Bill Sharman loves to "ring" in every year.
It's has become a habit for him.
Now 74, the Boston Celtic great collected 13 rings during his pro basketball career and was named among the NBA's top 50 greats of all-time.
He captured four championships with the Celtics and added seven with the Los Angeles Lakers as coach, general manager, president and special consultant. Plus one with the defunct Cleveland team of the American Basketball League, and of course, one with the American Basketball Association's Utah Stars in 1971.
Sharman was the only coach to capture championships in three different pro basketball leagues.
"They never get old," said Sharman, who still has problems with his voice because of an ulcerated larynx, which forced him into retirement as coach. "Because then you realize you have been a part of something special. That's a team which has the right chemistry, great players who buy into the system, forget about individual goals for the team and is driven to win.
"We had that type of team when I coached in Salt Lake City," added Sharman. "We had the right chemistry because the guys enjoyed themselves both on and off the court. We had a natural leader in Zelmo Beaty. He didn't put up with any nonsense. A real coach on the floor. They bought into my system.
"I really loved coaching in Salt Lake City. The city was great to me. But I had a chance to return to Southern California, where I grew up, to coach the Lakers, (in) 1972."
Bill was always an "L.A. Man." He was a two-time all-American for the University of Southern California, in 1949 and 1950. He was an all-star in baseball, signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers organization and on the Dodger bench in 1951, when Bobby Thomson blasted the legendary home run at the Polo Grounds to lift the New York Giants to the National League championship.
"It was a great thrill for me to be named to The Top 50 Greats of all-time . . . It was also great to be remembered again this year, when the NBA brought back all its former All-Star Game MVPs," said Sharman, the 1955 MVP.
"It was exciting for me, because I had a chance to meet John Stockton, and we sat down for about 30 minutes. He's not only a great player but a quality person. Five years ago, I can remember people saying how old Karl Malone and Stockton were. They were supposed to be on their last legs. But this year, they turned in remarkable efforts. Better than five years ago."
Sharman will always be linked with the phrase "Don't Squeeze the Sharman!"
There were banners and toilet paper — the famous brand name — strewn all over the Indianapolis Airport to greet the Utah Stars and their coach that Sunday afternoon in May 1971.
Sharman and his Stars were in Indianapolis to play the Indiana Pacers in a Tuesday night game. Neither Sharman nor his Stars were in good moods. The Pacers had just beaten the Stars to even the ABA's best-of-seven Western Division Championship series, 3-3.
The Stars coach didn't like the idea of having to travel to Indianapolis once against to play the Pacers. And Sharman, although he joked about it, didn't like the toilet paper reference, either.
According to quotes in the Indianapolis papers, the Pacer players were more concerned about playing Kentucky for the ABA crown than about playing the Stars.
Sharman, a master basketball strategist, used the airport incident and the Pacer quotes to perfection in motivating his Stars to upset the Pacers and win the Western Division crown in Game 7 at the Fairgrounds Coliseum.
The Stars then beat Kentucky in the ABA championship series, 4-3.
WHAT ARE HIS GREATEST MEMORIES? "I have a lot of great memories, but as far as coaching in Salt Lake City, the one game I will always remember was after we had lost the sixth game of the semifinal playoffs at home against Indiana," Sharman explained. "The Pacers were the defending champions . . . and (they) led us by seven at the half.
"We came back to win, on the shoulders of Red Robbins, who only missed one shot during the game (11-for-12), and Wise really inspired us with his defensive play, and that was as big a thrill as winning the championship."
WHAT IS HE DOING NOW? Sharman lost his wife, Dorothy, who was with him in Salt Lake City, to cancer. He and current wife, Joyce, of eight years, are still golfing.
And the Lakers are still picking his brain, because he is still a special consultant for the team.
And why wouldn't they use him. As the Lakers' general manager, it was Sharman who masterminded the trade of Gail Goodrich to the then-New Orleans Jazz for a draft pick that turned out to be Magic Johnson. It was also Sharman who made the key trade that gave the Lakers the opportunity to draft North Carolina's James Worthy.
"My schedule still keeps me busy," added Sharman. "This summer, I am going to try to make it to Ron Boone's Charity Golf Tournament. . . . And I hoping to see some of my great friends from Salt Lake City. That'll be fun if I can make it."
Sharman has always been a great student of basketball and one of the best teachers in the game. But most of all, he is a winner and a gentleman.