Biography

Crusader Legends: Bob Cousy (video interview, November 2009)

Bob Cousy arrived on the Holy Cross campus in the fall of 1946, fresh off an oustanding high school career at Andrew Jackson High in New York City. And while he would eventually be know as one of the the greatest players in the history of professional basketball, he first spent four seasons becoming a collegiate legend as a Crusader.

Just a freshman during Holy Cross’ NCAA Championship season of 1947, Cousy was the team’s third leading scorer behind George Kaftan and Dermott O’Connell. His final three years saw him lead the Crusaders in scoring each time, setting the single-season scoring mark as a sophomore and then breaking it as a senior. He graduated as the college’s all-time leading scorer. He was a first-team All-American in each of his final three seasons -- the only Crusader to earn such honors three times.

Considered to be one of the best playmakers of all time, Cousy unfortunately played in a collegiate era when assists were not kept as an official statistic. In fact, the NCAA began tracking assist totals in 1951 -- the year after Cousy graduated from Holy Cross.
Graduation from Holy Cross was just the beginning of Cousy’s basketball career, as he joins Tom Heinsohn as one of just two Crusader players in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

The NBA Most Valuable Player in 1957, Cousy played in 13 consecutive NBA All-Star games, was a first team All-NBA selection in 10 straight years, and led the NBA in assists for eight seasons in a row. He won six NBA titles while with the Celtics.

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
Freshman Year (1946-47): Was one of just four Crusaders to play in all 30 games... Was third on the team in scoring with 227 points.

Sophomore Year (1947-48): Despite playing alongside the college’s reigning all-time leading scorer in George Kaftan, Cousy scored 486 points -- the most-ever by a Crusader in a single season at that time...Earned first team All-America honors... Scored 28 points in a game against St. Anselm, the second highest single-game total in school history at the time.

Junior Year (1948-49): Scored 480 points, just six shy of his own school mark set the previous year... Earned first team All-America honors for the second straight year.

Senior Year (1949-50): Set a new school record for points in a season with 582, thus finishing his career with the top three individual scoring seasons in HC history to that point... Set a new school record with 34 points against Boston College on January 7... and then broke the record again by scoring 36 points against Colgate one month later...He led the Crusaders back to the NCAAs in his final season, and once again earned first team All-America honors.