Two hoop champions bridge 57-year gap

There have been at least 20 players in Boston Celtics’ storied NBA history that have worn No. 7. Fifteen of them have been Black, including Tiny Archibald, Kenny Anderson, Emmette Bryant and Dee Brown. Jaylen Brown has had the number since 2016. 

Last Saturday in Chicago, 88-year-old Emmette Bryant finally met Brown, the 29-year-old multi-time All-Star and Finals MVP in the Celtics’ 2024 league championship.  

“Nearly six decades later,” said a press release, “that championship legacy will come full circle as Bryant greets Celtics All-Star Jaylen Brown, who proudly wears the No. 7 jersey 57 years after Bryant wore the same number for Boston.”

“He’s never met Jaylen Brown,” Bryant’s son Curtis Bell told MSR last week of his father’s shared lineage of Celtics greatness. On the historic meeting, “The way that came about is we were sitting in the living room, and I was cutting his hair, and the game was on. He said, ‘Hey, there’s that boy Jaylen Brown. He got my number. I’d like to meet him someday and shake his hand and give him a few pointers.”

Bell said through efforts by himself and his wife Darlene, the Celtics organization and Brown’s agent “responded positively. It makes a good story to have these two players [meet] 57 years apart. [They’re] in the same jersey and both being champions,” Bell stressed.

Bryant played for Boston 1968-70, one of three clubs he logged time with in his eight-season NBA career. He scored 20 points in Game 7 of 1969 NBA Finals. The Chicago native, who graduated from high school, then DePaul (1961-1964), where he played basketball and earned a kinesiology degree. 

The 6’1” guard was then drafted by the New York Knicks in 1964, played there for four seasons, then Boston (1968-1970) and Buffalo (1970-1972). According to Basketball-Reference.com, Bryant’s career NBA statistics include 3,722 points, 1,522 rebounds and 1,700 assists.

Bryant won his only NBA championship with Bill Russell in 1969, who was the NBA’s first Black head coach; it was the last of the late Russell’s 11 NBA titles. There is a picture of Bryant celebrating with a teammate as a dejected L.A. Lakers great Jerry West walked off after the defeat — see Page 34 of Gary Washburn’s “The Boston Celtics – An Illustrated Timeline” (Reedy Press, 2024).

“I wasn’t aware of the book, but I do have that picture,” said Bell. “I would tell you one quick story: I traveled with my father, me and my wife, when we went to a National Retired Players Association gathering. I was on the elevator with Jerry West, and I introduced myself to him and said, ‘I’m Emmitt’s son.’ He said, ‘Oh yeah, I remember him’ and he laughed and chuckled. ‘Pleased to meet you now.’”

“He said that him and Bill were very tight friends,” said Bell of his father and Russell. “He said he would lean on Bill to understand where he should go and shouldn’t go, particularly in the Boston area. Bill made it plain and clear that he loved playing for Boston but the community didn’t receive him when he goes to restaurants or hotels outside of the court. They weren’t always welcome. My father experienced that, too.”

Bryant and Russell later reunited in Seattle, when he joined Russell’s staff as an assistant (1973-1975) after a season as an assistant coach at Columbia (1972-73). After that, Bryant worked for the State of Washington in social services, recreation services, and corrections before he moved back to Chicago.  

“He left coaching. He went on to some community-related jobs where he was a program director for some troubled youth organizations,” his son pointed out.

Bryant is active in retired basketball players’ activities and a key member of the National Retired Players Association executive board. He is also in three Halls of Fame — Chicagoland Sports (2010), DePaul, and Rucker Professional Basketball.

“Why was he inducted into that?” Bell explained regarding the Rucker HOF in New York. “Because he always came to Rucker Park with the other NBA players to play games in front of the kids, to help the kids learn how the game is played and spend quality time with them. I got pictures with him sitting down in the park with kids.”

Bryant also is an NBA trailblazer: “During his time, he wore a beard,” recalled Bell. “They call it a mutton chop. The NBA had banned it, but he persisted.

“I believe he was fine for doing it, but he persisted and they eventually allowed the players to wear the extended beard or the mutton chops,” continued Bell. “If it had not been for him wearing his mutton chops, guys today like James Harden would not be able to wear that full beard that they have.

“I’ve collected all of his memorabilia, and I have a museum in my basement,” said Bell. “I’ve been going to Chicago to help take care of him because he’s an elder, and he needs elder care.”

Bell said he’s awfully proud of his dad, who looked forward to last weekend’s meeting with Brown at the Chicago-Boston contest, the same night that the home team retired Derrick Rose’s Bulls jersey.  

“It is a bridge between eras, a celebration of excellence, and a reminder that the game’s history lives on through the people who built it.” 

Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.