Johnny Most - Hall of Fame

[Alleyoopster]

About a week ago I was half watching the game and doing some work at the same time.  I thought I heard Tommy Heinsohn say Johnny Most should be in the Basketball Hall of Fame.  And, there should be a movement in that direction.  Did I hear that right.  Or, did I miss something?
 
The following Wiki link has him getting the Curt Gowdy Media Award presented by the Trustees of the Hall of Fame.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Most

If I heard Tommy right I think he has a point.  Personally, I feel Johnny was the greatest Celtic of all time. And, a major reason why they are so popular today. Sure, the Championships, Bill Russell, Red, Larry, ect. played a big role, but Johnny had a way of announcing/dramatizing a game in a way that reached your soul.   

[guava_wrench]

About a week ago I was half watching the game and doing some work at the same time.  I thought I heard Tommy Heinsohn say Johnny Most should be in the Basketball Hall of Fame.  And, there should be a movement in that direction.  Did I hear that right.  Or, did I miss something?
 
The following Wiki link has him getting the Curt Gowdy Media Award presented by the Trustees of the Hall of Fame.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Most

If I heard Tommy right I think he has a point.  Personally, I feel Johnny was the greatest Celtic of all time. And, a major reason why they are so popular today. Sure, the Championships, Bill Russell, Red, Larry, ect. played a big role, but Johnny had a way of announcing/dramatizing a game in a way that reached your soul.   

I don't know what criteria they use on such things, but once thing he has going for him is his voice on some of the most famous plays in NBA history.

[Bahku]

As GW said, I'm not sure on the criteria they use, but he certainly did a lot for the City of Boston, the Celtic franchise, and the NBA as a whole, (do they have a broadcasting sub-category?). He made the game so exciting, that whenever we watched games back then, we would turn the sound on the TV off, and tune Johnny in on the radio. I would certainly support such a movement ... Johnny was the "Voice of the Celtics."

[Fafnir]

Chick Hearn is in, I imagine eventually Johnny Most will be. Who knows though, the Celtics have so many HoF players it seems to be harder to get in guys who are primarily known as Celtics in.

[footey]

For guys my age (50's), Johnny Most made us Celtic fans.  Blow by blow, he described a game for radio with a level of excitement and theater that to this day is unmatched.  He is a legend not just for Boston sports, but for the NBA.  Definitely should get in to the HOF.

[thirstyboots18]

Chick Hearn is in, I imagine eventually Johnny Most will be. Who knows though, the Celtics have so many HoF players it seems to be harder to get in guys who are primarily known as Celtics in.

Johnny is in as a recipient of the Curt Gowdy award.  I believe there are different categories to be entered....player, coach, contributor and media...not sure how many, and I know there has been controversy over the overlap of categories...who belongs in what...and I have no idea which categories demand more respect than others. 

[Fafnir]

Chick Hearn is in, I imagine eventually Johnny Most will be. Who knows though, the Celtics have so many HoF players it seems to be harder to get in guys who are primarily known as Celtics in.

Johnny is in as a recipient of the Curt Gowdy award.  I believe there are different categories to be entered....player, coach, contributor and media...not sure how many, and I know there has been controversy over the overlap of categories...who belongs in what...and I have no idea which categories demand more respect than others. 

Chick Hearn has been inducted as a full member, as well as having won the Curt Gowdy award, of the HoF however, I'm not familiar with him enough to say whether or not he's done "more" than Johnny Most.

[thirstyboots18]

Chick Hearn is in, I imagine eventually Johnny Most will be. Who knows though, the Celtics have so many HoF players it seems to be harder to get in guys who are primarily known as Celtics in.

Johnny is in as a recipient of the Curt Gowdy award.  I believe there are different categories to be entered....player, coach, contributor and media...not sure how many, and I know there has been controversy over the overlap of categories...who belongs in what...and I have no idea which categories demand more respect than others. 

Chick Hearn has been inducted as a full member, as well as having won the Curt Gowdy award, of the HoF however, I'm not familiar with him enough to say whether or not he's done "more" than Johnny Most.

Do you know what category Hearn was inducted in?  I would support a petition to have Johnny inshrined as a full member. 

Another question, do you know if Johnny's microphone was relocated to the TD North Garden when the old Boston Garden was torn down?  He should, at the very least, still be high above the floor!

[Fafnir]

Chick Hearn is in, I imagine eventually Johnny Most will be. Who knows though, the Celtics have so many HoF players it seems to be harder to get in guys who are primarily known as Celtics in.

Johnny is in as a recipient of the Curt Gowdy award.  I believe there are different categories to be entered....player, coach, contributor and media...not sure how many, and I know there has been controversy over the overlap of categories...who belongs in what...and I have no idea which categories demand more respect than others. 

Chick Hearn has been inducted as a full member, as well as having won the Curt Gowdy award, of the HoF however, I'm not familiar with him enough to say whether or not he's done "more" than Johnny Most.

Do you know what category Hearn was inducted in?  I would support a petition to have Johnny inshrined as a full member. 

Another question, do you know if Johnny's microphone was relocated to the TD North Garden when the old Boston Garden was torn down?  He should, at the very least, still be high above the floor!

He was inducted in 2003 as a contributor.

[thirstyboots18]

I think Johnny has done at least as much as Jackie McMullen to spread the Celtics mystique(taking nothing away from Jackie,and her award may be for the "print" media) and I also think it is a travesty that he is not a full member.  I'm so uninformed that I thought the Gowdy award made him a member.

[Celtics4ever]

Chick is in, Johnny should be in.  Thorpe won't ever be in, Tommy already is in.

[Alleyoopster]

Why don't we start a movement to have Johnny Most inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.  Thirstyboots18 said he would support a petition to have Johnny enshrined as a full member.  I'm all for that and willing to get the process started.   

If we all work together we can get this done.  Most likely (no pun intended) someone else would eventually pick up the ball and take it a higher level. But, the process has to start somewhere.  Let's do it!!!

If anyone is interested in helping out please feel free to respond and/or help if you can.

From reading the previous posts it seems more research is needed before going much further.  Some questions that might be worth looking into are as follows.

1. How did Chick Hearn get in?
2. What process did LA use to get him in?
3. Can we find out who these original sponsors were and can they be contacted to find out how they did it?
4. Is it possible for Johnny to get into the Hall within the latest entry rules?  In other words did they change the rules after Chick got in that would now make him inelgible?

5. IS there a contact person at the Hall who might have the answers? 
6. Are there any CelticBlog members willing to make phone calls, send emails and do web searches to find out some of this information? (If so, please write back.)
7. Can anyone offer suggestions as to how we could work together on this project?  These postings might be a great start.  I'm not sure thoughit would be a good venue in the long run.
8. Since Tommy Heinsohn brought this up, could he be contacted by anyone in this group?  Maybe he'd be willing to be a spokesman for the cause. 
9. How about requesting help from within the Celtic organization? 
10. Does anyone in this group friends with any of the Celtics owners? If so, would you be willing to ask them if they'd be interested  promoting his induction? 

These questions are hopefully just a start to getting Johnny inducted.  If anyone has any other ideas feel free to post. Or, better still, help out by offering to do some of the leg work.

[tenn_smoothie]

i loved johnny most - as a teenager, i used to listen to Celtic games down here in knoxville on WBZ radio, which could be picked up pretty well at nite - my mom used to talk about hearing that distinctive voice from my room late at nite.

i finally got to meet Mr. Most in the Omni in atlanta in the late 70's when i went down there to see the Celts play the Hawks.

he was so distinctive in his style, which i'm betting wouldn't fly today in journalism school - all these guys today strive to be so perfect that they end up all sounding the same - the stepford announcers.

"Now here's JoJo, over on the right, he fiddles & diddles, out top to Havlicek, Bang" !!!