Bob Cousy - Personal Life

Personal Life

Cousy married his college sweetheart, Missie Ritterbusch, in December 1950. She has been his spouse for over 60 years. They live in Worcester, Massachusetts, and have two daughters.

Cousy was well-known, both on and off the court, for his anti-racist attitude, a result of his upbringing in a multicultural environment. In 1950, the Celtics played a match in the then-segregated city of Charlotte, North Carolina, and teammate Chuck Cooper — the first African-American in NBA history to be drafted—would have been denied a hotel room. Instead of taking the hotel room, Cousy insisted on travelling with Cooper on an uncomfortable overnight train. He described their visit to a segregated men's toilet—Cooper was prohibited to use the clean "for whites" bathroom and had to use the shabby "for colored" facility—as one of the most shameful experiences of his life. He also sympathized with the plight of black Celtics star Bill Russell, who was frequently a victim of racism. In addition, Cousy was close friends with his Celtics mentor Red Auerbach and was one of the few people who could call him "Arnold" (his real first name) instead of "Red".