The Rick Robey Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan
|
Sunday, February 26th, 2012
You are part of a rare fraternity, winning NCAA and NBA championships for legendary teams. Does one mean more to you than the other?
I think they're special in different ways.
At Kentucky I played a major role in winning
the
championship.
In Boston I didn't get to play quite as
much. But just being a part of a
championship team is something that you'll
always remember, so both titles are equally
special, just in different ways. To this day
I have people coming up to me and asking me
about my Kentucky days, or my Celtic days,
so that brings back a lot of memories.
You didn't play for Adolph Rupp or Red Auerbach, but both men are iconic. Please tell me a little about each.
The thing that I remember most about Rupp was that he was on the Olympic Committee when I arrived at Kentucky. At the time, freshmen weren't really allowed to try out for the Pan American Games, and Rupp was able to get me an invite to Salt Lake City, Utah, where they had 150-200 players trying out for the team. I was able to go out there and make that team after my freshman year, so if it wasn't for Rupp I wouldn't have had that experience with Parish, and Otis Birdsong, and Johnny Davis and that group.
As for Red Auerbach – he was an unbelievable man. I can remember my father and I sitting in his office, negotiating my second contract, just the three of us. That's the kind of guy that he was. Again, some of the trades that he pulled off were just amazing. I remember getting a call from KC Jones, who was one of my dearest friends and who had just been named head coach. KC told me that I'd just been traded to Phoenix for Dennis Johnson, and I just had to laugh and tell him that the Celtics had just gotten a pretty good deal. And that's another one of those Auerbach trades that I'm talking about.
Final Question – What is the one memory of playing for the Boston Celtics that stands out among all of the others?
It would have to be that day the final buzzer sounded and we were world champions. As a matter of fact, I had the ball at the end of the game and I kept it – I still have it [laughs]. I had it signed by everybody.
The other thing would be the opportunity to play with the greatest frontcourt ever. With Bird, Parish and McHale, you'll never see a frontcourt any better than that one. Even in today's game, I'd put them up against anybody. It was a great experience with the great group of guys that we had on that team.
