Celtics legend Bob Cousy talks about faith, religion in his life

By Bill Doyle | CFP Corresondent

WORCESTER - Holy Cross and Celtics legend Bob Cousy insists he’s never been the type of person to jump on a soap box and use his celebrity status to get what he wanted. He has aided quite a few worthy causes, but he’s been more comfortable doing so quietly when possible.

In that same vein, he’s been a lifelong Catholic, but he’s never been one to broadcast it.
Nevertheless, his Catholic religion and his Jesuit professors at Holy Cross taught him how to lead his life and he’s done his best to follow that guidance.

Asked if being a Catholic was important to him, he replied, “Oh, absolutely.”

Mr. Cousy, 96, was a bit reluctant to talk about his faith, but agreed to on one condition.

“As long as it doesn’t appear like I’m using religion to gain some brownie points with the public,” he said.

Mr. Cousy is thankful that his grandmother brought him to Mass when he was young while growing up in New York City on Manhattan’s East Side and then Queens, but his faith didn’t blossom until he went to Holy Cross to play basketball in 1946. Students were required to attend the daily 7 a.m. Mass for all four years. When asked what would have happened if he had missed a Mass, he replied that he didn’t know because he never did.

All of his college professors were Jesuits and he remembers them instructing him to maximize his intellectual talents and lend a helping hand to anyone who needed one. He took their advice to heart.

“I do credit the good Jesuits with certainly changing my life,” he said. “I came out of that ghetto (in NYC) and the only moral code was the battle of the streets, which was survival and self interests.”

The 6-foot-1 point guard helped the Crusaders win the NCAA championship in 1947 as a freshman and he went on to become one of the greatest basketball players in HC and NBA history. He defined the point guard position with his behind-the-back, no-look passes and his ability to find the open man. He was a three-time All-American at HC and then he played a key role in the Celtics’ first six NBA championships and earned the NBA Most Valuable Player Award in 1957. He was a 13-time All-Star and in 1971 he was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. He later served as president of the hall.

The Celtics haven’t forgotten Mr. Cousy. In July, Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck, a Worcester native, and Celtics vice president of media and alumni relations, Jeff Twiss, brought the 2008 and 2024 NBA championship trophies to Mr. Cousy’s home in Worcester and invited him to attend the opening night ceremony in October when the 18th championship banner was raised. On Monday, Dec. 9, Twiss brought Mr. Cousy an NBA championship ring with his name etched on it.

“I’m very pleased that the Celtics have reached out,” Cousy said. “I’m glad to be part of this legacy.”

Mr. Cousy said he thanks God that he had the skills to excel at what he called a “child’s game.”

Mr. Cousy has kept a home in Worcester ever since he left New York to attend HC. He enjoyed driving to his home in Worcester after Celtics games and escaping the hubbub of Boston.

In 1950, Mr. Cousy and his beloved wife, Missie, were married at St. Peter Church. For more than 70 years, he attended Blessed Sacrament Church, first with Missie and their daughters, Marie and Ticia, and then with Missie after their daughters grew up and moved away. After Missie passed away after a stroke at age 85 in 2013, Mr. Cousy sat in the back left of the church during the 8 a.m. Sunday Mass with William Luby, a retired judge who also graduated from Holy Cross. Ticia would accompany him when she visited him from Florida for the summer.

“He always went to church and I always went with him,” Ticia said. “I always saw him being very meditative, very thoughtful. So it inspired in me a thoughtful reflection and wanting to be close to God through his modeling. It filtered down to me and my sister.”

Mr. Cousy appreciated that the Blessed Sacrament parishioners didn’t pester him for autographs.

Cousy also attended Mass on the road when played for the Celtics or in celebrity golf tournaments.

Mr. Luby died in 2019 and Mr. Cousy stopped attending Mass about three years ago after walking became difficult.

Mr. Cousy appreciated the faith of Father Charles J. Dumphy and Father Richard F. Trainor, former pastors at Blessed Sacrament. He remembers needling Father Trainor that he would freeze to death from standing in the cold because he greeted each parishioner on the front steps of the church at Mass.

Cousy said he was pleased that Father Thomas G. Landry, Blessed Sacrament’s current pastor, called him a few weeks ago to see if he could do anything for him.

Funerals for Mr. Cousy’s wife, parents and mother-in-law were held at Blessed Sacrament.
“We have a long history with the church,” he said.

Mrs. Cousy was buried at St. John Cemetery and Mr. Cousy will be as well.

The Cousys sent their daughters to Catholic schools. Marie and Ticia attended the now closed Blessed Sacrament School. Marie went on to graduate from Notre Dame Academy, which is located near the Cousy home, and Ticia attended the now closed Marian High School before she transferred to a public school in Cincinnati while Mr. Cousy coached the NBA’s Royals.

Marie graduated from Boston College. Ticia taught at Saint Gregory Elementary School in Dorchester for nine years in the 1980s after graduating from Boston University.

“I still say my prayers every morning, believe it or not,” Mr. Cousy said, “and thank God for the many blessings He’s given me and my family.”

He also prays for his departed friends, including the more than a dozen players who suited up for him when he coached at Boston College in the 1960s.

Mr. Cousy is proud that he and his family had a private audience with Pope John XXIII at Vatican City in the early 1960s while he played for the Celtics.

“That would be a large part of my obit, frankly,” he said.

He believes he could be the only NBA player who has had such an audience with a pope.
“It was an occasion,” Mr. Cousy said. “It was something special in our lives. The pope was the Pope.”

When Mr. Cousy learned that he would travel to meet the Pope, he asked if Holy Cross could provide his family with a guide in Rome. Father John Brooks, a 1949 HC graduate, was studying in Rome at the time and he spent a week taking the Cousys to all the sights.
“He made it come alive for us,” Mr. Cousy said.

When Father Brooks taught religious studies at HC in the late 1960s, he drove several times with Mr. and Mrs. Cousy to Boston College to watch Mr. Cousy coach the Eagles.

In 1970, Father Brooks became president of Holy Cross, a position he held until 1994. He remained close with Mr. Cousy until his death in 2012. Father Brooks played a key role in HC erecting a statue of Mr. Cousy outside the Hart Center in 2008.

“Father, he was an exceptional person,” Mr. Cousy said.

When Mr. and Mrs. Cousy renewed their wedding vows, Father Brooks presided at the ceremony at the St. Joseph Memorial Chapel at Holy Cross.

Mr. Cousy is the oldest living former NBA champion and he could be the oldest former NBA player. How does that make him feel?

“Old,” he said. “I don’t need any other evidence that I’m old. I’m reminded every day when I have to sit on my butt. I can’t get up.”

Mr. Cousy usually leaves his home only on Thursdays when Ticia and her husband Randy Brooks take him to hang out with friends at Worcester Country Club.

Mr. Cousy followed the advice of the Jesuits to help others. He served as honorary chairman of the Massachusetts Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. In 1965, he was honored nationally as Big Brother of the Year and he has continued to support Big Brothers Big Sisters for more than seven decades. He has also been a huge advocate for the Nativity School in Worcester.

Mr. Cousy helped form the NBA Players Association to provide a better life for the players. He spoke out against racism and befriended Black teammates who weren’t always accepted by society.

He did it all to help others, not to bring attention to himself.