NORTH PROVIDENCE — Drawn by the prospect of meeting some Boston Celtic legends, hundreds of fans converged yesterday on the North Providence High School gymnasium where they were treated with close-up views of the team’s 2008 world championship trophy.

The event was billed as the trophy’s first and only visit to Rhode Island since the Celtics won the championship last June. Mayor Charles Lombardi sent a personal invitation to team owners months ago.

Lombardi, who stands 5-foot-4, made sure that former Celtics star JoJo White, on championship teams in 1974 and 1976, and former Celtics players Marvin Barnes and Ernie DiGregorio were sitting down when he was introducing them — so, he said, he could look at them at eye level.

For DiGregorio, who played basketball in the same gym before going on to Providence College and then the pros, it was an emotional moment. Even wearing a shirt and tie, he sank 10 shots in a row.

“I’m glad the mayor invited me to come,” said Barnes. “Anytime I can be with the kids and have fun with my old teammates is a great thing.”

Barnes, who played with White in the pros and with “Ernie D” while the two were at PC, remarked that when he played for the Celtics in the late ’70s, the team’s record was not so stellar.

“I think we had the worst team in the history of the Celtics,” he said.

The team’s two-foot-high NBA trophy — crafted by Tiffany & Co. with a regulation-size sterling silver basketball with a 24-karat finish — was a crowd pleaser, and fans came by to touch and photograph it.

But for fans Debbie Herchen of Warwick and Barbara Nadeau of West Warwick, even more pleasing was getting to have a picture taken with White, who let Herchen wear his championship ring. The women took pictures of themselves with White, ran to the nearby CVS to get some quick prints developed and speeded back to the gym to have the photos autographed.

Happy with the outcome, Herchen said it allowed her to see the former Celtic player twice in one day. “It was pretty cool. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

Also standing in line for autographs was John Wheeler, director of training and fire safety for the North Providence Fire Department, and his son Sean, 16, a junior on the North Providence High School basketball team.

Wheeler said he brought his son to see a part of Celtic history. “If you want to play the game you have to see how it all began.”

rdujardi@projo.com