Macauley, "Easy Ed"
(Charles Edward Jr.)
Basketball
b. March 22, 1928, St. Louis, MO
Although he was a two-time All-American, a professional star for nine seasons, and a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, Macauley will probably be best remembered as one of the two players traded by the Boston Celtics to the St. Louis Hawks for the draft rights to Bill Russell. (The other was Cliff Hagan.)
The 6-foot-8, 185-pound center was nicknamed "Easy Ed" because of his fluid, effortless style of play. At St. Louis University, he was the national collegiate leader with a .524 shooting percentage in 1946/47. Macauley was named an All-American the next two years and was the Associated Press player of the year in 1949.
He played for the St. Louis Bombers in the NBA for one season and joined the Boston Celtics in 1950 after the St. Louis franchise folded. In six years with the Celtics, he averaged more than 20 points a game twice and was named an all-star four years in a row, 1951-54.
The Hawks drafted Russell in 1956, but he was going to miss half of the season while with the U. S. Olympic team and St. Louis management felt he was going to sign with the Harlem Globetrotters, so the trade was made with Boston. Macauley played for the Hawks against the Celtics in two championship series, the Celtics winning in 1957, the Hawks winning in 1958.
Injuries limited Macauley's playing time in 1958/59 and he retired after the season to become the Hawks' coach and general manager. After winning two Western Division titles in two years, he retired from the sport, but was later a St. Louis sports announcer.
In his nine NBA seasons, Macauley scored 11,234 points in 641 games, an average of 17.5 per game. As a coach, he had a record of 157 wins and 108 losses.