Re: John Y. Brown

[Bob Miller <bob@pointofchoice.com>]

>Red almost took a position with the Washington Bullets.  One other tidbit.
>did you know that other than his infamous reign with the Celtics, his
>other titles included Govenor of the State of Kentucky?!

It was the Knicks who almost lured Red away. John Y. at one point was the
owner of KFC. They actually named a highway in KY after him. (Money buys a
lot of things.) Bostonians called him Y (Why) John Brown because of his
many bonehead moves.

>I heard a rumor once that the Braves and the Celts traded their entire
>teams... except Havlicek (or was it Cowens?) to each other just on a whim.
>Is this true? I always considered the source and thought... No way!!!

In 1978, the owner of the C's, the hated Don Levin, a Californian, wanted
to have a team on the West Coast (there were some rumors he would move the
C's there). John Y., owner of the Braves, was losing money in Buffalo. They
basically "traded" teams. Levin took over the Braves and moved them to San
Diego, where they were renamed the Clippers.

As part of the exchange of ownership, they also swapped a bunch of players.
The C's got Nate Archibald, Billy Knight, Marvin Barnes, and two future
picks. San Diego got Freeman Williams (the C's first pick in the 1978
draft), backup center Kevin Kunnert, and forwards Kermit Washington and
Sidney Wicks.