The Ron Bonham Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan
|
Tuesday, May 17th, 2005
The
Boston Celtics drafted you in the second round, the 16th overall selection.
Please take me back to that first training camp.
I
can remember talking to Auerbach over the phone, and he says, ‘Bonham, you’ll
want to be in the greatest shape you’ve ever been in your life.’ And I was
already working out twice a day, six hours a day, and I was in the best shape of
my life. And then I went to training camp. I think there were three openings
at that time, and there were between fifty and sixty people competing for those
spots. They were letting anybody into camp who wanted to try out. After the
first day of training camp, only a few of those guys bothered to come back. It
was that brutal. I can also remember them carrying Tommy Heinsohn off the floor
after that first practice. He passed out – it was a real hot day. Auerbach
wanted to see if you really wanted it. That was his way. It was so
excruciating – he wanted to see the pain, and he wanted to see if you really
wanted to be on that team.
Red
Auerbach was notorious for those preseason barnstorming tours that took the
team all over New England. Were you ever a part of these tours and, if so,
do you have a fond memory or an amusing story to share?
A
lot of times we played against each other. In one of the exhibition games I
scored something like forty-two points, and Auerbach said, ‘I’m going to
have Havlicek on you in the next exhibition game.’ And I think I scored
something like twelve in that one. John was all over me, all over that
court [laughs]. But the fans were great wherever we went in New England.
The stands were always full. The passion reminded me of the fans we had in
high school and college.
Today,
players have sports agents and lawyers to negotiate contracts with NBA
clubs. What was it like back then?
When
we went in to sign our contracts, I’d seen Red at quite a few of our college
games. So I knew who he was. Mel Counts and I were drafted the same year,
and we went in at the same time to talk contract with Mr. Auerbach, and
there Red was, sitting in his chair with his feet up on the desk. He had
that cigar jammed in his mouth, and the room was so damned smoky. He put
his feet down, and he shoved two pieces of paper across the desk to Mel
Counts and I. And he said, ‘This ain’t a democracy. Here’s what you boys
are going to get.’ So Mel and I signed right then and there – that was the
way Red negotiated [laughs].
Walter
Brown passed away on September 7th, 1964. Please tell me a little about Mr.
Brown.
That
was my first year coming in. Everything was first class – wherever we
traveled, wherever we stayed. That ownership was just fantastic. It was
the best in the league at that time. It really spoiled me, because I played
on the first Indiana Pacer team, and it was just the compete opposite in the
ABA. We sat in airports all night long, things like that. There was so
much disorganization. In Boston, everything was organized. From the day
you left on your trip everything was laid out perfectly. It was just top
notch.
