The Frank Challant Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan | Wednesday, April 6th 2005
Take me back to the beginning; tell me how you started
working for the Boston Celtics.
 I
was born in Swampscott [Massachusetts], and I was around
the Celtics pretty much my whole life. My father,
Nathan Challant, and my first cousin, Norm Altman,
starting doing volunteer work for Red Auerbach and the
Boston Celtics in 1952. My father kept track of the
fouls while Norm tracked the rebounds. Auerbach had the
Box 1 seats in the loge opposite the Celtics' bench, and
my father had Box 43. I remember going to the games and
playing in the stands, and having a great time. There
are so many memories that still stand out; I remember
going to the Boston Garden and watching a doubleheader –
Boston versus the Philadelphia Warriors in the first
game, and New York versus the Sheboygen Redskins in the
second. That was during the 1953-54 season, and I was
seven or eight years old at the time. I remember
playing with Frank Ramsey's son at practices and during
the games, and with Bob Brannum's son, too. We had the
run of the place. I remember all of the players from
the early days, guys like Arnie Risen and Dwight
Morrison. I was also lucky enough to be around the team
through the glory years, up until the late '60s.
Buddy LeRoux was the Celtics' trainer from the mid-50s
until the late sixties. He took me under his wing, took
care of me, and really got me interested in sports
medicine. He was a great guy. Joe DeLauri took
LeRoux's place when he resigned as the team trainer,.
DeLauri was a character – he was 5'4" and about 320
pounds, and a real delightful guy. I believe he was
named trainer after the 1965-66 season.
I went to Springfield College because I was interested
in becoming an athletic trainer, and Springfield had the
best physical education program in the United States. I
got hurt playing football there, so I gained a very real
appreciation for my chosen profession [laughs].
Following graduation I was hired at a local high school
as a trainer and teacher – I held that job until I went
to a symposium, and I was able to land a job with the
New England Patriots. It was 1971. The team had just
drafted Jim Plunkett. I was twenty-five years old, I
had a wife and a young daughter, and I was thrilled to
be working as an athletic trainer in the NFL.
About that time, Joe DeLauri announced that he was
stepping down from his job with the Celtics. He called
me and said, 'Congratulations'. I asked him what the
hell he was talking about. He said, 'You have the
Celtics job'. He asked for references, and said that I
should call the team's offices and speak to Jeff Cohen
about the opening. I thought about it for awhile, and
then I finally picked up the phone and called. I told
Jeff that I'd like to throw my name in the hat. He said
that I'd already be mentioned for the job, and that I
was seriously being considered. I thought, 'Oh, shit',
because I'd just taken the Patriots' job.
I went to see Red, and we had a long talk. DeLauri had
given me a glowing recommendation, so he finally called
me back for a second interview. He offered me $11,000
and wanted to know when I could start. I asked for the
standard two-week notice, and I asked that we keep it
quiet until I talked to the Patriots. Didn't happen.
Upton Bell was the Patriots' general manager at the time
– he's the son of Bert Bell, the former NFL commissioner
– and it didn’t take him long to find out what was going
on. He called Red wanting to know what the big idea
was, and accused him of tampering. Didn't phase Red. I
got the job. So it's safe to say that 1971 was a very
eventful year in my life; I was teaching in May, working
for the Patriots that summer, and then working for the
Celtics that fall. They say that timing is everything,
and in this case it couldn't be more true.
The ‘70s Celtics often get overlooked, but the decade
produced two world championships and a lot of great
memories. In your opinion, why don't these teams –
especially the ‘74 and ‘76 champions – get the credit
that they deserve?
I
honestly don't know. I think it has a lot to do with
what happened leading up to that, with all of the
championships that the Celtics won during Bill Russell's
career. And part of it has to do with the three years
prior to Larry Bird's arrival – the Celtics just stunk
during the 1978-79 season. And then Bird comes along,
and Magic Johnson is playing ball on the other side of
the country, and fan interest spikes way up. There was
an instant rivalry there – Bird led Indiana State to the
NCAA Finals against Magic and Michigan State, and then
they ended up becoming part of the great Celtics-Lakers
rivalry that went all the way back to Russell and [Wilt]
Chamberlain. It's just a shame that those championship
teams of the '70s – with great players like Cowens,
Havlicek, White and Paul Silas – get overlooked the way
that they do. Nobody seems to remember us. In a way, I
guess it all goes back to timing.
The importance of the trainer is often overlooked,
especially by the casual fan. But for a player, the
trainer can mean the difference between playing and
sitting out the game due to injury. What was it like to
help the “walking wounded” get back out on the court and
contribute to the team’s success?
To
me, that's what working for the Celtics was all about.
That's why I was there. I believe that you judge a
person by what he or she does – you measure their
performance – regardless of the profession. It could be
someone in sales, or someone working as a machinist, or
someone playing basketball. In the NBA, players are
mostly measured by the numbers that they produce –
points, rebounds, assists. When a player gets hurt, the
athletic trainer is challenged to do whatever we can to
get that player back on the court as quickly and as
safely as possible. That's how we are measured. There
is a lot of pressure for us to get the athlete back into
the flow of competition so that he can help the team
win.
Ankle
sprains are the most common injury in basketball. If a
player sprains an ankle, he's going to do physical
therapy up to three times a day, depending on the
severity. We're right there for that, providing the
best medical attention possible. Taping the injury
properly is vitally important, as is wearing shoes that
provide maximum ankle support.
As a
trainer, the highlight of my career probably came during
the 1977-78 season. Jo Jo White had bone spurs on his
right heel, which is an unbelievably painful condition.
Most people can barely walk when they have spurs
floating around in their feet. Jo Jo was just an
incredible physical specimen – he was always in the best
shape, and he was so damned strong. And he never
complained publicly about an injury, no matter how
severe it might have been. Well, the press really got
down on him that season, because they didn't know that
he was hurting – they called him a malingerer, and said
that he was a lazy player. That wasn't the case at
all. He was injured. He knew it. I knew it. We just
couldn't figure out what was going on. There was no MRI
at that time, and no CAT scan…those technologies just
weren't available. We had X-rays and surgery. After
the season they went in and found a spur so high up that
it wasn't picked up by the X-rays. For me to help him
manage the pain and make it through that season has to
be the highlight.
During
the 1975-76 season, Hondo [John Havlicek] tore the
fascia on his right foot. With the help of the medical
staff, we were able to treat the injury between games
and then tape it up for tipoff. He didn't miss a game.
More importantly, he played as if he didn't have an
injury. If our opponents would have known, they would
have picked on him and tried to exploit the injury as a
weakness. He helped lead the Celtics past Buffalo and
Cleveland to reach the '76 NBA Finals, and was a big
part of the team winning the championship against
Phoenix.
Everyone knows the intensity goes up during the
playoffs. In terms of keeping players healthy and ready
for the next game, what are the biggest differences
between the regular season and the post-season?
One
four-letter word: TIME. During the regular season you
may have two-to-three weeks to treat an injury. During
the playoffs you don't have that luxury. You're lucky
if you have two days.
The Celtics began the ‘70s in rebuilding mode, but by
1972-73 the team had posted a 68-14 record, still the
best mark in franchise history. What happened to derail
their championship hopes that season?
John
suffered a shoulder injury that kept him from playing in
most of that playoff series against New York. Tom
[Heinsohn] did a good job of getting the team to fight
back – we won the first game of that series and then
fell into a 3-1 hole. We were able to come back and
even the series at 3-3, and that's when John came back.
I'm not sure he was 100 percent, and he was maybe a
little out-of-synch with what the team was doing. For
whatever reason, the Knicks ran us out of the Garden
that afternoon.
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