Richard L. Weitzman (born April 30, 1946) is an American former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player, scout, coach, and color commentator. He was a member of the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

team that won the

1968 NBA Finals The 1968 NBA World Championship Series pitted the Boston Celtics from the East, against the Los Angeles Lakers from the West, for the sixth time in ten years. The Celtics won their tenth NBA Championship in twelve seasons, by defeating the Lake ...

Biography

Weitzman played high school basketball in

Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, in the United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton, A ...

, then played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Northeastern Huskies The Northeastern Huskies are the athletic teams representing Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. They compete in thirteen varsity team sports: men's and women's hockey (in Hockey East); men's baseball, men's and women's basketball, ...

. He also played in the 1966 Pan American

Maccabiah Games The Maccabiah Games (a.k.a. the World Maccabiah Games; he, משחקי המכביה, or משחקי המכביה העולמית; sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Olympics"), first held in 1932, are an international Jewish and Israeli multi-sp ...

in Brazil, with Barry Liebowitz,

Dave Newmark David L. "Dave" Newmark (born September 11, 1946) is an American former professional basketball player. Biography Born in Brooklyn, New York, Newmark is Jewish, and graduated from Lincoln High School in New York City. He was a high school All-A ...

and

Mark Turenshine Mark Turenshine (also spelled "Torenshine"; מרק טורנשיין; December 20, 1944 – February 26, 2016) was an American-Israeli basketball player. He played for Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Israel Basketball Premier League from 1969 to 1977, and f ...

, among others. He was selected by the

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA) in the

1967 NBA draft The 1967 NBA draft was the 21st annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 3 and 4, 1967 before the 1967–68 season. In this draft, 12 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball play ...

. A

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

, Weitzman played one season ( 1967–68) in the NBA as a member of the Celtics. He averaged 1.3

points per game Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a player per game played in a sport, over the course of a series of games, a whole season, or a career. It is calculated by dividing the total number of points by nu ...

and won a championship ring when the Celtics defeated the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

in the

. He scored the final two points in the sixth and final game of the championship series against the Lakers. After being released by the Celtics, Weitzman later played about 20 games for the New Haven Elms of the

Eastern Professional Basketball League The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball mi ...

during the 1968–69 season, and played for the North End team in the Boston Neighborhood Basketball Association (BNBA). Weitzman went on to teach English at Peabody High School in Massachusetts for 13 years, and coached the school's basketball team during the 1970s. He spent two years as a

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and t ...

for Celtics radio broadcasts in the early 1980s, working with

Johnny Most John M. Most (June 15, 1923 – January 3, 1993) was an American sports announcer, known primarily as the raspy radio voice of the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association from 1953 to 1990. Most's radio call during the final momen ...

. He also worked as a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

for the Celtics, where he spent 13 years and became the team's head scout, until being dismissed in 1997 when

Rick Pitino Richard Andrew Pitino (born September 18, 1952) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach for Iona College. He was also the head coach of Greece's senior national team. He has been the head coach of several teams in NCAA D ...

was hired as head coach and general manager. Weitzman later had personnel roles with the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

and

Charlotte Bobcats Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populous ...

. One of his final jobs before retiring was serving as an assistant basketball coach for the

UMass Boston Beacons The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a public research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Massac ...

. Weitzman has been inducted to the athletic halls of fame at Brookline and Peabody high schools and Northeastern University. He and his wife, Carol, have two daughters.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Weitzman, Rick 1946 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Massachusetts Boston Celtics draft picks Boston Celtics players Boston Celtics announcers Boston Celtics scouts Brookline High School alumni New Haven Elms players Northeastern Huskies men's basketball players Shooting guards Sportspeople from Brookline, Massachusetts High school basketball coaches in Massachusetts American radio sports announcers

Biography

References

Further reading

External links