Today in Boston Celtics history: Near move to North Shore; Alvin Julian hired

Today in Boston Celtics history, in 1948, the team hired Alvin “Doggie” Fred Julian as their second head coach in the history of the then still-young ball club, replacing the first, John Russell. Julian came to the team after having coached at the College of the Holy Cross, the alma mater of future Hall of Fame Celtics legend Bob Cousy at the collegiate level. His time with the Celtics was short-lived, however.

Over the course of two seasons, Julian recorded a 47-81 record, which later led to his dismissal by Boston at the conclusion of his second season as head coach. Julian is one of only three coaches in the franchise's history to be hired directly from the NCAA ranks (Rick Pitino and Brad Stevens being the others). From there, Julian went on to become head coach of the Dartmouth Men's Basketball team for nearly another two decades.

Birthdays Ex-Celtic forward David Thirdkill was born today in St. Louis, Missouri in 1960. Thirdkill's NBA career ended in Boston, but he did it winning a ring with the team in 1986 while averaging 2.

8 points and 1. 3 rebounds per game with the Celtics over two seasons. Historic milestones On this date in 1982, Celtics owner Harry Mangurian met with the owners of Suffolk Downs about building a new facility on Boston's North Shore as a ploy to get their rent at Boston Garden – then as now (though in a different iteration) owned by the Boston Bruins.