He was impressed by the budding star's two-handed ability and invited Cousy to come to practice the following day to try out for the junior varsity team.

[13] He continued to practice day and night, and by his junior year was sure he was going to be promoted to the varsity; but failing his citizenship course made him ineligible for the first semester.

Soon afterward, he received an offer from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, about forty miles (64 kilometers) west of Boston.

[18] He spent the summer before matriculating working at Tamarack Lodge in the Catskill Mountains and playing in a local basketball league along with a number of established college players.

From the start of the season, coach Doggie Julian chose to play the six freshmen off the bench in a two-team system, so that each player would get some time on the court.

[23] The following season Julian limited Cousy's playing time, to the point that the frustrated sophomore contemplated transferring out of Holy Cross.

[32] A three-time All-American,[2] Cousy ended his college career in the 1950 NCAA Tournament, when Holy Cross fell to North Carolina State in an opening-round game at Madison Square Garden.

Cousy was trying to establish a driving school in Worcester, Massachusetts and did not want to relocate to the Midwestern triangle of the three small towns of Moline, Rock Island and Davenport.

[33] With future Hall-of-Fame guard Bill Sharman on board the next season, Cousy averaged 21.7 points, 6.4 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game en route to his first All-NBA First Team nomination.

[1] These numbers were made despite the fact that the NBA had not yet introduced the shot clock, making the game static and putting prolific assist givers at a disadvantage.

[2] Powered by Auerbach's quick fastbreak-dominated tactics, the Celtics won 46 games and beat the Syracuse Nationals 2–0 in the 1953 NBA Playoffs.

[2] Cousy's modus operandi contrasted with the rest of the NBA, which was dominated by muscular low post scorers and deliberate set shooters.

Cousy's crowd-pleasing and effective play drew the crowd into the Boston Garden and also won over coach Auerbach, who no longer saw him as a liability, but as an essential building block for the future.

[36] The Celtics eventually added two talented forwards, future Hall-of-Famer Frank Ramsey and defensive specialist Jim Loscutoff.

[36] Before the 1956–57 NBA season, Auerbach drafted two future Hall-of-Famers: forward Tom Heinsohn, and defensive center Bill Russell.

[1] Late in the season, Cousy reasserted his playmaking dominance by setting an NBA record with 28 assists in a game against the Minneapolis Lakers.

[1] Still, he enjoyed a satisfying postseason, winning the 1962 NBA Finals after 4–3 battles against two upcoming teams, the Philadelphia Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers.

[47] Finally, in the 1962–63 NBA season, the last of his career, Cousy averaged 13.2 points, 2.5 rebounds and 6.8 assists, and collected one last All-Star and All-NBA Second Team nomination.

The event became known as the Boston Tear Party, when the crowd's response overwhelmed Cousy, left him speechless, and caused his planned 7-minute farewell to go on for 20.

Joe Dillon, a water worker from South Boston, Massachusetts, and a devoted Celtics fan, screamed "We love ya, Cooz", breaking the tension and the crowd went into cheers.

In the 1965 ECAC Holiday Basketball Festival at Madison Square Garden, Providence defeated Boston College 91–86 in the title game, when the Friars were led by Tourney MVP and All-American Jimmy Walker.

[2] Cousy grew bored with college basketball and returned to the NBA as coach of the Cincinnati Royals, team of fellow Hall-of-Fame point guard Oscar Robertson.

To combat this, Cousy organized the National Basketball Players Association, the first trade union among those in the four major North American professional sports leagues.

[1] With his eye-catching dribbling and unorthodox passing, Cousy popularized modern guard play and raised the profile of the Boston Celtics and the entire NBA.

During halftime of a game between the Holy Cross Crusaders and St. Joseph's Hawks, the uniform numbers of Cousy, George Kaftan, Togo Palazzi, and Tommy Heinsohn became the first to hang from the gymnasium's ceiling.

[53] A statue of Cousy was installed outside the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts (the current home venue of the Holy Cross basketball program).

The Bob Cousy Award has been presented annually since 2004 by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to the top men's collegiate point guard.

[57] His most notable act as commissioner was to declare the New York Apollo and Boston Astros co-champions after both teams played 67 minutes of extra time without resolution in the second and deciding leg of the league's championship series on September 20, 1975.

Pennsylvania Stoners club owner Willie Ehrlich explained the dismissal by stating, "After five years as commissioner, Cousy still goes around telling people he knows nothing about soccer.

In 1950, the Celtics played a game in the then-segregated city of Charlotte, North Carolina, and teammate Chuck Cooper—the first African-American in NBA history to be drafted—would have been denied a hotel room.