On this day in Boston Celtics history, former Boston big man Alton Lister was born in Dallas, Texas in 1958. A true 7-footer, Lister played his college ball first at the sub-NCAA level with San Jacinto Junior College where he would be teammates with fellow future NBAer shooting guard Oliver Mack.
After his time with San Jacinto Junior College, Lister moved on via transfer to play for the Arizona State Sun Devils, joining another future NBA player and head coach Byron Scott, who also played as a shooting guard. By his senior season, the Texan was averaging 15.4 points and 9.7 rebounds per game.
Buy Celtics TicketsThis would earn Lister honorable mentions with All-America honors by the Associated Press and Street & Smith’s, All-Pac-10 honors, and the Sun Devil’s Most Improved Player award.
It also got him selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 21st overall pick of the 1981 NBA draft, for whom he would play five seasons.
Lister would also play for the (then) Seattle Supersonics (now, Oklahoma City Thunder), Golden State Warriors, and another stint with the Bucks before coming to Boston in a trade with Todd Day in exchange for Sherman Douglas in 1995.
The Dallas native would play a total of 110 games for the Celtics across two seasons before leaving the team in 1997 to sign with the Portland Trail Blazers as an unrestricted free agent.
He averaged 2.0 points and 3.8 rebounds per game with the Celtics.
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