Bob Cousy

There seems to be one pivotal moment or incident for most professional athletes, that time from which they can pinpoint their rise into greatness. Cousy is no exception. In what seems like the biography of a superhero, one afternoon when Cousy was thirteen, he fell from a tree and broke his right arm. Never dissuaded after being cut from the high school team, he still practiced daily. Since he was right-handed, he learned to dribble and shoot with his left. That season, when coach Lou Grummond saw Cousy played equally as well with either hand, he asked him to come back on the team—the high school team lacked a guard who could make important plays, and Cousy, able now to go either way and confuse opponents, fit the bill.

His rise to prominence happened quickly. In only a year and a half on the varsity squad, Cousy became something of a local celebrity. As a senior, he won the city scoring championship and helped lead his team to one of their best seasons.