​As one of the greatest point guards in basketball history and a multiple-time NBA champion, Hall of Fame Celtics icon Bob Cousy might seem to have few regrets about his life. Yet Cousy has publicly admitted that he wishes he had done more to support his Black teammates during the discrimination they faced in the civil rights era—the same era in which he played alongside them. This confession isn’t a claim that Cousy didn’t support his Black teammates; on the contrary, he was a staunch ally and a close friend of Chuck Cooper, the first Black player drafted by the Boston Celtics. Known affectionately as Cooz, Cousy stood by Cooper when the ugly face of racism reared its head, and he recently sat down with NBC Sports Boston to reflect on those challenging days.
The creators behind the Chuck Cooper Foundation YouTube channel have assembled a clip featuring Cousy’s reflections on his time playing with Cooper. You can hear his thoughts and memories in the video linked below. This piece first appeared on Celtics Wire, where it discusses Cousy’s experiences fighting racism and his on-court partnership with Chuck Cooper on the Celtics.
To hear more from Cousy about these topics, you can follow additional discussions such as the “Havlicek Stole the Pod” series on platforms like Spotify, iTunes, and YouTube. For reference, the article and clip offer a window into how Cousy navigated the era, acknowledging both his steadfast support of Cooper and the broader struggle for racial equality within the league.
This rewritten version maintains the core points: Cousy’s status and regrets, his support and friendship with Chuck Cooper, his interview with NBC Sports Boston, and the distribution of the footage by the Chuck Cooper Foundation, along with the original note about where the article appeared.