Bill Russell, a Great Player for the Boston Celtics Who Won 11 NBA Titles, Passes Away at Age 88!

Bill Russell died on Sunday. He was the main reason why the Boston Celtics won eight straight championships and 11 in total during his career. He was 88 years old.

A statement on social media said that Russell died “peacefully” with his wife by his side. The statement says that arrangements for his memorial service will be made soon.

The statement didn’t say what caused Russell’s death, but he had been sick for a long time and wasn’t well enough to give out the NBA Finals MVP trophy in June. He lived in the Seattle area.

“But even though Bill won a lot, it was his understanding of the struggle that made his life shine,” the statement said. “From boycotting a 1961 exhibition game to expose discrimination that had been tolerated for too long, to leading Mississippi’s first integrated basketball camp in the volatile wake of Medgar [Evers’] assassination, to decades of activism that were finally recognised by his receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Bill spoke out against injustice with an uncompromising honesty that he hoped would upset the status quo and with a powerful example that, though it was never his humble intention, will be remembered for generations to come.”

 

An announcement… pic.twitter.com/KMJ7pG4R5Z

— TheBillRussell (@RealBillRussell) July 31, 2022

“Jeannine, Bill’s wife, and all of his friends and family thank you for continuing to pray for Bill. Maybe you’ll remember one or two of the best things he did for us, or you’ll remember his signature laugh as he told the real story of how those good things happened. And we hope that each of us can find a new way to act or speak with Bill’s unwavering, dignified, and always a constructive commitment to principles. That would be our beloved #6’s last and most important win.”

Russell had the most amazing career of any player in the history of team sports. It lasted 15 years, starting with his junior year at the University of San Francisco. At USF, he was named an All-American twice, won two straight NCAA titles, and led his team to 55 straight wins. He also got a gold medal at the Olympics in 1956.

During his 13 years in Boston, he led the Celtics to the NBA Finals 12 times and won the championship 11 times. The last two titles he won as both a player and as the NBA’s first Black coach.

The Celtics said in a statement, “Bill Russell’s DNA is woven into every part of the organisation, from the relentless pursuit of excellence to the celebration of team rewards over individual glory to the commitment to social justice and civil rights off the court.” “As we mourn his death and celebrate his huge impact on basketball, Boston, and the rest of the world, our thoughts are with his family.”

In a statement released Sunday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver called Russell “the greatest champion in all of the team sports.”

Silver said, “I loved being friends with Bill and was thrilled when he got the Presidential Medal of Freedom.” “I used to call him the Babe Ruth of basketball because of how he stood the test of time. Bill was the best player and teammate ever, and his impact on the NBA will be felt for a long time.”

Russell was the Most Valuable Player five times and an All-Star 12 times. He was a master at blocking shots and changed the way the NBA plays defence. He finished his career with 21,620 rebounds, which is an average of 22.5 per game. Four times, he led the league in rebounding. He had 51 rebounds in one game, 49 in two other games, and 1,000 or more rebounds for 12 straight seasons. Russell also averaged 15.1 points and 4.3 assists per game in his career.

Before Michael Jordan’s success in the 1990s, many people thought Russell was the best player in NBA history.

Jordan, who is now the chairman of the Charlotte Hornets, said in a statement, “Bill Russell was a pioneer as a player, a champion, the NBA’s first Black head coach, and an activist.” “Every Black player who joined the league after him, including me, followed in his footsteps. A famous person has died. I’m sorry for his family’s loss, and may he rest in peace.”

In 2011, then-President Barack Obama gave Russell the Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian decoration. In addition, he received the NBA’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.

Obama remarked in a statement that “we lost a giant” on Sunday. “Bill Russell’s influence as a player and a person extends far beyond his physical stature. Bill, perhaps more than anybody else, had a deep understanding of what it takes to succeed and lead.”

“A towering champion for freedom, equality and justice,” said President Joe Biden in a statement released by the White House, praising Russell for his lifelong work in civil rights and sports.

Bibian described Bill Russell as “one of our country’s greatest athletes and a kind man who did everything in his power to bring the promise of America to all Americans.”

Born on February 12, 1934, William Felton Russell was raised in Monroe, Louisiana. As a result of his parents’ relocation to the Bay Area, he was able to attend Oakland’s McClymonds High School. McClymonds’ basketball team had him as an uncomfortable and mediocre centre, but his size got him a scholarship to San Francisco, where he flourished as a player and as a person.

For more than 30 years, “I was an innovator,” Russell told the New York Times back in 2011. “Even though I had never seen shots blocked before, I began blocking them. A good defensive player never leaves his feet, therefore my coach called a timeout when I did that in a game.”

Russell and K.C. Jones led the Dons to a 55-game winning streak and two national championships in 1955 and 1956. (Because his eligibility had expired, Jones was unable to play in four games during the 1956 tournament.) This accolade was bestowed upon Russell during the 1955 NCAA tournament. He then guided the United States men’s basketball team to Olympic gold in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956.

Red Auerbach was keen to add Russell to the Celtics’ roster as the NBA draught approached in 1956. Using guards Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman, as well as undersized big Ed Macauley, Auerbach constructed a high-scoring offence, but he believed the Celtics lacked the defence and rebounding necessary to become a title contender. A missing piece of the puzzle, according to Auerbach, was found in Russell.

Auerbach arranged a deal to get Russell for Macauley after the St. Louis Hawks drafted him in the first round.

Russell, Tommy Heinsohn, Cousy, Sharman, and Jim Loscutoff were a potent starting five for the Red Sox. In 1956-57, the Celtics had the best regular season record in the NBA and cruised to their first NBA championship by defeating the Hawks in the finals.

The Celtics and Hawks fought for a 2-2 draw in the opening two games at Boston Garden in a rematch of the 1958 Finals. Russell, on the other hand, was sidelined for the duration of the series due to an ankle injury. In the end, the Hawks prevailed in six games to take the series.

That set off a domino effect for Russell and the Celtics, who would go on to win ten NBA championships in 11 years, elevating the sport to a new level of notoriety.

During this time, Russell transformed the game. 6-foot-9 centre with lightning-quick reflexes brought shot-blocking and other defensive moves that triggered a fast-break attack into full fruition.

The following year, Auerbach stepped down as head coach and appointed Russell as his replacement. Since Russell was the first black coach of a major league team in any sport, let alone such an illustrious one. Russell and Auerbach, on the other hand, didn’t see it that way. They believed that was the only way to keep winning, and Russell went on to win two more championships as a player-coach in the following three years.

The greatest obstacle they faced was their advanced age. The retirement of Bill Russell in 1969, the year he won his 11th championship at the age of 35, set in motion a mini-rebuild. The NBA has grown from eight to 14 teams during his time in the league. Only three playoff rounds were required for Russell’s Celtics teams to win a championship.

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A former Boston Globe Celtics beat writer, Bob Ryan, told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2019 that if Bill Russell returned to the NBA today, he would be the league’s best rebounder. “He was much ahead of his time as a sportsman. However, it’s highly unlikely that he’d win 11 championships over just 13 years.”

The NBA Finals MVP trophy was renamed in Russell’s honour in 2009, even though he never won it because it was originally given out in 1969. When Kawhi Leonard won it in 2019, Russell was absent because of the NBA bubble; he wasn’t there for 2020 or 2021 because of COVID-19 worries.

Russell’s career was also defined by his battles with Wilt Chamberlain, in which he won several championships.

The 7-foot-1 Chamberlain made his NBA debut with the Philadelphia Warriors in the 1959-60 season, where he set a rookie scoring mark of 37.6 points per game. During the November 7, 1959, game between Russell’s Celtics and Chamberlain’s Warriors, it was referred to as “The Big Collision,” and critics labelled it “Battle of the Titans.” It was hailed as a “new beginning of basketball” even though Chamberlain outscored Russell 30-22, and the Celtics triumphed 115-106.

One of basketball’s biggest rivalries was formed between Russell and Chamberlain. In 1964, the Celtics won a championship against Chamberlain’s Warriors in San Francisco.

Despite Chamberlain’s superiority in terms of rebounds and points per game (28.7 vs. 23.7, 28.7 vs. 14.5) and their entire careers (22.9% vs. 22.5%, 30.1 vs. 15.1), Russell was frequently cited as the superior player since his teams won 87 of those 142 lifetime head-to-head matchups.

It was Russell and the Celtics who prevailed in seven of the eight playoff series in which they faced off. With 11 championship rings, Russell has more than twice as many as Chamberlain does;

“I was the villain because I was so much larger and stronger than everybody else out there,” Chamberlain said in a 1995 interview. When Bill was younger, he was a happy-go-lucky man who had a fantastic sense of humour. Additionally, he was a member of the greatest squad ever.

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There’s nothing wrong with being envious of someone else’s success since my team was losing. Not so fast. I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. In the end, he was the best, and that made me even better.”

His position in Basketball’s history was guaranteed when Russell resigned from the sport and went on to host and write for radio and television talk shows and newspaper essays on a wide range of topics after retiring from the sport.

When Russell became a coach and general manager of the Seattle SuperSonics in 1973, the team had been an expansion franchise for six years but never made the playoffs. The Sonics had a successful season in 2016, winning 26 games and selling 350 tickets. Russell led the team to 36, 43, 43, and 40 victories, as well as two playoff appearances. There were already about 5,000 season ticket holders in place, and they had two NBA Finals-bound teams in the next two years.

Reportedly annoyed by the squad’s unwillingness to accept his team concept, Russell resigned. Some speculated that Russell was to blame; he was perceived as distant, gloomy, and unable to accept anything other than the Celtics’ longstanding traditions. Although Russell had tried in vain to impart the concept of working as a team, two years later Lenny Wilkens helped Seattle win the championship.

Russell returned to coaching in 1987-88, taking over for Jerry Reynolds as head coach of the Sacramento Kings early in the season. Russel left the squad in the middle of the season, leading to a 17-41 record and a playoff appearance for the team.

Colour analyst on televised basketball games was Russell’s most prominent role during their coaching tenure. Rick Barry and he offered brutally honest commentary on the game during their time together. According to the Sacramento Bee interview, “The most successful television is done in eight-second thoughts, and the things I know about basketball, motivation and people go deeper.”

Additionally, he dabbled in acting and writing, appearing in a production of the Seattle Children’s Theatre as well as an episode of “Miami Vice.” His autobiography, “Second Wind,” is a thought-provoking read.

Russ was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for the first time in 1975, and the Professional Basketball Writers Association of America named him the NBA’s all-time greatest player in 1980. The NBA named him to their 75th Anniversary Team in October of that year.

A statue of Russell was erected at City Hall Plaza in Boston in 2013.

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