John Havlicek: Basketball
John Joseph “Hondo” Havlicek (born April 8, 1940) is a legendary Boston Celtics small forward who was an eight-time NBA champion and thirteen-time All-Star. He became Boston’s all-time leading scorer with 26,395 points and competed for 16 seasons. In high school, he became a three-sport athlete at Bridgeport High, Ohio and played college basketball for Ohio State University. Havlicek is widely recognized as one of the greatest players in the history of basketball.
Greatest Sporting Achievements
John Havlicek was the first person to score 1,000 points for 16 consecutive seasons. He shares NBA Finals single-game records for most points in an overtime period (versus Milwaukee on May 1974) and single-game playoff record for most field goals made (versus Atlanta on April 1973).
Besides becoming the Boston Celtics’ all-time leading scorer, he is all the team’s games’ played leader, free throws attempted leader, personal fouls leader, throws made leader and goals made leader.
Havlicek was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1984.
Why Was He So Good?
He has a good stamina, truly a perpetual motion machine and a human dynamo making him one of the top players who ever played the game. John Havlicek wore out opponents with his relentless baseline-to-baseline efforts. On the court, he was very versatile – becoming a star at both forward and guard.
What You May Not Know
- John won the 1974 NBA Finals MVP Award after leading the Boston Celtic’s to victory Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the Milwaukee Bucks in 7 games.
- He was also part of NBA’s 35th Anniversary Team in 1980 and NBA’s 50th Anniversary Team in 1996.
- He has two children with Beth Evans since July 1967.
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Related Pages
- More basketball players
- Athlete Database home
- About the sport of Basketball
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