Lone Ranger

And there was always John, just eighteen months older. “Growing up, Kevin and I slept in the same bed together. I remember him, when the Wizard of Oz came on, hiding in the corner because he was afraid of the Wicked Witch. We made camps together, caught turtles, hunted grouse, always played sports, always wound up wrestling and fighting over something,” says John. Adds Kevin, “We were competitive, and I was a little big for my age, so things often ended up in a fight rather than a score. But I probably became an athlete because of John, being able to play with his friends and all the kids in the neighborhood.”

When he led Hibbing to the state high school championship game and was named Mr. Basketball as the top prep player in 1975, McHale ignored out-of-state recruiters and made up his mind to play for the University of Minnesota before he’d even visited the campus. Even as he became a star at the U, eventually finishing second all-time in rebounds and fifth in points, McHale’s best friends in the Cities were from the Range, including Joe Ryan, who was attending college at St. Thomas, and Lynn Spearman, another St. Thomas student from the Greenhaven neighborhood, who began dating McHale in their junior year in high school. Now she’s his wife and mother of their five children.

Whatever else he does, McHale will always be professionally defined by the thirteen seasons he played for the Boston Celtics. Although he probably needed every one of his four years at the U to become totally at ease in his gawky, gangly frame, McHale arrived in the NBA instantly ready to contribute. He played hardball in his first contract negotiation, even threatening to play in the Italian League, and thus signed with the Celtics after the team was already in the midst of training camp. When he made his first appearance at an evening practice, then-coach Bill Fitch ordered him to get dressed and into a scrimmage.

“Fitch was determined to teach this impudent rookie a lesson and humble him right away,” says Bob Ryan, who has covered the Celtics and pro basketball for the Boston Globe for more than thirty-five years as a beat writer and columnist. “What happened instead was that Kevin dominated, blocking shots and making great moves under the basket.”