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Bill Russell, NBA star and civil rights pioneer, dies at 88

Bill Russell reinvented the game of basketball, and after that, he transformed how Americans of different racial backgrounds perceive sports.

Russell, the most successful NBA player ever, marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr., stood alongside Muhammad Ali, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.

Russell, the star of the Boston Celtics dynasty that won 11 titles in 13 years, won his final two NBA championships while serving as a player-coach, becoming the first Black coach in a major American sport.

Bill Russell reinvented the game of basketball, and after that, he transformed how Americans of different racial backgrounds perceive sports.

Russell, the most successful NBA player ever, marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr., stood alongside Muhammad Ali, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. Russell, the star of the Boston Celtics dynasty that won 11 titles in 13 years, won his final two NBA championships while serving as a player-coach, becoming the first Black coach in a major American sport.

His wife, Jeannine, was by his side when Russell passed away on Sunday at the age of 88, according to a statement his family shared on social media. No specific cause of death was given; Russell, who had been a resident of the Seattle region, had been ill for a while and was unable to deliver the NBA Finals MVP award in June.

“We hope each of us can find a new way to act or speak up with Bill’s uncompromising, dignified and always constructive commitment to principle,” the family said. “That would be one last, and lasting, win for our beloved #6.”

Basketball writers selected Hall of Famer Bill Russell, a 12-time All-Star, five-time Most Valuable Player, as the best player in NBA history in 1980. He is still the most decorated player in the history of the sport (he also won two collegiate championships and an Olympic gold medal), and he is a model of selflessness who triumphed via defense and rebounding while others amassed obscene scoring totals.

That frequently meant Wilt Chamberlain, Russell’s sole legitimate adversary during that time period and the subject of heated debates in bars over who was superior. Chamberlain, who passed away in 1999 at the age of 63, had four MVP awards of his own, twice as many points as Russell, and is the only player in league history to have pulled down more rebounds than Russell (23,924 to 21,620).

Russell, though, outperformed the competition 11 to 2 in the only statistic that mattered to him.

Bill Russell, according to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, “was the greatest champion in all of team sports.” In addition, he stressed that “Bill stood for something far broader than sports: the values of equality, respect, and inclusiveness that he engraved into the very fabric of our league.”

President Joe Biden thanked Russell for his lifetime of work in civil rights as well as athletics in a statement posted by the White House, calling him “a towering champion for freedom, equality, and justice.”

As an all-time champion of champions, a wonderful man, and a great American who did everything in his power to fulfill the promise of America for all Americans, Bill Russell is one of the greatest athletes in our history, according to Biden.

Responses flooded in on Sunday, from Michelle Wu, the mayor of Boston, to Barack Obama, Michael Jordan, and Magic Johnson.

“Today, we lost a giant,” Obama said. “As tall as Bill Russell stood, his legacy rises far higher — both as a player and as a person. Perhaps more than anyone else, Bill knew what it took to win and what it took to lead.”

Russell, a native of Louisiana, made his mark as a Black athlete in a city and nation where race is frequently a contentious issue. He witnessed King’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington in 1963, and he supported Ali when the boxer came under fire for opposing being drafted into the military.

Along with Congressman John Lewis, financier Warren Buffett, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and baseball legend Stan Musial, Obama presented Russell with the Medal of Freedom in 2011.

The Celtics stated on Sunday that it “seems inconceivable” to be the best champion in your sport, to transform how the game is played, and to be a society leader all at once. But that was Bill Russell, in fact.

Russell claimed that his parents gave him the quiet confidence necessary to shrug off racist teasing while he was growing up in the segregated South and later California.

In 2008, Russell remarked, “People still ask me what I had to go through years later. “Luckily or unfortunately, I’ve never experienced anything. My parents’ affection for me has been a constant since the minute I was born. Russell’s mother was the one who would advise him to ignore criticism from anyone who might witness him having fun in the yard.

He remembered her saying, “Whatever they say, good or bad, they don’t know you. They are battling their personal demons.

But Jackie Robinson was the one who provided Russell with a strategy for overcoming racism in his sport: “Jackie was a hero to us. He always acted in a manly manner. He taught me how to conduct myself in the world of professional sports.

When Robinson’s widow, Rachel, contacted and asked Russell to be a pallbearer at her husband’s funeral in 1972, Russell discovered that the emotion was reciprocal.

“She hung up the phone, and I thought to myself, ‘How can you become Jackie Robinson’s hero?’” Russell uttered. I felt really honored.

On February 12, 1934, William Felton Russell was born in Monroe, Louisiana. He attended Oakland High School in California for his senior year before transferring to the University of San Francisco when he was a young boy. In 1955 and 1956, he led the Dons to NCAA titles, and in 1956, he took home a gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics in Australia.

Red Auerbach, the coach and general manager of the Boston Celtics, wanted Russell so much that he arranged a deal with the St. Louis Hawks for the second overall choice. He promised a lucrative visit from the Ice Capades, which were also controlled by Celtics owner Walter Brown, to the Rochester Royals, who held the №1 choice.

Still, there were grumblings about Russell when he arrived in Boston. People complained that it was a waste of money and a wasted draft decision, he recalled. He’s no good, they claimed. He can only rebound and block shots. Red then declared, “That’s enough.

In the same draft, the Celtics also selected Russell’s college teammate K.C. Jones and Tommy Heinsohn. Boston concluded the regular season with the best record in the league despite Russell’s late arrival due to his involvement in helping the United States win the Olympic gold.

In the seventh game of a double-overtime series against Bob Pettit’s St. Louis Hawks, the Boston Celtics won the NBA championship, their first in 17 years. The following year, Russell won his first MVP award, but the Hawks prevailed in a rematch of the championship game. In 1959, the Celtics won it all once more, beginning an NBA championship run of eight straight years, a record.

Russell, a 6-foot-10 center, never scored more than 18.9 points per game throughout the course of his 13 seasons, with each year seeing him record more rebounds than points. He averaged over 20 rebounds per game for ten seasons. Chamberlain now owns the record with 55 rebounds in a game, but he once had 51.

After winning the 1966 championship, Auerbach retired, and Russell took over as player-coach. Russell was the first Black head coach in NBA history, and he did so nearly ten years before Frank Robinson became the manager of Cleveland in baseball’s American League. With a defeat to Chamberlain and the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Division finals, Boston’s winning streak came to an end.

In 1968 and 1969, Russell led the Celtics to back-to-back championships while defeating Chamberlain in seven-game playoff series each time. After the 1969 NBA Finals, Russell announced his retirement. He later made a comeback for a four-year, largely fruitless run as coach and general manager of the Seattle SuperSonics and a less successful half-season as coach of the Sacramento Kings.

The Celtics retired Russell’s №6 jersey in 1972. He was selected to the NBA’s all-time 25th anniversary squad in 1970, 35th anniversary team in 1980, and 75th anniversary team. He was hailed as one of the top 50 NBA players in 1996.

The NBA Finals MVP award was established in his honor in 2009. Russell was not the recipient of the prize because it was given for the first time in 1969. Russell gave away his name-brand trophy for many years; the most recent time was in 2019 to Kawhi Leonard; he was not there in 2020 or 2021 due to COVID-19 issues or the NBA bubble.

In 2013, a statue of Russell with granite slabs bearing sayings about character and leadership was installed on Boston’s City Hall Plaza. In 1975, Russell was admitted to the Basketball Hall of Fame, but he chose not to attend the ceremony because he felt it was improper for him to be the first African American to be elected. (His selection was Chuck Cooper, the first Black player in the NBA.)

Russell received his Hall of Fame ring at a private ceremony in 2019.

He tweeted, “I believed others before me should have had that privilege. Good to see development.

Jordan, however, saw just Russell.

As a player, a champion, the NBA’s first Black head coach, and an activist, Bill Russell “was a pioneer,” according to the former Chicago Bulls great and current majority owner of the Charlotte Hornets. “He paved the path and provided an example for me and every other Black player that entered the league after him. A legend has been lost to the world.

The plans for the memorial ceremony will be revealed soon, according to Russell’s family.