|
|
|
HOMETOWN
HERO
|
The Frank Ramsey Interview:
Part One
By:
Michael D. McClellan
| Tuesday,
August 13th,
2002
Everybody
knows the legend of Larry Bird – how he left home to
 win championships for the Boston Celtics and how he
always raced back to French Lick as soon as that last
game had been played.
Everyone knows how Red Auerbach snatched Bird as
a junior eligible, making it one of Red’s biggest
heists of all time.
And everyone knows how hard Bird worked, not only
to improve his game, but in just about everything that
he did.
What
many people don’t know is that another Celtic, from
another era, did all of these things, too.
His name is Frank Ramsey, and his jersey hangs
from the Fleet Center rafters just like Larry Bird’s.
Frank
Ramsey grew up in Madisonville, Kentucky.
He played for the legendary Adolph Rupp and won
an NCAA Championship as a Kentucky Wildcat.
He was selected by Red Auerbach in the first
round of the 1953 draft, even though he was a junior and
had one more season of college ball left.
You want a hard worker?
How many hall-of-fame basketball players are bank
presidents at the age of 71?
Frank
Ramsey is quite a man.
He lives in the same small town where he grew up,
and he treats his accomplishments – an NCAA crown,
seven NBA championships, induction into the Naismith
Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame – as if they were
really no big deal at all.
I know better, of course.
I had the good
fortune to interview Frank Ramsey, to learn firsthand
that Red Auerbach not only coached great athletes, he
also coached great people.
This
interview took place over several days and in the brief
pockets of time when Mr. Ramsey wasn’t opening the
bank vault for business, meeting with customers, or
handling the day-to-day emergencies that happen when
you’re the man in charge. Each conversation gave
me a greater appreciation of Mr. Ramsey’s work ethic,
and I came away from the experience reminded of the
things that make his generation so special – honesty,
integrity, and a can-do spirit.
|
|
|
| Next Page
| | |
|
