Fan Friday: Eric DeWolfe

Thanks for reading Red’s Army “Fan Friday,” the weekly feature that introduces you to Celtics fans from all around the globe. If you’d like to nominate someone to be featured – including yourself – please email us at [email protected]. Provide the person’s contact info and some brief details about the fan’s background as a member of Celtics Nation.

This week we feature Eric DeWolfe, who was born in Lowell, Mass., and raised in Rockport, Texas. You can follow him on Twitter at @dewolfe24. The photo above shows Eric, right, with his nephew, Jason, visiting the Red Auerbach statue in Boston.

Besides being a lifelong Cs fan, Eric has written a book that recalls his neighborhood and streetball team: How the Ball Bounces: The History of the Rockport Celtics. “It follows us over the years since 1988,” says Eric, “how we have become men from kids. Some have died, some in prison. It is a coming-of-age story and, of course, I named the team the Rockport Celtics.”

How he became a Celtics fan:

I have followed the Celtics since 1980. In South Texas with no cable TV at the time, it was very hard to hear anything about the NBA outside of in the newspaper. I read mostly about this young guy named Larry Bird and how he was bringing back the winning tradition to the Boston Celtics. Since I was born in Massachusetts, I always rooted for the Red Sox, Bruins and Pats. But the NBA was not where it is now. I remember going out after game 6 in the 1981 finals and riding my bike around our neighborhood and cheering out loud. I did the same in ’84 and ’86.

Since that time 37 years ago I have bled green. I love all the teams from Mass., but there are none that compare to the Celtics. There really is nothing outside of my family and faith that I love as much as the Celtics. As a teacher, I have mostly had to go through hell from kids who ran with MJ, then Kobe and Shaq, Lebron, etc. But I am a team fan, not a player fan. Once you leave, you’re the enemy. Once you come to the team, you are family.

His favorite player:

Larry Bird. He gave us so many memories. The amount of love and hustle he had for the game is what I remember. Also how he always made those around him better. He was a team player.

Side story: As a goof, I called information in the late ’80s and asked for Georgia Bird, French Lick, and got a phone number. I wrote it down and just stared at it. I eventually told my mom and went to school. Later, after I got back from school, my mom said she knew how much I idolized Larry, so she called Georgia and explained how much her son (me) looked up to Larry. They talked for a good three hours. Two moms who adored their sons. I didn’t know if I should believe it or not – until an envelope arrived a couple weeks later from French Lick. I opened it and inside was an autographed 8×10 from Larry to me. It was true and did happen. That picture stayed at my mom’s as I got older until she passed in 2007. It is now in my home along with all the other Celtics memorabilia that I have accumulated.

Best Celtics moments and games:

There are sooo many. Here are three.

• Eastern Conference Finals, 1987, Game 5. Bird to DJ. Magical moment. I had felt sick to my stomach as the ball went off of us by a great play by Rick Mahorn. I remember watching it live in my bedroom, and the girl I was dating (who was from Michigan) was laughing (on the phone) that it was now over having to go back to Detroit for Game 6. She hung up. The steal occurred, DJ scored and I went crazy. Five minutes later there was a knock on the door, and my girlfriend was grinning from ear to ear. She was still under the impression we had lost and had come over to rub it in. I answered with a huge smile, heart pounding. She asked why and I told her. When she saw the score on the TV, she turned and walked out. She wouldn’t talk to me for a couple days.

• We took a trip back home to Mass. to visit family in the summer of 1988. We had just been knocked out of the playoffs by the Pistons. My dad knew I had always wanted to see the Boston Garden. We took a train up to Boston, and when we arrived, the Garden was just being locked up. My dad, who lived through the great depression in Newton, Mass., and was a WWII vet, was not going to take “no” as an answer. He found out there had just been a bible meeting in the Garden [Editor’s note: the building was sometimes rented to church groups], so he went up to a different worker and explained how we had “forgotten” our bibles inside. They opened it up and we entered under the scoreboard and walked into the actual Garden. It was a magical moment: no other people were there, just me and my dad and the banners. Luckily, the floor was still down. My dad told me to go out on the floor. I was nervous as hell. Then I walked on that old floor; it creaked under every step I took. I looked up and saw the history. The worker who let us in came back and my dad explained we had no bibles, but this was a dream for me. The guy then went and found a basketball and I shot on the one basket still up. Chamberlain, Russell. Cowens, Alcindor. Bird, Magic, and now me, just a skinny kid shooting on the same floor. Dreams you can’t buy.

• The picture of me and the little boy: that is my oldest, Jakob, who is now a high school freshman. That was taken in Larry Bird’s high school gym in French Lick, Indiana. We both kissed the free throw stripe. It was summer, but a custodian let my family in to take pics and shoot on that court. It was another dream come true.

Why the Celtics are important to him:

I feel the reason the Celtics have been so special to me is that Red built this team on the idea of a family. Things have changed with salary caps, egos … but for those who love the Celtics we have so many great examples of Celtic Pride (not the movie, yuck). From Russell and Cousy to the Jones boys and Hondo, Cowens and Jo Jo to Larry, DJ, Dee, Reggie, KG, Pierce, and now Thomas. Such a rich history. Nobody comes close.