Wave to Kenny

Joyce Kosofsky

When the possibility arose that the Celtics could win the deciding game of the NBA Finals, I had to decide when to abandon my court side position and dash to the locker room.

If I waited too long, I'd never get through the crush of exuberant fans to make it into the locker room celebration.

If I left too early, I could miss critical game photos.

My strategy, in game six of the 1986 NBA Finals vs Houston, was to sprint up into the higher level seats and find my dear friend Joyce Kosofsky.

I handed her a camera, gave her a one minute photography lesson and told her what needed to be done. Joyce is not a photographer. I didn't know if she even owned a camera, but the motto on her business card, "No Problem", tells you all you need to know about her attitude and proficiency.

Joyce took the photo that you see at the top of this post as the fans crowded the parquet to celebrate the Celtics Sixteenth Championship.

That allowed me to do what I needed to do in the locker room:

At the time, Joyce was the Celtics liaison with the Boston Phoenix, who produced the Celtics Yearbooks and Championship Books. She had just enough Mussolini in her to get the publication into the station on time.

Her husband, Ken Gloss, owns the Brattle book store ( http://www.brattlebookshop.com/about/ )  in Boston and is THE authority on rare books.

One of the rituals that I always enjoyed was the “wave to Kenny”. When Joyce and Ken would come to a game, she would often wander down to find me on the parquet floor while Ken would sit high up in his seat.

We would then both turn toward Ken and wave. He would wave back. I would encourage those around us to do the same. That could be fellow photographers, players, or whoever was lucky enough to be near.

“What are we doing ?”, Cedric Maxwell asked one day as he vigorously waved his arm in the direction that he'd been instructed to. “Waving to Kenny!” Joyce and I shouted.

Kenny and Joyce and Emily and Sonia

All images copyright Steve Lipofsky