num_pages: 425
description: A legendary NBA pioneer and one of the game's most intriguing characters, Johnny Most was the Boston Celtics' play- by-play radio broadcaster for all 16 of the team's championships and 37 years overall. His autobiography is the ultimate insider's in-depth look at the personalities of the players and coaches who contributed to "Celtics Pride." Most's numerous famous, shrill, almost ear-piercing calls, including pro basketball's most memorable moment when "Havlicek stole the ball," are still frequently used to introduce national TV games. Johnny Most's career began as a struggle. A World War II hero, he spent several frustrating years "pounding the pavements" in search of work before landing bit parts on soap operas. He served as a quiz show stand-in, accepted one-line roles in the United Nations' "FM Playhouse" and then served as an assistant program director for tiny Oil City, Pennsylvania's only radio station, where he was the DJ, newscaster, and sports reporter. (He was fired from that job for slugging the station's owner.) Johnny Most, as one referee said, "could cause a riot at a High Mass" with his emotional, pro-Celtic descriptions. He turned shoving matches into "bloodbaths" and minor fouls into "vicious muggings." As Boston's recently appointed director of basketball operations Danny Ainge said, "I always believed we had thirteen guys on the active roster--twelve wore uniforms and the thirteenth--Johnny Most--was high above courtside."
language: English
title: High Above Courtside: The Lost Memoirs of Johnny Most
titlecomplete: High Above Courtside: The Lost Memoirs of Johnny Most
ratings_count: 14
publisher: Sports Publishing LLC