Well, we are in the midst of the off-season and things have really quieted down. It’s actually been a little boring lately. I figured this was a perfect time to continue with our chronicles into Celtics history.
We already explored the twightlight of Larry Bird’s career in our post Larry Bird: The Sudden and Saddening Demise of a Basketball Legend. We brought back some stirring memories of the 1986 championship team with out post Bill Walton: The Savior of 1986. We raised some eyebrows and created some good debate with our assessment of Kevin McHale’s career in our post Kevin McHale: The NBA’s Last True Big Man. We paid tribute to Robert Parish in the post Robert Parish: Hail to the Chief.
Each of those posts received great online exposure and created all time high spikes in traffic at North Station Sports.
Today we continue our history lesson with a brief exhibit of the evolution of the Celtics logo. Most people think that the leprechaun that Kevin Garnett locked lips with after winning the 2008 championship has always been our logo.
Truth is, the current day logo did not take it’s full formation until 1996. During the dynasty years, in the 60s, no logo was perched at center court. Looking back at footage of those old games, center court looks very empty.
It wasn’t until the 1970s that the taunting leprechaun landed at center court.
Take a look below at the evolution of the Celtics logo, a historic item that Red Auerbach’s brother actually drew.
- 1946 – 1949
1949 - 1960
1960 - 1968
1968 - 1978
1978 - 1996
1996 - Present
Present Alternate
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I’m glad you pointed out Red’s brother, Zang, drew the logo we now see each and every game. Not many people know that.
I think it’s an interesting piece of basketball history that should never be forgotten. It shows how the early days of the NBA, teams ran their franchises like a “family business”, everyone chipped in to ensure the success of not only the franchise but also the league in general. We owe alot to those guys (like Red and Zang) who were underpaid in having to fill several job positions. Just shows how Red not only had to be the coach, trainer, scout, general manager and MARKETing manager. Zang was actually (I think) an artist who did comic strips for news papers… Interesting. Thanks for commenting Greg!
I didn’t know that! Thanks for sharing!
xoxo.