High Above Courtside: The Lost Memoirs of Johnny Most |  | Author: Mike Carey
Publisher: Sports Publishing LLC
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 641942
Format: Illustrated
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1ST
Pages: 425
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.4
ISBN: 1582617406
Dewey Decimal Number: 796
EAN: 9781582617404
ASIN: 1582617406
Publication Date: October 1, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product 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."
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 9
A Great Read for all Die-Hard Celtic Fans June 25, 2008
J. M. Kelly
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book chronicles one of the most beloved sports figures the Boston area will ever know. Johnny Most is one of the most beloved Celtic legends and the ultimate homer. His love for his children and each individual Celtic player is evident in this easy-flowing, fascinating book.
Johnny narrates most of the book (with editor contributions and special sections authored by Red and Larry) in a well-versed, fun-to-read style which brings us more insight into the man's early days and career. The laugh-out-loud stories were priceless. His inspirational return after health issues and fatherly counseling of Celtic players add insight into the man's legendary character.
I highly recommend this book for to all New England sports fans.
JK
JOHNNY WAS THE MOST October 31, 2007
JIMMY CRACKORN (MA.)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
HE MAKES HIS MEMOIRS COME ALIVE. HE WAS A FANTASTIC PERSONALITY AND THE GREATEST BASKETBALL ANNOUNCER EVER. LOOK WHAT HE HAD TO WORK WITH. THE CELTICS AND ALL THOSE CHAMPIONSHIPS.
I WISH HE WERE STILL ALIVE. THIS BOOK IS GREAT. BUY IT FOR YOUR PERSONAL LIBRARY.
 Good, but.... May 3, 2005
Jerry Graff (Thornton, Colorado United States)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Overall, this is a worthwhile book for Celtics fans to buy. The epilog from Larry Bird alone makes it that.
Overall, Johnny told a lot of good stories and had good detail on his years with Boston. There were a couple of problems I had, however:
Namely, there were a lot of long quotes by players allegedly "told" to Johnny, and it was clear that they almost certainly never said them. I mean, was Johnny's memory that good, where he could recite word-for-word long passages said to him 20 years earlier?
It would have been a better book if he had just paraphrased what he thought they told him, instead of long, ridiculously formalized passages.
I'm a professional sports writer, and I can tell you athletes don't normally talk the way they are quoted in Johnny's book.
But still, there are a lot of good inside stories for C's fans. The back-and-forth ribbing between Bird and Rick Robey was something I didn't know, and there are a lot of good insights from players about Johnny himself. Robert Parish recouting Johnny's penchant for call girls, for instance.
I went to Johnny's basketball camp as a 12-year-old in Nashua, N.H., and he was very nice to all us kids. In fact, he did something nice for me; for some reason, I was getting picked on severely by a couple of older kids, to the point where I was crying and afraid to go anywhere. It was brutal. I mean, just out of the blue, these guys were making my life miserable.
So, I went to Johnny about it. I felt like a wuss in some ways, but they were a lot bigger and older than I was, and I just felt scared. I went to Johnny one night as he was sitting alone in the kitchen watching a rerun of "Hawaii 5-O" on a little black and white TV set.
I explained my problem, and was very concerned and sincere. A few minutes later, Johnny came into the room where all the boys had bunks and addressed it only for a minute. I can't remember the exact words he said, but it was something about how he can't stand an unfair fight, which was something he learned in the military.
And that was it. But it was enough to get the bullies off my ass, and I was grateful to him.
So, here's to you Johnny. Rest in peace, high above courtside.
A clock radio in a time capsule November 30, 2004
Shawn Mccullion (Nashua, NH)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
In the early 80's, all my friends had state-of-the-art electronic equipment for their listening pleasure. My friend Ty had a boom-box the size of a suitcase. Scott had the first walkman of our group. Dave had a massive stereo system in his bedroom, much to the dismay of the rest of his neighborhood and, later on in the 80's, Joe's family bought a CD player.
I personally could have cared less about music in those days. My "entertainment system" was a chocolate brown clock radio which the time was illuminated by an orange hue and the minute tiles flipped down every 60 seconds.
I don't even remember if the radio had an FM dial. I am, however, quite certain that WBZ 1030, the flagship station of the Boston Celtics, could be heard.
And the voice of the Celtics, Johnny Most, put me to sleep 82 times a year.
"High Above Courtside: The Lost Memoirs of Johnny Most" is a treasure for anyone else who grew up a basketball fan in New England. Published over 10 years after his death, Most chronologically recounts his early days in broadcasting and ultimately his personal experiences with the 16 NBA championships he called throughout the years.
Since his death in 1993, the Celtic organization, and the scope of the NBA has changed dramatically. Most's writing brings the reader back to the days when basketball was played the right way. He tells inside stories of every Celtic legend. There are lockerroom, hotel and plane ride adventures that only Most would know and find humorous enough to write about. And every one of the stories are terrific.
Johnny Most was clearly a talented man. His writing is spectacular. I laughed out loud many times the way he recounted stories, like the day his pants caught fire from a lit cigarette...while he was on air.
Most was a smart, witty, "homer" whose us-against-the-world attitude had millions of Celtic fans fired up to listen to him. His use of the English language was flawless. And his cantankerous demeanor toward referees and opposing players was priceless. Because of Johnny Most, I still call Isiah Thomas "Little Lord Fauntleroy". When Rick Mahorn flew into the stands during the Pistons/Pacer brawl, New Englanders immediately found the irony in "McNasty" being the peacemaker.
The book is a time capsule. Why it was not published before his death or sometime in the last ten years is beyond me. True, "High Above Courtside: The Lost Memoirs of Johnny Most", is an autobiography, but it's also a biography of the greatest franchise in professional sports history: the Boston Celtics.
It is a perfect Christmas gift for anyone who fell asleep to the scratchy, cigarette damaged, loud, surly, obnoxious yet soothing voice of New England legend Johnny Most.
Reminiscences of The Ultimate Boston Celtics Fan! April 27, 2004
Professor Donald Mitchell (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 93,000 Helpful Votes Globally)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
No one ever cared as much about the Boston Celtics as did Johnny Most, the radio voice of the Celtics for 37 years including their 16 championship seasons. To him, no one in the green and white ever made a mistake. No opposing player failed to be a "bum" who was "mugging" the Celtics. The referees were all suspect . . . especially Jake O'Donnell. His rants anticipated the development of that form of entertainment, and came equipped in four different voices . . . depending on how outraged he was. Humor was always interceding as Johnny was known to get into brawls with fans, light himself on fire while smoking, insult the security guards who tried to get him to stop smoking, and told one revealing personal story after another that would leave us in stitches. But we never laughed at the man . . . but with him . . . because we knew he loved the Celtics. Like almost everyone who loved the Celtics, I usually listened to his broadcasts on the radio even when watching the games on television (with the sound off). I would turn on the radio to hear the post-game show whenever I left a home game. My eye would often sweep up to see what antics he was up to while attending a game. Basketball broadcasting hasn't been the same since Johnny left the field. Tommy Heinsohn is the closest we have now, but he's not the total fan (atic) that Johnny was. The book is remarkable in many ways. It fills in the gaps in Johnny's story -- as a World War II hero, as someone learning to be a broadcaster in New York, as a New York-born Jew suffering from discrimination, as a loving father of four, a good friend to everyone on the Celtics, a hilarious (but challenging) companion during road trips, a patient recovering from a stroke, and a man keeping his dignity during his final illnesses. Almost every page has an insider's story about one or more of the Celtics or other basketball insiders which I had never heard or read before. The stories are mostly heart-warming and are often quite funny as we find out more about the pranks that were pulled and by whom. Within those stories are subtle observations about why the various Celtics teams prospered or did not. Former owner John Y. Brown (who was widely despised in Boston) would do well to avoid this book. While most autobiographies build the person up at the expense of others, the comments by many of the Celtics greats at the end seem to suggest that Johnny's comments actually understate his significance to the team, the franchise and to them personally. One of the most fun parts of the book is where Johnny picks his top 15 opposing players (done before the full development of Michael Jordan because this book was begun many years ago while Johnny's health began to fail). The only thing missing from this book is a CD of Johnny calling some of the most famous moments in Celtics history. But if you've ever heard his voice, you can hear him as you read his words. Johnny may be famous for screaming, "Havlicek stole the ball," but in this autobiography "Most stole the scene." Keep cheering, Johnny, wherever you are!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 9
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