The Tom Heinsohn Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan
|
Friday, August 3rd,
2006
You
were born on August 26, 1934 in Jersey City, New Jersey. Please tell me a
little about your childhood – your family life, the sports that you played, and
some of the things that led you to the basketball court.
I
grew up during the Depression and World War II. In 1944, my family moved to
Union City, New Jersey, and that’s when I first
started playing basketball. All
sports, for that matter. Somebody took an interest in me in the schoolyard – he
played at the University of Villanova with Paul Arizin. He was like a sophomore
going into his junior year, and he would come home and practice at night, and
one night I just happened to be there. He asked me to shag the balls, and we
became friends. And I did that every night, and he taught me how to play
basketball. His name was Perry Del Purgatorio. That’s how I started playing
basketball, and by the time I got to the eighth grade I was pretty good. I got
a scholarship to high school, which allowed me to play basketball at a little
Catholic school. So that’s how I started playing. I tried out for the football
team, but never made it. I played a little bit of baseball. But basketball was
my game.
You were
a two-time all-state basketball player at St. Michael's High School in Union
City. Please take me back to this period in your life; what memories remain
with you after all of these years?
I
had a terrific high school coach. His name was Pat Finnegan. He was a
World War II veteran, and he was a Fordham grad. He was in the Air Force,
and his brother was a Seton Hall graduate – and a marine. The two of them
would come up on Saturdays, particularly the brother. His name was John.
We would scrimmage with all kinds of people, so by the time I was a
sophomore in high school I was playing against very, very good basketball
players. Both Pat Finnegan and John Finnegan played college basketball.
Pat played with Johnny Bach at Fordham, and John with Pep Saul at Seton
Hall. So these were accomplished college players, and from my sophomore
year on we had a pretty good basketball team. Pat arrived St. Michael’s as
my high school coach just prior to my sophomore year. By the time we got to
be seniors we had a very good team. We won the Metropolitan Catholic
Championship – all of the Catholic schools in and around the New York
metropolitan area competed. Teams from New York and New Jersey. I made
All-State as you said, and I made the All-American team. We played the game
down in Murray, Kentucky, for the Converse Rubber Company. You’d go down
there for a week. You’d have two-a-days and scrimmages, and then you would
play the game. So after the coaches spent that week of looking at
everybody, I was selected to the All-America team.
I played semi-pro ball. I played practically every night, from my sophomore year on. I played under another name for the Jewish Y. I played PIL basketball for a semi-pro team, which was really the best experience I could have gotten. The league was more talented, and more competitive than my high school league at the time, which in itself was pretty good at the time. I played against some pros, and I played against some All-Americans. A lot of college players. In one tournament at the end of my sophomore year, against this kind of competition, I was selected as the MVP of the tournament., which was quite a thing for a kid that age.
So we had a good basketball team by the time I got to my senior year in high school. I played with two guys who ended up going to college on basketball scholarships. We went up to Eastern States Catholic Invitation Tournament in Newport, Rhode Island, which at that time was a big deal. We played well and ended up in the final game, but we lost that one.
You were
an All-American at Holy Cross. Please take me back to this period in your
life - what was it like to play basketball at Holy Cross, and what was it
like to follow the path of the great Bob Cousy?
I
selected Holy Cross because I wanted to go to a Jesuit school. Of course,
my high school coach went to Fordham, and Johnny Bach was coaching there at
the time. Georgetown was also interested in me. In fact, I had over 350
offers after making the All-America team, which was the only high school
All-America team at that time. I selected Holy Cross because it had the
best basketball program at the time. Holy Cross was number one in New
England, and I knew several of the players. Togo Palazzi, who also played
for the Celtics and who was two years ahead of me, was a Union City guy. I
had played against him in high school, and he was a terrific player.
Another guy by the name of Earl Markey – he was a senior when I was a
freshman in high school, and he had played in the same league that I had
played in. I knew his brother, and I played semi-pro basketball with his
brother. So I knew some of the people, I liked the school, and I liked the
coach. So I went to Holy Cross.
They had a freshman team in those days. We were an undefeated freshman team, and we used to battle the varsity to a standstill in practice. My sophomore year we won the Sugar Bowl, and we won the NIT, which was the premiere tournament at the time. We were ranked number one or two in the country, depending upon which ranking you wanted to use. But we were a terrific team. There were three sophomores on the starting team that won the NIT, which at the time was the bigger of the two tournaments. The NIT was bigger, more renowned.
Then I played the next two years at Holy Cross. Because we lost Togo Palazzi to graduation and the NBA, where he played for Red Auerbach and the Celtics, and because we lost Ronnie Perry, our captain, we really didn’t have the same team. By the end of my junior year, my coach had a falling out with the school and he left. My senior year brought a brand new coach and a new philosophy and everything else. But I ended up making All-American both years. I played against the Harlem Globetrotters, I played in All-Star games, and I was selected as a territorial pick by the Boston Celtics.
