Hearing All These Stories About Tommy Heinsohn Shows You What A Legend He Really Was

Jennifer Pottheiser. Getty Images.

I think it goes without saying that every Celtics fan is sad today. We lost an icon, someone who loved this team more than you love anything in your life. So even though we've blogged the Tommy news, I wanted to follow up on that with this blog that includes a bunch of people associated with the team sharing their own Tommy stories. While the news of Tommy's passing cut us all to our core, hearing all these stories did put a smile on my face. There just really wasn't anyone like Tommy and they're never will be. 

Even though the majority of us never met Tommy, it certainly felt like we were family. I mean think about it. Every single night during the season for basically my entire life, Tommy was on my TV. From my earliest memories to now being 33. He molded all of our Celtics fandom. That's pretty rare. How many other fanbases have that sort of connection with a broadcaster? But that's the thing, Tommy was more than just a broadcaster. He was my generation's introduction into what it meant to root for this team. That is no bullshit. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a Celtics fan that doesn't feel that way. So even without ever meeting him, I know Tommy. You know Tommy. He's part of every single person reading this blog that grew up a fan of this team. You combine that with some stories from people that actually knew and interacted with him and you see he was even better than you thought.

(that one broke my goddamn heart)

RIPIP Tommy. I miss you already.