Invoice Russell, an 11-time NBA champion recognized for breaking down racial boundaries and his defensive prowess on the basketball court docket, died on Sunday. He was 88.
An announcement posted on Twitter didn't embody particulars of his demise however stated Russell “handed away peacefully ... along with his spouse, Jeannine, by his aspect.”
All through his 13-season profession on the Boston Celtics, the 6-foot-10-inch Russell pulled in 21,620 rebounds — the second highest of all time. His eager consciousness of the ground revolutionized how protection was performed within the NBA.
Russell additionally grew to become the primary Black head coach in any main American skilled sports activities league when Crimson Auerbach handed him the reins of the Celtics in 1966, and he accomplished the final three years of his on-court profession as a player-coach.
Born on Feb. 12, 1934, William Felton Russell spent his earliest years in Monroe, Louisiana, earlier than his household moved west throughout World Conflict II, finally touchdown in Oakland, California.
At school, he was a pure observe star and led his highschool basketball workforce to consecutive state titles.
On the College of San Francisco — hardly a basketball powerhouse — he performed below coach Phil Woolpert, who preached a mode predicated on hard-nosed protection, a system that helped Russell explode right into a nationwide phenomenon.
His trademark transfer? He jumped. He eschewed defensive custom, refusing to maintain his toes on the bottom, altering every possession, in addition to the game itself.
He tallied a mean of 20.7 factors and 20.3 rebounds per sport all through his three-year collegiate profession, profitable nationwide championships in 1955 and 1956.
After bringing that second title again to campus, Russell went skilled. Although a number of franchises jockeyed to get him, he was the No. 2 choose within the 1956 NBA Draft, which introduced him to the Celtics.
After a pit cease in Melbourne, Australia, for the Summer time Olympics, it took little time for the Russell- and Auerbach-led Celtics to dominate. Flip by means of the league annals of the subsequent few seasons, and also you’ll see some mixture of “Boston,” “Celtics” and “Russell” subsequent to a laughable variety of data, as Russell’s lengthy arms, Auerbach’s gritty type and the Celtics’ workforce chemistry led the franchise to 11 titles in 13 years.
Russell averaged over 20 rebounds a sport in each season of his profession, besides his first yr and his final two years. He was named the league’s Most Useful Participant 5 instances — tied with Michael Jordan and trailing solely Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for many ever. And within the 1963-1964 season, he corralled 24.7 rebounds per sport — about half of what a complete workforce brings in as we speak.
Simply how good have been the Celtics with Russell? The membership gained the title in: 1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, and 1969.
In public and to the press, Russell was brusque. He as soon as famously declared that he owed Celtics followers “nothing” and “refuse[d] to smile and be good to the kiddies.”
His standoffishness has been generally attributed to the racial local weather of the time ― an period by which his residence was damaged into and vandalized, with bigotry scrawled onto his partitions. He and his Black teammates have been refused service at a restaurant in Lexington, Kentucky, earlier than a Celtics exhibition sport, which they then determined to boycott in protest.
In 1963, he marched in Washington with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and he was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his advocacy in 2010.
Russell retired following his eleventh championship run in 1968-1969. He briefly served as head coach of the Seattle Supersonics and the Sacramento Kings, however after taking off that Celtics No. 6 jersey for the ultimate time, he largely light out of public life, selecting to reside on a small island simply east of Seattle ― with household, with out fuss.
He wasn’t current when the Celtics first retired his jersey in 1972. He “insisted” that or not it's hung from the rafters when the famed Boston Backyard was empty of all followers, so blemished was his reminiscence of his time in a metropolis he would later name a “flea market of racism.”
It wasn’t till 27 years later that Russell agreed to be current for a re-retirement of his uniform. In keeping with The New York Occasions, he shed tears that night time on the sight of tens of hundreds of followers in Celtics inexperienced, on their toes, chanting his identify, three a long time after he had unceremoniously left the franchise.
Sara Bondioli contributed reporting.
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