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TRAINING DAYS

The Frank Challant Interview
By:  Michael D. McClellan | Wednesday, April 6th 2005

 

He was the trainer for the Boston Celtics from 1971-79, which is to say that the casual fan from that era has no recollection of Frank Challant.  Say his name, and you get exactly what you might expect from those who paid their hard-earned money to watch the action on the court:  Puzzled looks, blank stares, and awkward silence.  But ask anyone who played for the team during this era, from stars such as Dave Cowens, John Havlicek and Jo Jo White, to role players such and Jim Ard and Glenn McDonald, and you suddenly find yourself awash in admiration for a man who helped them manage their pain and excel on a nightly basis.  They will tell you that a really good trainer is worth his weight in gold, and that Challant was one of the best.  They will tell you that he not only worked hard, that he worked smart, using some of the most innovative techniques available at the time to keep the Boston Celtic players where they needed to be – on the court, and competing for an NBA championship.

"Great guy," says Ard with a smile.  "He is really well-versed in sports medicine, with tons of practical experience.  Guys would roll an ankle, or sprain a knee, and Frank would be right there to take care of it.  He knew exactly what treatment to use for a given injury, so that you could get back on the court in the quickest and safest timeframe possible."

Obscure, anonymous figures they may be, athletic trainers play a vital roll in the success and failure of every NBA franchise.  From preventative measures such as stretching muscles and taping ankles, to a myriad of rehabilitation techniques, the course of action taken by trainers often determines the level of success a team enjoys on the basketball court.  It is hard to imagine the Celtics winning the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals without Robert Parish in the lineup, especially when pitted against the young, hungry Bad Boys of Detroit.  But a severe ankle sprain threatened to send Parish to the sidelines during a critical juncture in the series.  Ray Melchiorre, the Celtics' trainer at the time, worked with Parish nonstop.  He was able to keep the hobbled Parish in the lineup, and the Celtics were able to advance to the 1987 NBA Finals.

Challant is no stranger to this type of on-the-job pressure.  A decade earlier, Havlicek suffered a torn plantar fascia on his right foot during the 1976 NBA Playoffs.  The injury occurred during a tense, hotly-contested series against the Buffalo Braves, and the Celtics needed Havlicek's contributions if they were going to defeat the Braves and continue their quest for a second NBA championship in three seasons.  Challant's treatment – he had Havlicek keep a plastic wash basin with him wherever he went, so that the Celtic All-Star could ice his foot religiously – allowed Boston to continue its drive for a record 13th NBA title.

"It was a matter of self-discipline," says Havlicek. "It would have been easy to just not play [for the remainder of the series].  But that's where playing on this team for all of those years really helps.  I've seen so many guys play with a lot worse injuries – Frank Ramsey, K.C. Jones, Bill Russell – that I wasn’t' going to let this keep me off the court.  I spent a lot of time on the trainer's table, but it was time well-spent; I was able to go out and play when the team needed me."

Challant's decade-long run as the team's athletic trainer provided him with countless memories and two championship rings, neither of which he takes for granted.  He understands how lucky he was to be under the employ of the Boston Celtics, and to be a part of the rich history of this proud and storied franchise.  He also bristles at the idea that the 1970s Celtics were merely a bridge between the Bill Russell and Larry Bird Eras, reminding us that the 70s were responsible for – among other notable milestones – Cowens, White, a 68-win season (still a club record), two titles (1974 and 1976), and the "Greatest Game Ever Played" (Game 5 of the '76 NBA Finals, a triple-overtime classic between the Celtics and the Phoenix Suns).

"There are some fans who think that the team's greatness ended with Russell," says Challant, in his unmistakable New England accent.  "There are others who think the league started with Bird and Magic.  It really gets my goat, because there were so many great moments during the '70s.  With the recent teams struggling to win forty games and make the playoffs, I wonder how fans today would react to winning 68 games, the way we did in 1972-73."

Good point, indeed; given the moribund state of the franchise during the '90s, and the struggles the team now endures to reinvent itself as a viable playoff contender, the 1970s Boston Celtics now take on an added significance, their stories more relevant that ever before.  And who better to approach for just such a revisit than the man who was there through it all, taping ankles and trading stories, watching the games from his own unique perspective, the action swirling around him while he does his job in relative anonymity?  So, you've never heard of Frank Challant before? Chances are you'll remember him long after this interview is over.

 

 

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Michael D. McClellan can be reached at:  mmcclellan@celtic-nation.com  

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