At the end of every season, regardless of their on-court success, he would approach owner Brown and ask, "Walter, are our last paychecks going to clear?" to which Brown would always positively respond, and they would. Despite Brown's own close association with the NHL's Boston Bruins, whose owners also possessed the Boston Garden, the Celtics were fleeced on concessions and profits as tenants. During this era, when most team owners not only thought of, but also treated their players as cattle and/or slaves, athletes from all the four major professional sports leagues were fighting for their rights and economic fairness.