For over a decade, the Frank Sinatra-esque “Main Event” of an NBA off-season was the Maurice Stokes benefit game staged at Kutsher’s Resort … a deal was just as likely to be struck up in the Catskills as at any league-initiated assembly. (It was there that Red Auerbach and Bill Russell coaxed two more seasons – including a championship – out of an intending-to-retire Wayne Embry in 1966.)
I’ve always been inclined to think that Maurice Stokes played a largely overlooked but not insignificant role in the Celtics’ extraordinary run of titles in the ‘50’s and 60’s.