On this day in Boston Celtics history, point guard John Bagley re-signed with the team in free agency. Bagley played his collegiate basketball at Boston College and was selected with the 12th overall pick of the 1982 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
He would play for that club and the (then) New Jersey (now Brooklyn) Nets before the Nets would trade the Bridgeport native to the Celtics in 1989 for draft assets and cash. After his first campaign with the team, tendonitis and a subsequent surgery kept Bagley sidelined for the entire 1990-91 season, and his rehabilitation stretched beyond his contract into the following season.
The Celtics signed him in December of 1992 once he was ready to return to action.
Boston Celtics guard John Bagley (5) tries to knock the ball from the hands of Miami Heat guards Steve Smith (3) in the first half of Saturday, December 21, 1991 game between the two teams at Miami Arena. The Heat defeated the Celtics 112-101. (AP Photo/ Kathy Willens)
He would only end up playing another 10 games for the franchise.
The Connecticut native would log 5.7 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game while with the Boston Celtics.
It was also on this date that the Celtics pulled down more rebounds than in any other game in their franchise’s history — and in one of their highest-scoring games as well.
The feat came in a 150-106 obliteration of the Detroit Pistons in 1960, which saw Boston nab 109 boards in a single game.
Jack Nichols’ championship team (Wikipedia/public domain)
Finally, it was also the day that Celtics forward Jack Nichols left us in 1992.
Born in 1926, Nichols attended both the University of Washington and the University of Southern California before being drafted by the now-defunct Washington Capitols.
Fort Wayne forward George Yardley, (12) slips through Boston Celtics’ to score two points on a layup shot in first quarter of second game of pro doubleheader at Madison Square Garden in New York, March 1, 1955. Celtics are Jack Nichols, (16) partly hidden Frank Ramsey, (23) and Bob Brannum, (18) (AP Photo/John Lindsay)
After stints there and with the Tri-Cities Blackhawks/Milwaukee (now, Atlanta) Hawks, Nichols reunited with former Capitols coach Red Auerbach on the Celtics.
He averaged 8.7 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game over the five seasons he played for Boston before retiring.
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Story originally appeared on Celtics Wire