I must be getting old. It seems all the greats are leaving us: SLU great 'Easy Ed' Macauley dies
Ed Macauley, who led St. Louis University to the NIT basketball title in 1948, which remains the school's signature moment on the court, died Tuesday (Nov. 8, 2011). He was 83.
His SLU days, though, weren't the end of Macauley's basketball career. He went on to a 10-year career in the NBA, being named to the league's first team three times and eventually being inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1960.
The 6-foot-8 center played for the St. Louis Bombers and the Boston Celtics before being traded back to St. Louis to play for the Hawks in a deal that sent Bill Russell to the Celtics. The Celtics retired his uniform number, 22. He also coached the Hawks for two seasons.
Macauley went to St. Louis U. High before coming to SLU, where with a team made up entirely of St. Louis-area players, the Billikens won the NIT at a time when it, not the NCAA Tournament, was considered college basketball's premier event.
Macauley scored 24 points as SLU, which finished with a 24-3 record under first-year coach Ed Hickey, beat New York University in the final at Madison Square Garden. Three days later, the team arrived at Union Station by train and was greeted by 15,000 fans for a parade.
"It was like a fairy tale," Macauley once told the Post-Dispatch.
Macauley's playing career ended long before I was born, but just like Stan Musial, he represented the glorious past of a team I love with eminent class and grace. I see from news reports that "Easy" Ed's wife had passed away earlier this year. That is the way it is with some blessed couples. They are never seperated for long.
Rest in peace, Ed.
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