Bill Russell (1934 - 2022)

 

1967 Wikipedia

On July 31, Bill Russell passed away at the age of 88.

Russell, of course, was the center of the Boston Celtics for 13 years from 1956 to 1969.  In his first year with the Celtics, they won their first NBA Championship in franchise history.  They went on to win 10 more.  From 1958 to 1966, they won the championship eight times in a row.  Russell was named Most Valuable Player 5 times and was an All-Star for every year but one during his storied career.  He was player/coach in his last years from 1966 – 1969 making him the first Black head coach of a professional sport team.

Notice, I did not say Russell led the Celtics to their first championship in his first year in the NBA any of the other 10 championships.  Red Auerbach was the coach and then general manager during Russell’s run with the Celtics.  He assembled the team that won the championships, made the right deals so he could recruit Russell, and motivated and coach the players in a team concept that achieved the stellar.  Russell embraced his role, as did his teammates, and the results show.

Out the 13 players with six or more NBA championships, 8 them were Celtics during Russell’s era.  Russell is alone with 11 followed by teammate Sam Jones with 10.  Note that Kareem Abdul-Jabber and Michael Jordan have 6 championships each.  Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant have 5 and Larry Bird has 3.  It would seem like a safe bet to claim no one will ever match Bill Russell’s in this category.

While Auerbach was a great strategizer and motivator of the team concept, it must be noted that he did this with some of the best players the NBA has seen:  Russell, Cousey, Heinsohn, Havlicek, and Sam and K.C. Jones.  Two of these were so good that the NBA implemented rule changes to diminish the advantage they gave the Celtics.  Cousey was a master dribbler and could eat minutes off the clock on demand.  Some claim the 24-second shot clock was implemented because of him and others.  Russell was such a dominant defensive player in the paint, the NBA expanded the width of the lane to diminish his lessen his (and Wilt Chamberlain’s) dominance.

While being a true team player, Russell had a reputation of being quite resolved in protecting his independence, privacy, and being his own man as a Black celebrity athlete in the early days of the integration of professional sports.  Other athletes like Jim Brown and Bob Gibson had similar traits each in their own individual ways.  Depending on the perspective, Russell viewed as anywhere from surly to fiercely independent.  He was also politically active support the Civil Rights movement of the era he played.  Upon his passing, Dave Davies of NPR’s Fresh Air re-aired a 2001 interview with Russell and set up the segment with these words:

Russell had an uneasy relationship with Boston fans. In 1987, his daughter wrote an essay detailing the racism Russell had faced, including racist vandalism visited upon the family home in 1960. Russell refused to sign autographs, and when his number was retired by the team in 1972, he insisted it be at a private ceremony at the Boston Garden. Russell was also active on civil rights issues. He joined the 1963 March on Washington and was in the front row for Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech. He went to Mississippi after civil rights leader Medgar Evers was murdered. In 2011, President Barack Obama awarded Russell the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

I meet Bill Russell once in Cleveland, I am guessing in the 1970s when he was a spokesman for ATT.  They had the tagline, “Long Distance, the next best thing to being there.”  I got in the elevator and there was Bill Russell, in a turtleneck and sportscoat.  It was just the two of us.  I said something clever (or so I thought), “Being here is even better than long distance.”  Without missing a beat, Russell replied, “People always mistake me for him.”  I said, “Oh sorry, my mistake.”  I was not aware that he did not sign autographs and such back then, I just assumed he wanted privacy after working an NBA broadcast that evening and left it at that.  As he left the elevator, I wished him a good night and he responded, “You too.”

Sleep well Mr. Russell.

 

At the White House in 2011
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