On this day in Boston Celtics history, the team participated in the 1958 NBA Draft, held in New York City.
The Celtics will make two draft picks, both late in their respective rounds (there have been several more rounds to the NBA draft than there are today). Boston will take big man Benny Swain first from Texas Southern University with the seventh overall pick, and forward Jimmy Smith out of Franciscan College with the fifteenth overall pick. Swain would end up sharing the frontcourt with legendary Celtics center Bill Russell on the 1959 title team as a reserve.
He had posted 4.6 points and 4.5 rebounds in his only season with Boston, and his career was cut short by a devastating knee injury the summer after his rookie season.
Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics jumps in the air to shoot at the basket as Bo Ellis (12) of the Minneapolis Lakers catches the ball in an NBA playoff game at Boston Garden on April 5, 1959. Another Minneapolis player is guarded by Ben Swain of the Celtics. Boston won 128-108. (AP Photo)
Prior to the injury, Swain was seen as a potential force in the paint who could have won more than his only title with the Celtics, possibly in a bigger role.
Tommy Heinsohn said via: John M. Guilfoyle at Boston.com. “He was a big, strong dressed guy, an inside player, and you always look for rebounds, so he was going to get a really good look.”
“Reed (Auerbach, legendary Celtics coach and GM) will smash guys. They’ll play a little bit and then they’ll impress themselves. Swain would have been a good player, I think,” Heinsohn added.
(Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Smith was also a promising prospect, who played power forward as an All-American college player, but was drafted into the US Army.
Knee problems would force his discharge from the armed forces, and would also unfortunately end his football career in a bittersweet coincidence.
(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Instead of working in the NBA, Smith became a civil rights activist advocating racial integration, a point that Hank Kuzma, his former coach at Steubenville University, reflected on.
Kuzma said in an interview with The Paul Zeiss Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He was constantly arrested for picketing at union headquarters and at various construction jobs. The fact that he was leading the protests was not uncommon. We received countless death threats, bomb threats, and threats to burn down homes. Jim was a kind of hero to the community.”
Smith died in 2002 after a battle with leukemia.
New Jersey Nets Jason Kidd (5) is pressured by Boston Celtics Bimbo Coles (12) while hunting for an open man during the third quarter of an NBA playoff game in Boston, Monday, May 12, 2003 (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
It’s also the birthday of former Celtic center guard Vernell Iovay “Bimbo” Coles, born in 1968 in Covington, Virginia, who played for Boston as a late-season addition in 2003.
Coles had a very brief stint with the Celtics, playing just 14 games with the club that season, averaging 3.7 points and 1.1 rebounds.
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