Today in Celtics history: Al Horford, Ramón Rivas born

Today, June 3rd 2017 is Boston Celtics' big man Al Horford's 31st birthday.


Al was born in 1986 in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic to Arelis Reynoso and Tito Horford, the first NBA player from the Dominican Republic, and would play his college ball with the University of Florida, where he would win back-to-back NCAA championships. He would later be drafted third overall in the 2007 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks, where he stayed for nine seasons before joining the Celts this last season, averaging 14 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5 assists and 1.3 blocks per game with the club. For more detail on Al and his family, check out this longform interview by our U.K. correspondent Josh Coyne here.



Today is also the birthday of former Celtics big man Ramón Rivas, who played with the club in the 1988-89 season after going undrafted in the 1988 NBA Draft and a successful collegiate career with the Temple Owls between 1985 and 1988. Temple only lost twice his senior season, cresting as the top-ranked team in the country in his last year with the club. Unfortunately for Rivas, the success at the college level did not translate to the NBA, with him only playing one season in the league with Boston, averaging just 1.4 points and .9 rebounds per game with the club. Ramón did continue on with a successful career overseas, playing nearly a decade more, winning several awards. He was the first player of Puerto Rican descent to play for the team, and turns 51 today. For more on his time in Boston, check out tbt727's article here.


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Photo via probasketballencyclopedia.com
Data via basketball-reference.com
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