Many younger Boston Celtics fans knew Tommy Heinsohn as the team’s passionate, longtime color commentator. However, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker still remembers him as a “dervish” of a player.
“The guy was all heart,” Baker said.
Heinsohn, the 86-year-old former Celtics player, coach, and commentator, died Tuesday. The news, which broke Tuesday afternoon while Baker was holding one of his regular COVID-19 press conferences, caught the governor off guard.
“Oh my god, really?” he said. “Oh, man, that is a shame.”
Baker recalled Heinsohn as a player in the 1960s, but struggled to come up with a modern-day comparison for the 6-foot-7 Hall of Famer.