From now until February 11, Red’s Army will be posting stories about the players behind the Celtics’ 22 retired numbers and that one retired nickname. Stories will be posted in the order that the numbers were retired.
The two stars of the Celtics’ early years, Ed Macauley and Bob Cousy had their numbers retired on the same evening, October 26, 1963–the Celtics’ home opener against the Baltimore Bullets.
Easy Ed was traded away in the summer of 1956, along with Cliff Hagen, for Bill Russell.
Cousy was the bridge between the Celtics’ raw early years and their dominance in the late 50s and 60s.