Red Auerbach Monument
Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Marker Inscription
Arnold "Red" Auerbach "The Boston Celtics are not a basketball team, they are a way of life
The Story
Arnold 'Red' Auerbach was the architect of the Boston Celtics dynasty, the cigar-chomping coach and executive who guided the team to a run of NBA championships in the 1950s and '60s that has never been matched. A statue near Quincy Market honors him, and this inscription carries his famous creed that the Celtics were 'not a basketball team' but 'a way of life.' Beyond the wins, Auerbach reshaped professional sports — he was the first to draft a Black player, field an all-Black starting five, and hire a Black head coach.
Why it matters
Auerbach's Celtics helped break the color barriers of American professional sports, making Boston an unlikely stage for a quiet revolution in the postwar game.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
The Boston that Red Auerbach adopted was a postwar American city in the decades when professional basketball was still finding its footing. In the 1950s and '60s the NBA was young, far from the cultural giant it would become, and the Celtics were about to turn Boston into the center of the basketball universe. This monument, near the bustle of Quincy Market, honors the man who made that happen.
Those decades were also a period of profound change in American life, and sports sat squarely inside it. The color lines that had long divided professional athletics were being tested and broken, and the basketball court became one of the arenas where the country's larger struggles played out in public view.
Auerbach's story unfolds against that backdrop: a brilliant, combative basketball mind building a dynasty in a changing city, in a changing sport, in a changing nation. The setting near Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market — some of the most historic ground in Boston — places his legacy amid the long sweep of the city's history.
People & events
Arnold "Red" Auerbach was the architect of the Boston Celtics dynasty, the cigar-chomping coach and executive whose teams won a run of NBA championships in the 1950s and '60s that stands alone in the sport's history. His confidence and his competitive fire became as much a part of the Celtics identity as the players on the floor, and the inscription's creed — that the Celtics were "not a basketball team" but "a way of life" — captures exactly how he saw the franchise he built.
At the center of that dynasty was Bill Russell, whose defense and will to win anchored the team through its greatest years. The partnership between Auerbach and Russell became one of the defining relationships in American sports, and it carried significance far beyond the standings.
Auerbach was willing to make choices others would not. He is widely recognized for being the first to draft a Black player into the NBA, for fielding an all-Black starting five, and for elevating Bill Russell to head coach — making Russell a player-coach and one of the first Black head coaches in a major American professional sport. Each of those steps broke a barrier that had stood in the way of Black athletes and leaders.
Its place in the American story
Auerbach's Celtics did more than win. They helped break the color barriers that had defined American professional sports, and they did it in Boston — a city whose history with race was complicated, which made the quiet revolution on its basketball court all the more striking.
The milestones tied to Auerbach are landmarks in the wider story of integration in American athletics. Drafting a Black player, starting an all-Black five, and hiring a Black head coach were not just basketball decisions; they were steps that pushed a segregated sporting world toward something more just, and they carried meaning well beyond the arena.
That is why a statue for a basketball man belongs on historic Boston ground. Auerbach's legacy sits at the intersection of sports and civil rights, a reminder that the games a country plays are never entirely separate from the values it is arguing over. The Celtics dynasty was a triumph of winning — and also, meaningfully, a chapter in the long American struggle over who gets a fair chance to compete and to lead.
If you visit
You'll find Red Auerbach right where the crowds are, near Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall — and true to form, he's depicted seated with a cigar, as if he's just watched a play unfold and already knows how it ends. It's one of Boston's most approachable monuments, and people love to sit beside him for a photo.
The location is half the fun. This is one of the most historic and liveliest parts of the city, where centuries of Boston history meet street performers and market stalls. Auerbach fits right in — a modern Boston legend planted amid the old brick and cobblestones.
Make it a stop on a walk through downtown Boston, and let it be more than a sports photo op. Standing beside this figure, you're beside a man who changed both how the game was won and who was allowed to win it — a fitting piece of a city that has always taken its history, and its teams, personally.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Griffin Museum at Digital Silver Imaging5.3 mi away
- Cyrus Dallin Art Museum5.8 mi away · 611 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington, MA
- Smith Museum Archives6.0 mi away · 5;7 Jason Terrace, MA
- Jason Russell House6.0 mi away · 7 Jason Street, Arlington, MA
- Edmund Fowle House6.0 mi away · 26;28 Marshall Street, Watertown, MA
- Drive By Projects6.1 mi away · 81 Spring Street, Watertown, MA
Attractions
- Harvard Square3.0 mi away
- 1899 MIT Observatory site5.3 mi away
- Arlington Center Historic District5.9 mi away
- Central Street Historical District6.0 mi away
- Pickerel Rock6.0 mi away
- Stone Chimney6.3 mi away
Food & drink
- Lexington House of Pizza9.0 mi away
- Dunkin'9.9 mi away · 10 Woburn Street, Lexington, MA
- Formosa Taipei10.0 mi away
- Bruegger's Bagels10.0 mi away
- Clay Oven10.0 mi away · 1666 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, MA
- Spirit of India10.0 mi away
Places to stay
- Homewood Suites4.5 mi away · 1 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington, MA
- Hilton Garden Inn10.1 mi away · 450 Totten Pond Road, Waltham, MA
- The Lodge at Brandeis10.2 mi away
- Extended Stay America10.2 mi away · 52 Fourth Avenue
- Best Western10.2 mi away · 380 Winter Street
- Extended Stay America10.2 mi away · 32 Fourth Avenue
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Related people
- · Arnold "Red" Auerbach
- · Bill Russell
Themes & tags
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