The Fred Roberts Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan
|
Tuesday, March 6th, 2012
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Was it difficult for you to find your role with the Celtics?
I was able to play the 3 and 4, so there was some versatility in what they could do with
me. I could get into the games a
little bit more than the other guys on
the bench. For me coming into this
organization from the outside, I had an
impression that the Celtics were a very
tight-knit group. But once I got there,
it sort of felt like there was an
undercurrent that things weren't quite
right, that maybe there was some
friction between Bird and McHale, and
that there were some difficulties in
getting the personalities to mesh.
That's not uncommon in the NBA. It
happens. But there was an undercurrent
that people weren't quite happy, that
maybe injuries and age was catching up
with the team and there were going to be
changes, and yet they were trying to
hang onto the greatness that they had.
The fabled Boston Garden no longer exists. What was it like playing in the Garden?
I loved playing in the Garden – well, when I was a Celtic I enjoyed playing there. I hated coming in there as an opponent [laughs]. But after I played there and went to other teams, I enjoyed coming back. There are some unique sports cities in this country, and Boston is definitely one of them. There were some great, great fans in that town. There still are. They love their teams and they love their players and they're so fanatical. And yet you could go to the neighborhood restaurant and no one would treat you badly. They treated you like you were on their high school team. The fans were just fantastic.
And playing in that environment and in that arena, that has so much history...I didn't think they'd ever change it, because the history was such a part of it. I remember going into the Garden and feeling the difference of the building compared to other places you'd go to.
I remember going into that building the first time – I was with San Antonio – and I got lost. I walked through these doors and I'm in a train station, and I didn't know where I was at [laughs]. It was such a unique place, with all of the excitement and energy in that building. And we always felt like we were going to win, and the opponents felt that, too. You could see it in their eyes.
The other thing was going on the road and seeing so many Celtics fans show up to support us. I played for Milwaukee after playing two years in Boston, and I remember driving home from Milwaukee to Salt Lake after the season. We stopped at Mount Rushmore, and this couple recognized me. They started a conversation, and asked me how I liked playing for the Celtics. I told them that I played for Milwaukee, but they remembered me from my time in Boston. That's the way it was back then. If you played for Boston or Los Angeles, you had a following. It was so much fun to be a part of that, to be part of a national team that was either loved or hated. That was fun.
Tell me about two legendary members of the Celtics family – Red Auerbach and Johnny Most.
I don't think Red said a word to me the whole two years I was there [laughs]. I think he nodded at me once. But I was so impressed with the whole organization and everything about it. I was okay on the floor, but off the floor I think I was a little star struck.
Johnny Most was a great guy, and a part of that Boston Celtic mystique and image. You'd hear his voice at 7AM in the morning, down in the coffee shop, screaming at the waitress. You just don't forget stuff like that. He was always a gentleman to me, he was kind when I was traded. Whenever I came back he made it a point to say hello to me.
Johnny had been announcing forever by the time I got there. And then I got there, and there was this gig where people could pay to have Johnny announce the end of a game with their name inserted. And one day I'm walking down the hall and he stops me, and he pulls me in the room and tells me that I have to hear this. And he records the last minute of a game, and he inserts a fan's name at the end, with the fan receiving the pass from Bird and hitting the game winner. And when it's over, Johnny smiles and says 'And that's five-hundred dollars for me!' He was so excited, it was like he'd got a free cup of coffee [laughs].
