On this day: former Boston Celtics center Artis Gilmore born, Bob Donham passes, Ime Udoka scandal breaks
On this day in Boston Celtics history, former Boston Celtics big man Artis Gilmore was born in the small southern town of Chipley, Florida in 1949.
Gilmore led Jacksonville University to the NCAA title game against the University of California Los Angeles in 1970. He began his professional career in the American Basketball Association with the Kentucky Colonels. He was drafted by the Chicago Bulls with the first pick of the ABA dispersal draft in 1976, which was held after the ABA’s merger with the NBA spelled the end of multiple teams.
The Colonels were one of them.
He played stints with the Bulls and San Antonio Spurs before joining the Celtics as a free agent in 1988 ahead of his final season.
Gilmore played in 47 games for Boston in the 1988-89 season, averaging 3.5 points and 3.1 rebounds per game.
It is also the date of former Celtics center Bob Donham’s passing in 1983. Born in Hammond, Indiana, in 1926, Donham was drafted out of Ohio State by the Celtics in the 1950 NBA draft.
He played four seasons with the Celtics — the whole of his NBA career — and he averaged 6.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.
Finally, it is the date that news of Celtics coach Ime Udoka’s improper relationship with a female staffer broke in 2022, setting in motion a turbulent end to Udoka’s relationship with the team.
First suspended indefinitely as then-assistant Joe Mazzulla took on the role of interim head coach just days before the Celtics’ training camp, Udoka and Boston would agree to part ways permanently later that season.
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