John Havlicek

Hustle. It's one of those all to rare skills that comes from deep within. It's fueled with desire and heart. John Havlicek epitomized it, and it made him a legend.

It's 1965. Game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Philadelphia 76ers are playing the Boston Celtics in Boston Garden. There are five seconds left in the game, Boston's ball, Celtics leading by one. All they have to do is inbound the ball to win. However, as Celtic legend Bill Russell inbounds the ball, it hits a wire that supports the basket. Violation, Philadelphia's ball.

As Hal Greer of the 76ers looks to inbound the ball, he sees a seemingly wide open Chet Walker. What follows next is perhaps the most famous moment in basketball history, relived by listening to Celtics broadcaster Johnny Most's famous lines. "Greer is getting the ball into play. He gets it out deep...Havlicek steals it!!! Over to Sam Jones. Havlicek stole the ball!!! It's all over!!! Johnny Havlicek stole the ball!!!"

Havlicek was raised in the small town of Lansing, Ohio. It was a town of mainly coal miners and steelmill workers. Even at a young age, Havlicek was very athletic. He loved sports and the outdoors. In High School, he was named to the All-State teams in three sports.

Hondo, as he was called, went to Ohio State University, where he became known as a defensive standout. Playing alongside Jerry Lucas and Larry Siegfried, Ohio State went 78 and 6 over three years, and won an NCAA Tournament.

The versatile Havlicek was drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics. He was also, however, selected in the 7th round of the NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns. When he was finally cut by the Browns after several exhibition games, he devoted his attention to basketball.

Over his sixteen-year career, he was named to the All-NBA First Team four times, and to the All-NBA Defensive team five times. He also won 8 NBA Championships while with the Celtics. Among his other awards are being named to the NBA's 35th Anniversary All-Time Team, being selected as on of the Top 50 players of all-time, and being inducted into the hall of fame.

There is no better way to sum up his will to win and his talent then as Tom Heinsohn, a hall of famer in his own right, once said: "He was like the bionic man. People at Harvard were doing studies on his heart rate because he appeared to have this great stamina because he never stopped running. But John Havlicek was a great scorer and a great competitor. He was a winner in every sense of the word."

Season	Team	G	FGM	FGA	FG%	FTM	FTA	FT%	REB	AST	PTS	RPG	PPG
62-63	Boston	80	483	1085	.445	174	239	.728	534	179	1140	6.7	14.3
63-64	Boston	80	640	1535	.417	315	422	.746	428	238	1595	5.4	19.9
64-65	Boston	75	570	1420	.401	235	316	.744	371	199	1375	4.9	18.3
65-66	Boston	71	530	1328	.399	274	349	.785	423	210	1334	6.0	18.8
66-67	Boston	81	684	1540	.444	365	441	.828	532	278	1733	6.6	21.4
67-68	Boston	82	666	1551	.429	368	453	.812	546	384	1700	6.7	20.7
68-69	Boston	82	692	1709	.405	387	496	.780	570	441	1771	7.0	21.6
69-70	Boston	81	736	1585	.464	488	578	.844	635	550	1960	7.8	24.2
70-71	Boston	81	892	1982	.450	554	677	.818	730	607	2338	9.0	28.9
71-72	Boston	82	897	1957	.458	458	549	.834	672	614	2252	8.2	27.5
72-73	Boston	80	766	1704	.450	370	431	.858	567	529	1902	7.1	23.8
73-74	Boston	76	685	1502	.456	346	416	.832	487	447	1716	6.4	22.6
74-75	Boston	82	642	1411	.455	289	332	.870	484	432	1573	5.9	19.2
75-76	Boston	76	504	1121	.450	281	333	.844	314	278	1289	4.1	17.0
76-77	Boston	79	580	1283	.452	235	288	.816	382	400	1395	4.8	17.7
77-78	Boston	82	546	1217	.449	230	269	.855	332	328	1322	4.0	16.1
Totals		1270	10513	23930	.439	5369	6589	.815	8007	6114	26395	6.3	20.8