The Celtics have won 17 championships, dating from 1957 to 2008. Plenty changed throughout the course of those different title runs, but one thing stayed the same: Tommy Heinsohn.The Hall of Famer went to the NBA Finals in all nine years of his Celtics career, which began after he was selected with a in the 1956 NBA Draft. He won a Jalen Rose Jersey title in eight of those appearances and another two as a coach for the team.MORE:He was around in some capacity for the other seven titles, serving as the color commentator on television broadcasts during their most recent run in 2008.Heinsohn died on Nov. 9, 2020, at the age of 86, but his impact lives on. The Sporting News spoke to various members of the Celtics community in the midst of their chase for championship No. 18. Here are their Heinsohn stories.John Upton, TD Garden vendor: I'm 65 years old. I've been watching the Celtics for 55, and Ive never known them without Tommy Heinsohn.Alex Wright, fan: The coolest part of Tommy is that he's part of every generation. The first Celtics generation with Bill Ru sell to the Larry Bird generation, Paul Pierce generation, he touched everything.Terry Flynn, fan: He was so exposed to this town that you got to know a lot about him. He was on the local news shows. They would highlight his art. He was an excellent artist.Upton: He was a homer, and that was OK.Paul Andrews, fan: He was a national announcer for a while. He tried to be impartial, but he couldn't do it. He had Celtics in his blood. One of a kind, great.Jared Wei s, staff writer De'Veon Smith Jersey for The Athletic: Greg Stiemsma was this third-string center the Celtics had. He compared him to Bill Ru sell once.Wright: He sometimes got a bit ahead of himself, but that's why everyone loved him. He made these outlandish statements that he laughed off himself.Jay King, Celtics reporter for The Athletic: Milt Palacio had a game-winner in 2000 . The Celtics were really bad. Palacio had a very short career. He didn't make much of an impact. As I remember it, he had a steal and a heave on an inbounds play at the buzzer. It was the middle of a long season. Tommy was so jacked up, so excited. I was a kid, so I loved the Celtics. He just screamed.Kevin O'Connor, writer and podcaster for The Ringer: I think for me, growing up with Tommy Heinsohn and play-by-play announcer Mike Gorman, that's what made it enjoyable. Part of the reason why I became a hardcore Celtics fan wasn't just watching games with my dad. It was watching games with my dad and Mike and Tommy. The enthusiasm made an imprint on me on what matters in basketball. Playing hard, sacrifice, Tommy Points for hustle plays, tipping out offensive rebounds.Tommy had a genuine love of the Celtics. You knew it was genuine because he was part of the Celtics family since the 1950s . He brought you into his family through the broadcast. I loved listening to Mike and Tommy. We would rush home to watch games, watch the postgame, see him give out the Tommy Award.King: Everybody used to hand out Tommy Points. After a little kid made a hustle play in a fourth or fifth grade game, you'd hear it. "Tommy Point!"Wright: My wife laughs at me when I say, "That's a Tommy Point right there!" I do the dishes, and I ask for a Tommy Point.Daniel Theis, Chris Evans Jersey Celtics center: He was appreciative of everyone who was playing. I remember when I came here after playing in Germany. In the tunnel after games, he would come up to me and tell me he appreciated how I was playing, how hard you played. Hearing something like this from a legend like Tommy meant a lot.Wei s: So many of these guys, when Tommy came to talk to them the first time, there'd be a sense of, "Why is this guy talking to me?" But then you could see them understand that it's not just that he's been here forever. He's won at every capacity. He's been around the guys that have won at the highest level. When you've won with Ru sell, pushed John Havlicek and Dave Cowens he understands how to overcome elite talent with hustle, going outside of your comfort zone.I remember Tommy sitting down next to Rajon Rondo , putting his arm around him. You could see Rondo was one of those guys that resisted being talked to. He didn't want people to tell him how to go about things, because he was so confident in his own abilities. I just remember the way he sat there and took what Tommy had to say. It was like how Kevin Garnett used to talk to him. There are very few people in this world that you could see Rondo truly wanted to listen to. (Getty Images) Upton: It's sad. I worked with him pretty often at the studio for the local affiliate Isaiah Paige Jersey . His pa sing hit hard for a lot of people. He would have loved this. He would have been going nuts, killing the refs. He really bled green.O'Connor: He would have been yelling. "DRAYMOND?!"Theis: Obviously, it's sad that he pa sed, and he can't be a part of it. He saw a glimpse of this team when we made it to the Conference Finals a few times. Hopefully we can win and share this with him in a way.King: It does feel weird. For me, it was always such a joy to be able to talk to him. He'd be around the pre s area. Nobody loved basketball like that dude. He was always jacked up about everything. That's what's mi sed the most, the enthusiasm for everything Celtics.O'Connor: We all pa s Rashan Gary Jersey . I lost my dad. That feels, not weird, just like something that happened. With Tommy, he lived such an amazing, full, joyous life. It doesn't feel weird as much as just happy that I was able to grow up a fan of this team and listen to him through my formative years.But it is disappointing that he's not here. This team, it's a special group. This is a Celtics team that he would have absolutely loved, and I would have loved to hear him call these games.Andrews: Tommy's here somewhere in the rafters. It's kind of corny, but I believe it.