John Havlicek

Born

April 8, 1940, Martins Ferry (Belmont County) source

Died

April 25, 2019, Jupiter, Florida source

Also known as

John Havlicek, Hondo

Known as

Sports

John Havlicek was born in Martins Ferry in 1940 to parents who ran a general store, and he grew up in the Ohio Valley alongside his boyhood friend Phil Niekro. At Bridgeport High School he was quarterback and captain in football, hit over .440 in baseball and averaged more than 30 points a game in basketball, earning All-Ohio honours in all three sports as a senior. At Ohio State he roomed with Jerry Lucas, and the Buckeyes won the 1960 NCAA title, three Big Ten titles and 78 of 84 games; he was captain and an All-American in 1962. Drafted by the Boston Celtics, the Cleveland Pipers and the Cleveland Browns, he was the Browns' last cut in training camp, then spent 16 seasons with the Celtics, winning eight championships, the 1974 Finals MVP award and 13 All-Star selections, and making the steal Johnny Most immortalised in 1965. Bridgeport High named its gymnasium for him in 2007, and after his death in 2019 his hometown held a memorial service there.

• Martins Ferry (1940)
  birthplace; his parents ran a general store Belmont County · source
• Bridgeport High School, Bridgeport (to 1958)
  three-sport star; All-Ohio in football, baseball and basketball as a senior; school record 53 points against Cadiz Belmont County · source
• Ohio State University, Columbus (1958-1962)
  forward and 1962 captain; 1960 NCAA champion; played freshman football under Woody Hayes Franklin County · source
• Cleveland Browns (training camp) (1962)
  drafted by the Browns and tried out as a wide receiver; the last player cut source
• Bridgeport High School, Bridgeport (2007, 2019)
  gymnasium named John J. Havlicek Gymnasium in 2007; site of his hometown memorial service in August 2019 Belmont County · source

1. 1940 Born April 8 in Martins Ferry. source
2. 1956-57 As a junior at Bridgeport scored a school-record 53 points in a 103-101 overtime win over Cadiz. source
3. 1958 Named All-State in basketball for Bridgeport. source
4. 1958 Finished at Bridgeport with 1,594 points in 59 games, All-Ohio honours in football, baseball and basketball, and a place in the Ohio North-South All-Star game with Jerry Lucas. source
5. 1960 Ohio State won the NCAA championship with Havlicek, Jerry Lucas, Larry Siegfried and Bob Knight; he was an alternate for the U.S. Olympic team. source
6. 1961 Made all nine of his field-goal attempts against Michigan, still one of Ohio State's best shooting games. source
7. 1962 Captained Ohio State to its third straight NCAA final and was a consensus second-team All-American; drafted by the Celtics, the ABL Cleveland Pipers and the NFL Cleveland Browns. source
8. 1962 Was the last player cut from the Browns' training camp, losing out to Gary Collins, and joined the Celtics. source
9. 1965 Stole Hal Greer's inbound pass in the final seconds of Game 7 of the Eastern finals against Philadelphia, prompting Johnny Most's call 'Havlicek stole the ball!' source
10. 1974 Named NBA Finals MVP as the Celtics won the title. source
11. 1977 Inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame. source
12. 1978 Retired after 16 seasons and 26,395 points, the first player to score 1,000 points in 16 straight seasons; the Celtics retired No. 17. source
13. 1984 Enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on April 30. source
14. 2005 Ohio State retired his No. 5 on February 27. source
15. 2006 Inducted in the charter class of the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame. source
16. 2007 Bridgeport High School renamed its gymnasium the John J. Havlicek Gymnasium. source
17. 2019 Died April 25 in Jupiter, Florida, at 79, after several years with Parkinson's disease. source
18. 2019 About 150 people attended a memorial service in the Havlicek Gymnasium on August 16; the school announced a John Havlicek Memorial Scholarship and new 'Hondo' home uniforms. source
19. 2022 The NBA named its redesigned Sixth Man of the Year trophy the John Havlicek Trophy. source

• John J. Havlicek Gymnasium, Bridgeport High School (Bridgeport, Belmont County) source
• John Havlicek Memorial Scholarship, Bridgeport schools (Bridgeport, Belmont County) source
• John Havlicek Trophy, NBA Sixth Man of the Year award source

• Born: Martins Ferry, Belmont County Martins Ferry · Belmont County
• Connected: Martins Ferry, Belmont County Martins Ferry · Belmont County
• Connected: Bridgeport High School, Belmont County Belmont County
• Connected: Ohio State University, Franklin County Franklin County
• Connected: Bridgeport High School, Belmont County Belmont County

• Ohio State mourns the passing of John Havlicek (Ohio State Athletics release, April 26, 2019) 2019, Ohio State University Athletics
• Havlicek lived his life the right way (Times Leader, Martins Ferry, August 18, 2019), report of the Bridgeport memorial service 2019, The Times Leader

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Havlicek
• https://www.hoophall.com/hall-of-famers/john-havlicek/
• https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/news/2019/4/26/ohio-state-mourns-the-passing-of-john-havlicek
• https://ohiobasketballhalloffame.com/hall-of-fame/inductees/2006/john-havlicek.html
• https://www.timesleaderonline.com/sports/local-sports/2019/08/havlicek-lived-his-life-the-right-way/
• https://www.npr.org/2019/04/26/717376099/boston-celtics-great-and-hall-of-famer-john-havlicek-dies-at-79
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/search?firstname=John&lastname=Havlicek
• https://ohsaa.org/Portals/0/Sports/Basketball-Boys/BBKAllTimeStateTournamentResults.pdf
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeport_High_School_(Bridgeport,_Ohio)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martins_Ferry,_Ohio
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John_Arena
• https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Havlicek_ohiostate_photo.jpg
• https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Havlicek_ohiostate_v_kentucky_1961.jpg
• https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:President_John_F._Kennedy_Greets_the_Boston_Celtics.jpg
• https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frank_Truitt_with_John_Havlicek_and_Bob_Knight_-_2010.JPG

Every link goes to the original source. Profile researched 2026-10-15.

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