Dave Cowens , the Boston Celtics' center for 10 seasons, announced his retirement yesterday. Cowens , the National Basketball Association's most valuable player in 1972-73 and coach for most of 1978-79, told Red Auerbach , the club's president and general manager, of his decision by telephone from Terre Haute, Ind., and then he left the team.
Auerbach said he was upset when Cowens first told him he was retiring, but he added that he was not surprised. "We had a long talk before the season," Auerbach said, "and Dave told me was thinking of retiring. He told me he missed being away from his new baby girl, Meghan, who was born after last season. He also didn't think he could jump any more. I remember him telling me, 'I'm going down hill. I can no longer play up to my potential. I think I'm going to retire.'
"Dave is a special kind of a person. He takes great pride in how and the way he plays. What I don't understand about his decision is that he has been playing so well during the exhibition season."
Leave of Absence in 1976-77
Cowens, reportedly traveling to join his wife at his parents' home in Cold Springs, Ky., was unavailable for comment. During the 1976-77 season, Cowens asked for and was granted a leave of absence for personal reasons. A little more than two months later, when the Celtic record dropped to 15-14, Auerbach convinced Cowens to return.
"This is not the same Cowens," said a friend who asked not to be identified. "He was a flighty kid then. He's is a mature family man now."
Auerbach had expected Cowens to retire after this season and he prepared for it by trading the first and 13th choices in last June's college draft to the Golden State Warriors for Robert Parish, an established center and the No. 3 pick in the draft. In light of Cowens's retirement, the trade took on added importance.
Cowens's decision did not surprise his father, Jack. "I saw Dave play Monday night in Indianapolis," Jack Cowens said by telephone from Fort Thomas, Ky., "and Dave was limping badly. He mentioned then that he was thinking of quitting."
Top Draft Choice in 1970
Cowens has since said he was basically playing with only one good leg, his left, and that his left ankle was weak. Before the Knicks played the Celtics in an exhibition game Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, Cowens, sitting in the office of a friend, estimated that he had sprained his ankle at least 30 times and that, two years ago, some doctors had told him that they were surprised he was able to play without sustaining a serious injury.
"It was purely a physical thing," said Coach Bill Fitch, in Evansville, Ind., with the Celtics for an exhibition game last night. "He could still do it offensively; he was playing hard.
"But he wasn't banging into people the way he used to. If he isn't knocking heads with someone, basketball isn't fun for him." Cowens is 31 years old. He began his pro career as the Celtics' 1970 top draft choice out of Florida State and was rookie of the year. Although only 6 feet 8 inches tall, he became one of the N.B.A.'s premier centers, using speed and aggressiveness to neutralize an opponent's height advantage. In 10 seasons, he scored 12,252 points (an 18.6 average) and grabbed 9,636 rebounds.
He said he hoped to bring that aggressiveness to coaching when he replaced Tom Sanders 14 games into the 1978-79 season. But he had problems with John Y. Brown, the former Celtic owner who is now governor of Kentucky.
Cowens quit as coach after the Celtics finished at 27-41, the club's worst record in three decades. He returned as the Celtic captain last season and helped turn around the team, which finished at 60-22, the best record in the N.B.A.
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