Tommy Heinsohn’s broadcasting career filled with disdain for officials, love for Celtics
Heinsohn, who died Monday at 86 years old, was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and coach. But to generations of Celtics fans, he was best known as the color analyst alongside Mike Gorman for 39 years on the team’s regional television broadcasts.
Heinsohn was informed, opinionated, quick to laugh, and intolerant of slow-paced offenses and any referee with a functioning whistle.
He was such an essential part of the fabric of the Celtics viewing experience, even with a reduced role in recent years as he battled health problems, that the sad news of his deathbrought at least a few fleeting smiles when some of his more famous comments and catchphrases flickered to mind.
He made hustling, limited forward Walter McCarty a cult hero among the fan base in the late 1990s with