PROFILE - Former Celtics star Havlicek's death marks 1 year

By Emre Asikci

ANKARA (AA) - Saturday marked the first death anniversary of Boston Celtics' US basketball legend John Havlicek, who died of the Parkinson's disease in 2019.

He was one of the greatest basketball players of his generation.

The 1960 NCAA champion with Ohio State was drafted by the Celtics in the in the first round of the 1962 NBA Draft.

The eight-time league champion and 13-time All-Star was loyal to the Celtics, spending his entire career with the franchise.

Havlicek played shooting guard or small forward between 1962 and 1978.

During 16 seasons, he scored 26,395 points in 1,270 games to become the Celtics' all-time leading scorer. He averaged 20.8 points per game.

He managed to top many Celtics greats such as Paul Pierce, Larry Bird and Robert Parish.

Havlicek was on fire April, 1, 1973, scoring a career-high 54 points against the Atlanta Hawks in the first game of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

He was the 1974 NBA Finals Most Valuable Player as the Celtics beat the Milwaukee Bucks in the seven-game series 4-3 to win the title.

Havlicek ended his career in 1978 and in the same year the Celtics retired his No.17 jersey in tribute to the legend.

In 1996, he was named one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history with votes from basketball pundits, former players, coaches and team executives in New York City.

Havlicek died on April 25, 2019 at the age of 79.