John Havlicek, Dave Cowens and Jo Jo White. Would there be enough basketballs to go around? Would he cause problems in the locker room? Things of that nature. Plus, we had given up a promising young player in Paul Westphal to acquire a proven veteran to help us win a championship.
I was pleasantly surprised to find Charlie Scott very much a team player. He came to Boston and did his best to fit in. He didn’t try to be the star, and he didn’t have to score a ton of points to be happy. He was only concerned with winning, and I think that that’s what made him seem like such a diva in Phoenix. It wasn’t that he had to lead the Suns in scoring in order to be happy. I think the team was so bad, and the talent level so low, that he felt a need to shoulder the offense in order to win. I think that if the Suns had other players who could score, then Charlie Scott would have been happy to distribute the basketball more. Anyway, by mid-season I could tell that the trade for Charlie Scott was a good one. He was a leader.
What was it like for you to finally win a world championship, and what do you remember about that triple-overtime game against the Suns?
There are so many things that still stand out. I remember the heat in the Boston Garden. I remember that we had a big first half – we were dominating the Suns in just about every aspect of the game. And then, just like that, we quit hitting shots. I don’t have an explanation for it, other than to give Phoenix all of the credit for making the adjustments defensively. Westphal played a great game. He helped the Suns cut into the lead in the second half, and played a pivotal role by calling that timeout the way that he did.
The fans were rowdy, no doubt about that. I remember Gar Heard’s shot, the clutch play of Glen McDonald, and my own contributions in overtime. And there were so many bizarre calls by the officials. Somehow we hung on to win. I remember thinking, in that third overtime, that whoever hung on to win this game would probably win the series. It was that pivotal. Everybody was spent. Had we lost that game, we would have gone to Phoenix for Game 6 needing a win just to stay alive. The Suns would have had the huge mental and physical advantage. Their fans would have been just unbelievable. But we were able to win it, and then we were able to lock up the championship in Phoenix. Charlie Scott played great in that game. Winning that championship was an unbelievable experience.
That 1975-76 championship team was stocked with talent. Please tell me a little about Dave Cowens, John Havlicek, Jo Jo White and Paul Silas.
Dave and Paul worked so well together. They were a great combination. Whenever Dave would roam outside, Paul would be underneath the basket, hauling down rebounds. I think each made the other a better player, and each benefited from having the other on the court with them. Dave was the unquestioned leader. Paul – I could talk about him all day long. He was ferocious on the glass. He was relentless. He had those big hands and that big, strong body. You weren’t going to get around him. Even guys much taller couldn’t handle him. He was a beast.
Havlicek was just a great athlete, and an exceptional basketball player. When it came down to taking the last shot, he was the guy you wanted with the ball in his hands. If I were the coach of that team and the game was on the line, I’d set up a play and run the ball through John. He was going to score more often than not.
Jo Jo – he was a strong man. People may not realize that about him. He was an ex-Marine, and he was always in such terrific shape. He could have been a superstar on other teams in the league, but he was all about winning. Jo Jo knew that he had Cowens, Havlicek and Silas on his team. His job was to distribute the ball, score when the opportunity presented itself, and play punishing defense. That, and push the ball up the court. Tom Heinsohn, who was our coach at the time, developed an up-tempo attack that we used very effectively. Jo Jo was key to that philosophy, and one of the main reasons it proved so successful.
The great Celtics teams of the 1970s often get overlooked, in large part due to the success of the Bill Russell and Larry Bird Eras. How do the 1975-76 champions stack up against the best in the NBA today?
Well, it depends on the rules. There were no zones back then, as there are today. The hand-checking rules are far different today. And I understand why all of these changes have been made. The game has evolved, and in that process there has been some offensive stagnation. In the late eighties, there was a trend toward isolation plays on the offensive end of the court. There was no ball movement. A team would bring the ball up the court, and the best player would go one-on-one and try to score. It became boring. When you look at teams today, teams like Phoenix and Dallas, you are almost surprised that they push the ball up the court and play team basketball. Everyone is involved. You’ve got great players like Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki, and the teams are running on every possession. There is a lot of ball movement. It’s really beautiful to watch. Well, that’s the way basketball was played in the ‘70s. That style was the rule, not the exception, and it didn’t look so unique because everybody played it. Now, it’s almost a novelty. That’s a shame, because I think that brand of basketball is far more exciting to watch. It’s definitely more fun to play.
But to answer your question, I think a lot depends on the rules. If the rules are the rules that we played under, then I think that gives our team an advantage over the best in the NBA today. If we play by the rules today, I’m not so sure how we’d stack up. I think we’d be very competitive, and one of the better teams in the league – a contender for a championship. I just don’t think the new rules would allow us to maximize our strengths as a team.
What do you remember most about the fabled Boston Garden?
I was shocked the first time I played there – it was so old and decrepit, and it was kind of shocking to see how far in disrepair that place had fallen. But then I quickly learned that that was part of the charm of the Boston Garden. That was part of its mystique. It was cold in the winter and hot in the summer, and the parquet floor had all of those dead spots on it. I learned very quickly how important that place was to the team and the city, and how much of a home court advantage the Boston Garden really gave the team. My favorite memory in the Garden? You might imagine it to be Game 5 against Phoenix, but it was actually the next season, when we raised that championship banner to the rafters. It was then that I realized that I’d contributed to something very special, and that I had joined a very elite club in doing so.
When looking back on playing in both the ABA and NBA, who were some of your most difficult defensive assignments, and why?
Dan Issel. He had that great jump shot, and he was very efficient at getting to the basket. Bob Lanier. The best footwork of any center in the league. Like Issel, he had a great jumper. And he was so strong. I’d rather try to take a jumper over him than try to overpower him in the paint. You couldn’t push him around – it just wasn’t going to happen.
Final Question: If you could offer one piece of advice on life to others, what would that be?
Never forget where you came from.
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