The Frank Challant Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan | Wednesday, April 6th 2005
He was the trainer for the
Boston Celtics from 1971-79, which is to say that the casual fan from that era has no
recollection of Frank Challant. Say his name, and you
get exactly what you might expect from those who paid
their hard-earned money to watch the action on the
court: Puzzled looks, blank stares, and awkward
silence. But ask anyone who played for the team during
this era, from stars such as Dave Cowens, John Havlicek
and Jo Jo White, to role players such and Jim Ard and
Glenn McDonald, and you suddenly find yourself awash in
admiration for a man who helped them manage their pain
and excel on a nightly basis. They will tell you that a
really good trainer is worth his weight in gold, and
that Challant was one of the best. They will tell you
that he not only worked hard, that he worked smart,
using some of the most innovative techniques available
at the time to keep the Boston Celtic players where they
needed to be – on the court, and competing for an NBA
championship.
"Great guy," says Ard with a
smile. "He is really well-versed in sports medicine,
with tons of practical experience. Guys would roll an
ankle, or sprain a knee, and Frank would be right there
to take care of it. He knew exactly what treatment to
use for a given injury, so that you could get back on
the court in the quickest and safest timeframe
possible."
Obscure, anonymous figures they
may be, athletic trainers play a vital roll in the
success and failure of every NBA franchise. From
preventative measures such as stretching muscles and
taping ankles, to a myriad of rehabilitation techniques,
the course of action taken by trainers often determines
the level of success a team enjoys on the basketball
court. It is hard to imagine the Celtics winning the
1987 Eastern Conference Finals without Robert Parish in
the lineup, especially when pitted against the young,
hungry Bad Boys of Detroit. But a severe ankle sprain
threatened to send Parish to the sidelines during a
critical juncture in the series. Ray Melchiorre, the
Celtics' trainer at the time, worked with Parish
nonstop. He was able to keep the hobbled Parish in the
lineup, and the Celtics were able to advance to the 1987
NBA Finals.
Challant is no stranger to this
type of on-the-job pressure. A decade earlier, Havlicek
suffered a torn plantar fascia on his right foot during
the 1976 NBA Playoffs. The injury occurred during a
tense, hotly-contested series against the Buffalo
Braves, and the Celtics needed Havlicek's contributions
if they were going to defeat the Braves and continue
their quest for a second NBA championship in three
seasons. Challant's treatment – he had Havlicek keep a
plastic wash basin with him wherever he went, so that
the Celtic All-Star could ice his foot religiously –
allowed Boston to continue its drive for a record 13th
NBA title.
"It was a matter of
self-discipline," says Havlicek. "It would have been
easy to just not play [for the remainder of the
series]. But that's where playing on this team for all
of those years really helps. I've seen so many guys
play with a lot worse injuries – Frank Ramsey, K.C.
Jones, Bill Russell – that I wasn’t' going to let this
keep me off the court. I spent a lot of time on the
trainer's table, but it was time well-spent; I was able
to go out and play when the team needed me."
Challant's decade-long run as
the team's athletic trainer provided him with countless
memories and two championship rings, neither of which he
takes for granted. He understands how lucky he was to
be under the employ of the Boston Celtics, and to be a
part of the rich history of this proud and storied
franchise. He also bristles at the idea that the 1970s
Celtics were merely a bridge between the Bill Russell
and Larry Bird Eras, reminding us that the 70s were
responsible for – among other notable milestones –
Cowens, White, a 68-win season (still a club record),
two titles (1974 and 1976), and the "Greatest Game Ever
Played" (Game 5 of the '76 NBA Finals, a triple-overtime
classic between the Celtics and the Phoenix Suns).
"There are some fans who think
that the team's greatness ended with Russell," says
Challant, in his unmistakable New England accent.
"There are others who think the league started with Bird
and Magic. It really gets my goat, because there were
so many great moments during the '70s. With the recent
teams struggling to win forty games and make the
playoffs, I wonder how fans today would react to winning
68 games, the way we did in 1972-73."
 Good
point, indeed; given the moribund state of the franchise
during the '90s, and the struggles the team now endures
to reinvent itself as a viable playoff contender, the
1970s Boston Celtics now take on an added significance,
their stories more relevant that ever before. And who
better to approach for just such a revisit than the man
who was there through it all, taping ankles and trading
stories, watching the games from his own unique
perspective, the action swirling around him while he
does his job in relative anonymity? So, you've never
heard of Frank Challant before? Chances are you'll
remember him long after this interview is over.
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