Hondo: Celtic Man in Motion

By John Havlicek ond Bob Ryan

 

    

Ranking

This book is a straight-forward autobiography by one of the all-time greats.  The book goes up through his last season, where he had just announced his retirements.

What makes the book interesting is Havlicek's life.  He grew up in an extremely small town, where he excelled at football, basketball, and baseball.  After making all-state in all sports, he decided to go with basketball-only.  At Ohio State, where he teamed with Jerry Lucas, Larry Siegfried, and Bobby Knight, he won the national championship his sophomore year, and then lost in the NCAA finals in his last two seasons.

He was drafted by both the Celtics and the Cleveland Browns in the NFL.  He went with football even though he did not play it in college.  He had excellent hands, but was cut at the end of training camp.  He joined the Celtics in Bob Cousy's final season and went on to win 8 championships.

Havlicek tells about these teams, as well an the characters from college and pros.  He went from a 6th man/supporting player to captain of the team/superstar.  He retired in the all-time top-10 in numerous categories.  He played both guard and forward and played with both the Bill Russell-Bob Cousy-Red Auerbauch champions and the Jo Jo White-Dave Cowens-Tommy Heinsoln champions of 1974 and 76. He played against Wilt Chamberlain, Willis Reed, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in their respective primes during his 15-year career.

Introspection:  3
Insight:  3
History:  1960-1977
Readability:  4

Hondo: Celtic Man in Motion.  John Havlicek with Bob Ryan.  Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1977.

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