History Month: When anyone could own a piece of the Celtics

After Walter Brown died unexpectedly in the fall of 1964, the Celtics went through a twenty-year period when ten different ownership groups controlled the team.

In 1983, the Celtics were purchased from Harry Mangurian by a consortium led by Don Gaston. Gaston had been an executive with Gulf+Western when they owned the Knicks, having purchased Madison Square Garden and its tenants in 1977.

Gaston's consortium included Boston native Paul Dupee, and Alan Cohen, who was an executive with the New Jersey Nets at the time—both were also Gulf+Western alumni. The sale price was reported to be $15 million.