1.
He holds the block/charge rule sacred: As a pro basketball player, Cowens lived by a firm personal code of right and wrong. Essentially he believes there's no excusing shortcuts or cheating at your craft.
He thought a player who flopped to the court to draw a charge is the worst kind of cheat. So he once flattened Houston Rockets guard Mike Newlin in a violent but poignant demonstration.
Newlin was a master at stepping in front of a moving player, then hitting the court as if flung there by contact. Twice in a game in 1976, Newlin drew charges on Cowens this way. So later in the game, an irate Cowens sprinted at Newlin, slamming him blind-side with both forearms and splattering Newlin along the floor.
``Now that's a foul!'' Cowens announced to referee Bill Jones.
Cowens was branded a savage for that stunt, so he followed it up with a lengthy letter to the editor in the Boston Globe. Cowens wrote that ``fraudulent, deceiving and flagrant acts of pretending to be fouled when little or no contact is made is just as unsportsmanlike as knocking a player to the floor. . . . This, in plain words, is what I call cheating.' ``
Cowens forwarded copies of the letter to the NBA's supervisor of officials and Newlin. Newlin already got the message; he said Cowens' body-block still stung a month later.
2.
He's frugal: The NBA is a world of Mercedes, Gucci and Rolex. Cowens makes a statement these days by driving a school-bus yellow Suburban.
Cowens never did need expensive toys or a luxury apartment to reinforce his ego. The year he was named NBA most valuable player (1973), he lived in a one-room converted bath house 15 miles west of Boston.
``The thing that money does for me is give me a sense of independence,'' Cowens once said, ``and a certain feeling that I have something to show for my work.''
3.
Still, he likes money: He's earthy and believes in causes, but as he pointed out just before his job interview in Charlotte, ``Hey, there's nothing wrong with money!''
4.
He's a notoriously bad dresser: In part this goes with being frugal - he'd rather spend his money on more practical things. But in his playing days, Cowens never looked right in anything more formal than a flannel shirt and faded jeans.
Two years of coaching with Bob Hill, a real clothes horse, seems to have updated Cowens' wardrobe. But we suggest he lose that short-sleeve, white shirt he wore on his job interview - it screamed for a pen-protector.
5.
He's socially conscious: He devoted lots of time and money to causes he supports, like the environment, the homeless and children. This was not writing a check or two as a marketing ploy, this was hours upon hours of effort.
6.
He can have an ugly temper: Allan Bristow, who once choked an agent, has nothing on Cowens. While coaching in the Continental Basketball Association, Cowens grabbed rival coach Bill Musselman by the neck at midcourt and lifted him off the ground.
As a player, he slugged Guilford's Bob Kaufman, appropriately nicknamed ``Horse,'' at the foul line, then patiently waited for Kaufman to swing back. Kaufman hit Cowens so hard Cowens finished the game wearing an eye patch.
7.
He's owned a race horse: Kentucky-born, Cowens loves horse racing and has owned at least one trotter.
8.
He'll fight for a lost cause: This, too, involves horse racing. One of Cowens' dreams was to restore some land in rural New England to its 19th century status as a horse farm. Motorola also wanted the land to build a plant.
Cowens fought for years at town meetings to keep the land from being industrialized. Long after it was clear he would never own the property, he kept lobbying for environmental reasons.
He lost the fight. The plant was built and later abandoned.
9.
He once drove a taxi: Just to find out what's it's like to be a Boston cabbie for one night. He joked that, ``I only took one guy the long' way. He was a Knick fan - he deserved it.''
10.
He spent a night on a park bench after the Celtics won the title in 1974: Cowens ended a night of partying by curling up on a bench until the sun came up, then waking a friend to make him some breakfast.
11.
He hung out in college with a Pulitzer Prize-winner: At Florida State, Cowens used to visit an art student in his dormitory to watch him draw and talk philosophy. That art student was cartoonist Doug Marlette, who won a Pulitzer while working for The Observer.
12.
He broke NCAA rules big-time: Cowens was a senior at the height of the war between the NBA and the American Basketball Association. Carl Scheer, now president of the Charlotte Checkers hockey team, signed Cowens to a contract with the NBA before Cowens' senior season. After the Celtics drafted Cowens No. 4 overall, Boston was assigned that contract.
13.
He sends thank-you notes: Friends were amazed to receive warm letters from Cowens for attending a surprise birthday party his wife threw for him several years ago.
14.
His dad was a barber: He comes from a working-class family, although not from the rural background many assume. Hometown Newport, Ky., is just across the state border from Cincinnati.
15.
He's humble: A woman sitting next to Cowens at a Final Four in the '80s wondered why people kept walking up to him, asking for an autograph. Finally, the woman sheepishly asked Cowens if he was famous. Cowens said he used to play for the Celtics, never patronizing her by explaining he was Dave Cowens, the hall-of-famer.
San Antonio Spurs vice president Gregg Popovich says Cowens' humility made him an excellent assistant coach. According to Popovich, Cowens never assumed that because he was a great player he already knew everything he needed to coach.
16.
He thinks autographs are silly: It goes with being humble.
Cowens never understood why people saw value in holding a scrap of paper with his signature. He often suggested a handshake instead. For awhile, he'd sign an autograph, then ask the fan for his autograph.
Friends say Cowens just wants to be treated like a regular guy.
17.
He wasn't always great at sports: He's from Kentucky, so he must have been recruited by the Wildcats, right? Wrong. His only in-state scholarship offers were from Ohio Valley Conference schools.
18.
He played out of position: Former Celtics coach Bill Fitch says, ``he would have been the greatest power forward who ever lived.''
But success as a 6-foot-9 center provided Cowens with a mystique he treasures:
``I would not have enjoyed the game as much if I didn't play center. I've always liked center. I thought it was a special position. There are two guards and two forwards, but only one center.''
19.
He has Bill Russell to blame for a losing record so far as an NBA coach: Red Auerbach named Russell player-coach of the Celtics in 1966 because ``the only guy who could motivate Bill Russell was Bill Russell.''
Hoping to shake Cowens and the Celtics out of a slump, Auerbach named Cowens player-coach in 1978. Cowens went 27-41 in what sounds like a miserable experience.
``I can't say I really coached the team,'' Cowens said shortly after that season. ``I was the guy who talked during timeouts.''
20.
He can't go to his right: His left-handed hook was quite a weapon, as was his jump shot. But opponents always knew Cowens was no real threat to score off his right hand. That limitation makes his effectiveness against bigger centers night-in and night-out all the more impressive.
21.
He was lousy at setting picks: It was a strange flaw for a player so willing to deliver and absorb physical punishment. A pick - essentially forming a wall with your body to separate an opponent from a teammate - is a basic skill for an NBA center. For some reason, Cowens would never quite set his feet right or stand straight when he was setting one.
Actually, he never used picks well, either, though doing so would have made him an even more effective jump-shooter.
22.
He once took a two-month hiatus in the middle of a season: To play the way he did at his size demanded exceptional effort night after night. Cowens used to say he could never afford to play with less intensity against an average center than he did against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
In essence, Cowens burned out in the fall of 1976, so he asked for, and received, a two-month ``leave of absence'' during the season. This was not Cedric Ceballos going AWOL over a spat with his coach, this was Cowens questioning if he'd lost his desire altogether.
He bummed around the country, at one point picking up drift wood along the Oregon coastline. He even flirted with the idea of retiring as a player and going to work for a New England harness track. Finally, Auerbach convinced him to return.
Cowens' conclusion? ``It was easier for me to play than not to play.''
23.
His wife will soon be a published author: Wife Deby is a nurse practitioner with training in holistic healing. She has a book coming out in June based in research she did in touch therapy.
24.
He helped found a museum: Before going to work for the Spurs, Cowens was chairman of the Sports Museum of New England, which he jokingly described as the ``Salvation Army of sports.'' He struggled to raise funds for the museum, which wasn't quite high-brow enough for Boston society, despite offering a number of writing and arts programs for school children.
25.
He has a silly nickname: ``Big Red'' was the name fans used. But we hear at least one buddy calls him ``Gooney Goo Goo.''
No, we can't imagine why.
26.
He wrote his own retirement speech: One early afternoon in the fall of 1980, Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe was writing a preseason story in the Terre Haute, Ind., Sheraton. There was a knock on Ryan's door; it was Cowens, still in his practice uniform, holding several sheets of paper.
It was the first draft of Cowens' retirement statement. He wanted Ryan to edit it. In part the statement read, ``I am basically playing on one leg. My right ankle is so weak that I can best describe it by saying I have a sponge for an ankle.''
Cowens went on to say he couldn't justify taking a $500,000 guaranteed salary from the Celtics if he couldn't play effectively.
Ryan said the statement basically needed no editing; it was classic Cowens. Then Ryan asked if he could call in the story of Cowens' retirement for an afternoon edition.
Cowens asked to make a quick phone call first; he hadn't even told Red Auerbach of his decision.
27.
He's been one-upped by M.L. Carr: Cowens climbed onto the team bus that afternoon to announce in great detail his decision to retire. There were tears. Finally, Carr, a teammate then, the Celtics coach now, broke the tension by telling Cowens, ``Well, if that's the way you feel, get off our bus!''
28.
He considered playing last season: Spurs coach Bob Hill talked to Cowens about placing him on the roster for the playoffs last season after Moses Malone was hurt. Cowens still maintains his playing weight - about 240 pounds. The Spurs never went with what Cowens called a ``last-ditch'' alternative.
29.
He attended Tony Conigliaro's funeral: Cowens showed up in an overcoat and Red Sox cap to mourn the former Boston star whose career was so disrupted when he was beaned in the eye in the batter's box.
Cowens told Ryan he had no special tie to Conigliaro other than respect for his work and family.
30.
He claims to out-gonzo Dennis Rodman: Coaching the NBA's resident kook last season, Cowens once told Dennis Rodman he's crazier than Rodman ever thought about being.
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