When Jeff Twiss saw the western Massachusetts phone number pop up on his cellphone in February, he was nervous.
The longtime Celtics vice president knew the team had loaned their 1981 Larry O’Brien Championship trophy to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to be part of the museum’s Celtics Vault exhibit.
In the split second before answering, he wondered:
“Had something happened to the trophy?”
When he answered, Hall of Fame President John Doleva’s question only stoked his concern.
“Jeff, are you sitting down?” Doleva asked and then gave him the news.
“My first thought was ‘Oh no! Something did happen to the trophy. Now we’re in trouble,” Twiss said.
Not only was the trophy safe and intact, but he had more good news. Twiss was going to be honored as the 2025 John Bunn Award Winner, the Hall of Fame’s lifetime achievement honor.
In all his trips to the Hall of Fame, Twiss never considered that possibility. Not when he and his father Bob Twiss drove south down Route 91 from their home in Randolph, Vermont to the hall’s old home on the Springfield College campus. Not when he used to drive Red Auerbach west on the MassPike to the annual enshrinement.
And certainly not when the phone rang.
“I’m the one who is supposed to publicize and promote the person who does receive the award, never the shoe on the other foot,” Twiss said. “I still pinch myself every single day. To receive or even be considered for this distinguished award is mind boggling and to actually be named the recipient is beyond words.”
The Bunn Award is annually given to someone who has contributed greatly to the game of basketball. Outside of Enshrinement, the John Bunn Award is the most prestigious award presented by the Basketball Hall of Fame.
But on Friday night he’ll receive the honor at the Hall of Fame Gala at Mohegan Sun and then be introduced at induction the next day.
Twiss, an alumnus of UMass undergraduate and graduate school at the University of Vermont has worked for the Celtics in varying media relations roles since 1981 and is currently the team’s vice president of media and alumni relations.
Over the next five decades, Twiss has become one of the organization’s most beloved figures. His love for his job and the Celtics has continued to feed his inherently pleasant demeanor.
As he walks to the stage on Friday to give the speech — which he promises will be short — he’ll be carrying the memories and the impact made on him by so many people along the way.
“I can’t thank them enough for all they’ve done for me to be where I am,” Twiss said. “I can’t name them all because I don’t want to forget anyone. They’re part of this award as much as I am.”
Among the most prominent of those is Auerbach, who won the Bunn award in 1980, not long before he personally hired Twiss.
“I had a great dad, who lived to the age of 91, but Red is almost like a second father in some respects,” Twiss said. “He just had simple logic, good direction, good sound advice a lot of times that he gave me. Not necessarily in basketball or in business, just in life in general. He was terrific at really providing some simple fundamental things.”
Many of those conversations came with Twiss behind the wheel.
“One of my duties when I first started with the Celtics here was to drive Coach Auerbach to and from places just because, God rest his soul, Red was not the greatest driver. He’s a little aggressive and out of control sometimes. So I would take him over to the Hall of Fame for the induction ceremonies.
“It’d be neat to be on his coattails or side by side, walking in on the red carpet,” Twiss continued.
“He was guest of honor, not me, but he’d always say ‘no, no, no, come along. To be in that limelight, I guess with him was pretty special at the time.”
The spotlight will be his next weekend.
Story by Matt Vautour, MassLive.com.
