This question has been posed on here before, and here's what was said:
Tommy awarded his first Tommy Point on March,13 2002,...Tony Battie(4),Walter McCarty(3),Eric Williams(2),Kenny Anderson(3),Rodney Rodgers(2),Eric Strickland(2) were the first 6 recipients.
http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?topic=23907.msg384956#msg384956
I'm not sure if that list is in order, but if it is, it looks like Tony Battie was the first recipient.
You rang...the site i found the info never said which player received the 1st but the amounts in order...however,it told that Vitaly Potapenko recieved the 1st Tommy Award on March 13th,2002.
Here's a link that agrees it was Vitaly:
http://www.csnne.com/wickedgoodsports/celtics/mikes-mailbag-december-4/
Mike Gorman is a reliable source, right? 
But could there be a mix up or confusion? In the quote Bobby asks who got the first Tommy
Point, but Mike answers Vitaly got the first Tommy
Award. The Tommy Point and Tommy Award are two different things.
Mike totally sidestepped the question in a blatant attempt to pump up Vitaly in Celtics history. We all know Mike was a Vitaly lover. I wouldn't be surprised is someone updates Vitaly's wikipedia page to read this too, because once it's in wikipedia it might as well be written in stone. I'm so sick of this media propoganda and trying to rewrite the history books
I love how much I'm reading into such a trival thing
From: Bobby
Boston
Mike,
Who was the first recipient of a Tommy Point from Mr. Tommy Heisohn. I say it was Tony Battie in March 2002, but a friend of mine said it was Eric Williams. Which one of us is correct, if any one of us is? I got a lunch riding on this. Should I pay up or eat up Mike. If anyone could answer this question, I’m sure you can. Please send me to lunch soon.
Mike: According to my research guys Vitaly Potapenko won the fist Tommy award so it looks like it’s dutch treat for lunch.
