When did Havilcek become Havlicek?

Fencer reregistered · Post #1 » by **Fencer reregistered** » Wed May 6, 2009 10:40 am

My wife commented that while Hondo's last name was always pronounced the same way, it used to be spelled Havilcek.

http://cgi.ebay.com/SPORTS-Illus-Februa ... 634.c0.m14 strongly suggests that the spelling was Havilcek as late as 1974.

So when did the spelling change?

Kefa461 · Post #2 » by **Kefa461** » Wed May 6, 2009 10:59 am

I would image the seller had it wrong on e-bay......I don't ever remember it being different.

..your wife might be right.....

8-)

BillTheGOAT · Post #3 » by **BillTheGOAT** » Wed May 6, 2009 11:11 am

Havlicek is Checkoslovakian name, now they separated so I don't know where he's from, but it's Havlicek.

MyInsatiableOne · Post #4 » by **MyInsatiableOne** » Wed May 6, 2009 12:09 pm

I've never seen it any other way than Havlicek...I've heard people mispronounce it Hav-il-check for YEARS, but the proper spelling and pronounciation is Hav-li-check.

DorfonCeltics · Post #5 » by **DorfonCeltics** » Wed May 6, 2009 6:19 pm

Yeah I didn't know it was ever spelled different either. Funny story. I'm at Game 1 the other night night. They show Hondo up on the jumbotron and the kid sitting next to me with his sister goes, "who the hell is that". Both me and the guy sitting in front of me whipped our heads over to the kid and shouted, "that's John Havlicek". I pointed up to the #17 on the banner above. Now, I'm only 27 so I never got to see Hondo play live but I was horrified this kid didn't know any Celtics history. I mean he was drinking a beer so he couldn't of been too young. He was wearing a Paul Pierce jersey and he was at a playoff game sitting in seats that probably cost him $125-$150 each on Craigslist. Some fan.

Cyclical · Post #6 » by **Cyclical** » Wed May 6, 2009 9:03 pm

^
Well, you also know who Tim Conway is so you're already in a minority...

BigHands · Post #7 » by **BigHands** » Wed May 6, 2009 11:45 pm

Fencer reregistered wrote:My wife commented that while Hondo's last name was always pronounced the same way, it used to be spelled Havilcek.

http://cgi.ebay.com/SPORTS-Illus-Februa ... 634.c0.m14 strongly suggests that the spelling was Havilcek as late as 1974.

So when did the spelling change?

If you look closely It is spelled Havlicek on the SI cover in ebay.

And it is spelled the same way on this 1972 cover.
http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/ ... /index.htm

And a 1969 cover here:
http://cgi.ebay.com.my/1969-Celtics-JOH ... otohosting

Havlicek17 · Post #8 » by **Havlicek17** » Thu May 7, 2009 5:28 am

corndog wrote:Havlicek is Checkoslovakian name, now they separated so I don't know where he's from, but it's Havlicek.

Havlicek is polish, not czech. He grew up in either Eastern Ohio or Western PA, across the street from the Niekro family who are also Polish. Their dads worked in the coal mines there, and the kids played sports as a way to get out of having to work in the mines themselves. Hondo was an all american in football and basketball at Ohio State.

When Phil Neikro was inducted into the baseball hall of fame, John Havlicek delivered his introduction speech. It was the first time ever that a hall of famer from another sport did the introduction for a player being inducted into the baseball hall of fame.

And it's always been Havlicek.

Fencer reregistered · Post #9 » by **Fencer reregistered** » Thu May 7, 2009 9:16 am

Thanks, guys!!

MyInsatiableOne · Post #10 » by **MyInsatiableOne** » Thu May 7, 2009 10:25 am

DorfonCeltics wrote:Yeah I didn't know it was ever spelled different either. Funny story. I'm at Game 1 the other night night. They show Hondo up on the jumbotron and the kid sitting next to me with his sister goes, "who the hell is that". Both me and the guy sitting in front of me whipped our heads over to the kid and shouted, "that's John Havlicek". I pointed up to the #17 on the banner above. Now, I'm only 27 so I never got to see Hondo play live but I was horrified this kid didn't know any Celtics history. I mean he was drinking a beer so he couldn't of been too young. He was wearing a Paul Pierce jersey and he was at a playoff game sitting in seats that probably cost him $125-$150 each on Craigslist. Some fan.

This story illustrates the only downside to having a winning team (Sox, Pats, Celts, hell even the Bruins now)...you get new pink-hat fans who don't know $hit about $hit, they just go because it's the "cool" thing to do...

chakdaddy · Post #11 » by **chakdaddy** » Thu May 7, 2009 12:26 pm

What are some real cases of spelling changes?

Akeem to Hakeem.

At some point Armon Gilliam changed to Armen Gilliam. But either way he is immortal because of the diagonal high top fade.

Did Todd MacCulloch have some kind of spelling change? If he did, is that what caused him to get Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease?

Fencer reregistered · Post #12 » by **Fencer reregistered** » Fri May 8, 2009 6:41 am

In my wife's defense, there did seem to be a lot of confusion at one time.

http://www.vintagecardprices.com/card-p ... Prices.htm shows the misspelling on a Topps card.

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotrib ... (1872-1963)&edition=&startpage=C5&desc=DISCHINGER+IN+ZEPHYR+LINEUP+VS.+CELTICS shows it in the Chicago Tribune.

And she's pretty sure that multiple spellings were discussed way back then.

But then, she also briefly tried to tell me that she's seen or listened to Wilt's 100 point game until we agreed that what she'd probably heard was Johnny Most giving updates about it during a Celts game ...