Bob Cousy

High school

Andrew Jackson High School

College

Holy Cross

Pro team(s)

Boston Celtics, Cincinnati Royals

Hall of Fame

⭐ Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

Robert Joseph Cousy was born on August 9, 1928, in the St. Albans neighborhood of Queens, New York, the son of French immigrant parents. He attended Andrew Jackson High School in Queens, where he emerged as a high-scoring guard with a repertoire of dribbling moves and behind-the-back passes that had never been seen in organized basketball. He went to Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he led the team to the 1947 NCAA title. The Boston Celtics passed on him in the 1950 NBA Draft (Red Auerbach famously dismissed him), but Cousy wound up in Boston through a dispersal draft — and the rest became the most storied dynasty in basketball history. The "Houdini of the Hardwood" reinvented the point guard position. Where earlier players used the dribble merely as a way to advance the ball, Cousy used it as a weapon: a vehicle for misdirection, acceleration, and precision passing. He was the NBA's assists leader eight times in his career, a 13-time All-Star, the 1957 NBA MVP, and he won six NBA championships with the Celtics (1957, 1959–63). He retired in 1963 as one of the most decorated and influential players in league history. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1971. Born and raised in Queens, New York.