His family broke the news on social media, saying Russell died with his wife, Janine, by his side. The statement did not give a cause of death, but Russell was not well enough to present the NBA Finals MVP trophy in June because of a long illness. “Bill’s wife, Jeannine, and his many friends and family thank you for keeping Bill in your prayers. Perhaps you will relive one or two of the golden moments he gave us, or recall his trademark laugh as he delighted in explaining the real story behind how those moments unfolded,” the family’s statement said. “And we hope that each of us can find a new way to act or speak with Bill’s uncompromising, dignified and always constructive commitment to principles. That would be a final and lasting victory for our beloved .6.” An announcement… pic.twitter.com/KMJ7pG4R5Z —@RealBillRussell NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement that Russell was “the greatest champion in all of team sports.” “Bill stood for something much bigger than sports: the values of equality, respect and inclusion that he built into the DNA of our league. At the height of his athletic career, Bill strongly supported civil rights and social justice, a legacy that left generations of NBA players following in his footsteps,” Silver said. “Through taunts, threats and unimaginable adversity, Bill rose above it all and remained true to his belief that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity . A Hall of Famer, five-time Most Valuable Player and 12-time All Star, Russell in 1980 was voted the greatest player in NBA history by the basketball writers. He remains the sport’s most prolific scorer as a player and the archetype of unselfishness he won with defense and rebounding while letting others score. Often, that meant Wilt Chamberlain, the only player of the era who was a worthy match for Russell. But Russell dominated the only statistic he cared about: 11 championships to two.
“He rode with King. stood beside Ali
The Louisiana native also made a lasting mark as a Black athlete in a city — and country — where race is often a flashpoint. He was at the March on Washington in 1963 when King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech and supported Muhammad Ali when the boxer was busted for refusing to be drafted into the military. “Being the greatest champion in your sport, revolutionizing the way the game is played and being a social leader all at the same time seems unthinkable, but that was Bill Russell,” the Boston Celtics said in a statement. In 2011, President Barack Obama presented Russell with the Medal of Freedom along with Congressman John Lewis, billionaire investor Warren Buffett, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and baseball great Stan Musial. “Bill Russell, the man, is someone who stood up for the rights and dignity of all people,” Obama said at the ceremony. “He marched with King, stood by Ali. When a restaurant refused to serve the Black Celtics, he refused to play in the scheduled game. He put up with insults and vandalism, but continued to focus on making the teammates he loved better players and made it possible the success of so many who would follow.” Russell said that growing up in the segregated South and later in California, his parents instilled in him a quiet confidence that allowed him to brush off racist taunts. “Years later, people would ask me what I had to go through,” Russell said in 2008. “Unfortunately, or fortunately, I’ve never been through anything. From the first moment I was alive it was the idea that my mother and father loved my.” It was Russell’s mother telling him to ignore the comments of those who would see him playing in the yard. “No matter what they say, good or bad, they don’t know you,” she recalled him saying. “They are fighting their own demons.” But it was Jackie Robinson who gave Russell a road map for dealing with racism in his sport: “Jackie was a hero to us. He always acted like a man. He showed me the way to be a man in professional sports.” The feeling was mutual, Russell learned, when Robinson’s widow, Rachel, called and asked him to be a pallbearer at her husband’s funeral in 1972. “He hung up and I asked myself, ‘How can you be a hero to Jackie Robinson?’ Russell said. “I was so flattered.” William Felton Russell was born on February 12, 1934 in Monroe, Louisiana. He was a child when his family moved to the West Coast and he attended high school in Oakland, California, and then the University of San Francisco. He led the Dons to NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956 and won a gold medal in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. Celtics coach and general manager Red Auerbach coveted Russell so much that he traded to the St. Louis Hawks for the second pick in the draft. He promised the No. 1-ranked Rochester Royals a lucrative visit from the Ice Capades, also managed by Celtics owner Walter Brown. However, Russell arrived in Boston to complain that he wasn’t that good. “People said it was a wasted draft pick, wasted money,” he recalls. “They said: ‘He is no good. All he can do is block shots and rebound.” And Red said, “That’s enough.” Bill Russell won a record 11 NBA championships and won five MVP awards. He is one of only four players to be named to all four NBA anniversary teams (25th, 35th, 50th and 75th). More about his extraordinary career ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/YWShOei3Mo —@NBAPR The Celtics also took Tommy Heinsohn and KC Jones, Russell’s college teammate, in the same draft. Although Russell joined the team late because he was leading the USA to Olympic gold, Boston finished the regular season with the league’s best record. The Celtics won the NBA championship – their first of 17 – in a seventh game double overtime against the St. Louis Hawks by Bob Pettit. Russell won his first MVP award the following season, but the Hawks won the title in a rematch of the Finals. The Celtics won it again in 1959, starting an unprecedented streak of eight straight NBA crowns. The 6-foot-10 center Russell never averaged more than 18.9 points during his 13 seasons, each year averaging more rebounds per game than points. For 10 seasons he averaged more than 20 rebounds. He once had 51 rebounds in a game. Chamberlain holds the record with 55. Auerbach retired after winning the 1966 title and Russell became a player-coach – the first black coach in NBA history and nearly a decade before Frank Robinson took over baseball’s Cleveland Indians. Boston finished with the second best regular season record in the NBA and their title streak ended with a loss to Chamberlain and the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Division finals. Russell led the Celtics to back-to-back titles in 1968 and ’69, winning seven-game playoff series against Chamberlain each time. Russell retired after the ’69 Finals, returning for a relatively successful — but unfulfilled — four-year stint as coach and GM of the Seattle SuperSonics and a less fruitful half-season as coach of the Sacramento Kings. Russell’s No. 6 jersey was retired by the Celtics in 1972. He earned spots on the NBA’s 25th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1970, the 35th Anniversary Team in 1980 and the 75th Anniversary Team. In 1996, he was hailed as one of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players. In 2009, the NBA Finals MVP trophy was named in his honor — even though Russell never won it himself, because it wasn’t first awarded until 1969. However, Russell traditionally presented the trophy for many years, most recently time in 2019 to Kawhi Leonard. Russell was not there in 2020 due to the NBA bubble nor in 2021 due to concerns about COVID-19. In 2013, a statue was unveiled in Boston’s City Hall Plaza of Russell surrounded by granite boulders with quotes about leadership and character. Russell was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1975, but did not attend the ceremony, saying he should not have been the first African-American inducted. (Chuck Cooper, the NBA’s first black player, was his choice.) In 2019, Russell accepted his Hall of Fame ring at a private gathering. “I felt that others before me should have had this honor,” he tweeted. “I’m glad to see progress.” Silver said he “called frequently [Russell] Basketball’s Babe Ruth on How He Defied Time.” “Bill was the ultimate winner and the perfect teammate, and his impact on the NBA will forever be felt,” added Silver. “We send our deepest condolences to his wife, Jeannine, his family and his many friends.” His family said arrangements for Russell’s memorial service will be announced in the coming days.
