Bob Cousy is best known as the floor general for the Boston Celtics during the 1950s and early parts of the 1960s. Playing alongside Bill Sharman and Bill Russell, the Boston Celtics went on to win six NBA Championships during Bob Cousy’s career. His dazzling playmaking skills earned him the nickname, “Houdini of the Hardwood”. Some of his career highlights include:
- 13x All-Star
- 12x All-NBA
- 8x Assist Leader
- 1x MVP
Upon retiring, Bob Cousy was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1971 and more recently was named one of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players of All-Time. Below is a look at some of his career highlights.
Bob Cousy’s rookie card is in the iconic 1957 Topps set which includes rookie cards of other NBA legends such as Bill Russell, Bob Pettit and Cliff Hagan. Over the years, Bob Cousy has been tremendous to his fans and he still answers fan mail. Typically he will autograph one card per fan request and it will include a personalization. Before I sent my request, I wrote to him asking whether it would be possible to make a donation in his name in exchange for having my card autographed without a personalization. Within two weeks, his daughter wrote back and said that her father would be happy to do so with a donation of $125 to the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Worcester.
With positive confimation, I purchased a PSA 2 1957 Topps Bob Cousy rookie card and proceed to crack it open from its slabbed case. There are currently less than 700 of these cards slabbed by PSA and only 55 of them are autographed.
While the card itself is already considered rare, I wanted to make my autographed card unique so I added an additional donation in hopes that Mr. Cousy would add two inscriptions (HOF 1971 and “Houdini of the Hardwood”). He did not disappoint and the card turned out fantastic.
This is one of my favorite cards that I have received through the mail (TTM) and I can’t wait for it to come back from PSA so that I can see it slabbed.
Total Investment: $450
Estimated Value: $2,500
Return on Investment: 439%