88-year-old ill Russell, a two-time NCAA Tournament champion at the University of San Francisco (USF) and an 11-time NBA champion who spent a large portion of his formative years in the Bay Area, passed away quietly on Sunday.
Russell is remembered for his contributions to the civil rights movement and for being one of the best basketball players of all time.
He didn't quite follow the conventional route to sports fame. Colleges paid little attention to Russell, the Oakland-based hooper who relocated to the city with his family when he was eight years old. Stars like LeBron James may have been recognized as great generational abilities from an early age, but Russell received little attention. He spent his junior year on the JV team at McClymonds High School and only participated in varsity basketball his senior year.
That all changed at USF, the only school to grant him a scholarship, where he competed as a high jumper and, after a productive year on the freshman squad, was promoted to starting center under head coach Phil Woolpert. In his sophomore season, he was the team's top scorer and helped them to a 14-7 record. He then guided the Dons to back-to-back national titles in 1955 and 1956, averaging more than 20 points and 20 rebounds per game each time.
In the 1950s, Bill Russell "helped put USF on the map," according to Rev. Paul J. Fitzgerald, the current president of the university. In addition to his numerous contributions to our community, the sports program, and Jesuit education, we are appreciative for his bravery and dedication to achieving justice both on and off the basketball court.
He was chosen by the St. Louis Hawks with the second overall choice in the 1956 NBA Draft because of his accomplishments. He was promptly traded to the Boston Celtics, where he swiftly established himself as one of the all-time greats in the game of basketball.
Russell chose to keep his amateur status so that he could compete in the Melbourne Olympics, which delayed the start of his NBA career until halfway through the 1956–57 campaign. He assisted in the gold medal victory of the American men's basketball team there.
He grabbed 31 rebounds in his debut postseason contest with the Celtics, an Eastern Division Final victory over the Syracuse Royals. And in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, which was winner-take-all, versus St. Louis, he pulled down 32 rebounds to help the Boston Celtics win their first championship in franchise history by a narrow margin of two points in double overtime.
Russell soon gained a reputation for success in Boston despite receiving racial slurs from supporters. The Hawks defeated the Celtics in the 1957 Finals, but Boston went on to win the following eight titles. Russell piled up 35 rebounds as the Celtics defeated St. Louis once more in 1960, this time in seven games. Unlike the 1957 match, the decisive game's 122-103 victory did not require two overtimes.
Throughout his career, Russell often delivered outstanding performances in championship games. For example, in Game 5 of the 1961 Finals, he led his team to victory over the Hawks with 31 points and 38 rebounds. In the 1962 NBA Finals, the Boston Celtics faced the Los Angeles Lakers for the first time. In a Game 7 overtime triumph, Russell tied his own record for most rebounds in a single NBA Finals game with 40. He willed the Celtics to a 95-93 victory in the seven-game 1966 series against the Lakers with 25 points and a game-high 32 rebounds.
In 1967, the first of Russell's three seasons as a player-coach, Wilt Chamberlain and the Philadelphia 76ers broke up Boston's hegemony. Russell led his team to a championship in both of his final two seasons, a feat that has only been accomplished by one other player-coach, Buddy Jeannette of the 1947–1948 Baltimore Bullets. Even though Russell's attention was hampered by the Vietnam War and other off-court difficulties during his final season, he finished strong, teaming up with John Havlicek to lead the Celtics to a seven-game NBA Finals victory over the Lakers. Boston became the first team to win the NBA Finals after losing the first two games thanks in large part to Russell's 26 rebounds in his final game as a professional, a 108-106 away victory.
After the 1969 Finals, Russell unexpectedly ended his career as a player and coach. He did work as the Seattle SuperSonics' coach for four years in the 1970s, and he dabbled with broadcasting, but when his playing days were over, politics was where he spent most of his time. From his family's decision to move from Monroe, Louisiana to Oakland when he was a boy to the response he received from journalists and fans, racism was a recurring element in Russell's life.
Because of his activities, the FBI began to monitor him; in a file, investigators described him as "an arrogant Negro who won't sign autographs for white youngsters."
After two of his teammates were refused service in a coffee shop, Russell, a prominent supporter of the Black Power movement, boycotted an exhibition game in Lexington, Kentucky in 1961. At the Cleveland Summit in 1967, Russell played a key role in promoting Muhammad Ali's stand against the Vietnam War draft.
Russell missed the retirement of his own jersey in 1972 and his entrance into the Hall of Fame in 1975 due to resentment over how he was treated in Boston. Nevertheless, he was present in 1999, 27 years after the original event, at a ceremony to re-retire his jersey. A fitting distinction for a man who went 21-0 in winner-take-all games during his collegiate, Olympic, and professional careers, the NBA renamed the Finals Most Valuable Player award the "Bill Russell Award" in 2009.
Russell was seen as a loner for the majority of his post-retirement years, but he did occasionally utilize social media in his later years to post about basketball and his trips. The moment he shared a picture of himself knelt in support of NFL players who were protesting after then-President Donald Trump said, "Get that son of a bitch off the field," however, was when he made his most notable social media post in September 2017.
William Jr., Jacob, and Karen are Russell's three surviving children. They were conceived when he was still married to Rose, his first wife. He had three additional marriages. The final of those four marriages was to Jeannine, a talented golfer who was 33 years younger than he was. He passed away with Jeannine by his side.
