Walter A. Brown

For other persons of the same name, see Walter Brown.

Walter A. Brown (February 10, 1905 – September 7, 1964) was the original owner of the Boston Celtics as well as an important figure in the development of ice hockey in the United States.

[edit] Life

He was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts and attended Boston Latin from 1922 to 1923 and Philips Exeter Academy from 1923 to 1926. After succeeding his father, George V. Brown, as manager of the Boston Garden, he helped to found the Basketball Association of America in 1946, and was instrumental in merging the BAA and the National Basketball League into the National Basketball Association in 1949. He founded the Celtics in 1945, and helped to transform the team into a dynasty, as the Celtics won six championships in the seven years before his death.

Brown also played an important role in the development of hockey; he coached the amateur Boston Olympics to five Eastern Hockey League championships and guided the USA to its first gold medal in the Ice Hockey World Championships in 1933. In 1951, he bought the financially strapped Boston Bruins; he had been the Bruins' landlord since becoming the Garden's manager. He served as the president of the International Ice Hockey Federation from 1954 to 1957.

Brown was honored by having the NBA championship trophy named after him after he died in 1964. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962, and the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1965.^[1]^[2] The Boston Celtics retired uniform number "1" in Brown's honor in 1964.

Preceded by Weston Adams, Sr.	President of the Boston Bruins 1951–64	Succeeded by Weston Adams, Sr.
Preceded by Dr Fritz Kraatz	President of the IIHF 1954–57	Succeeded by John F "Bunny" Ahearne