Beckman, John
Basketball
b. Oct. 22, 1895, New York, NY
d. June 22, 1968
Beckman learned to play basketball in high school and became one of the first professional stars. It's believed that he was the highest paid member of the Original Celtics, although a couple of the other players, Nat Holman and Joe Lapchick, are probably better known than he.
He became a professional at nineteen with a Kingston, NY, team. In 1921 he joined the Original Celtics, then in their second season. When the Celtics played the New York Whirlwinds in a two-game series that year, Beckman scored 25 points, 23 of them on free throws, in a 40-27 loss in the first game, and he scored 17 of their points, 11 on free throws, in a 26-24 victory.
Beckman was among the finest free throw shooters in the game, which made him very valuable because, at that time, one player could shoot his team's free throws, no matter who had been fouled. One of his teammates, Dutch Dehnert, called Beckman "the smartest man who ever played basketball."
In 1926, he became player-coach with the Baltimore Orioles of the American Basketball League and later played with Rochester and Cleveland before returning to the Celtics for the 1929-30 season. He remained with them until the team disbanded in 1941. He later became athletic director at a center for retarded children.