NBA champion, Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell dies at age 88

On Aug 1, 2022

Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell died Sunday at age 88, according to an announcement from his family.Russell, a 5-time NBA MVP and 12-time All-Star, was the first player to win an Olympic Gold Medal, an NBA Championship and a college title.His storied career has also included a Presidential Medal of Freedom, induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and 11 NBA championships with the Boston Celtics. Russell in 1980 was voted the greatest player in NBA history by basketball writers.He was also the first Black head coach in any major U.S. sport Off the court, Russell marched for civil rights with Martin Luther King Jr., supported Muhammad Ali and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.“He was the ‘champion of champions.’ We worked with him to put up the Bill Russell statue at City Hall. He was very proud because President Obama came to see the statue. It shows his impact went way beyond sports,” said Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca.In 1975, Russell refused to attend his Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony. When he finally accepted the ring in 2019, he said it was because he didn’t want to be the first Black player inducted.A statue of Russell sits on Boston’s City Hall Plaza, where it was unveiled in 2013.His obituary was posted Sunday to the NBA champion’s Twitter account.“Bill’s wife, Jeannine, and his many friends and family thank you for keeping Bill in your prayers. Perhaps you’ll 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 statement said. “And 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. That would be one last, and lasting, win for our beloved #6.”The statement did not give the cause of death, but Russell was not well enough to present the NBA Finals MVP trophy in June due to a long illness.”Arrangements for his memorial service will be announced soon,” the message also said. 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 stamped into the DNA of our league. At the height of his athletic career, Bill advocated vigorously for civil rights and social justice, a legacy he passed down to generations of NBA players who followed in his footsteps,” Silver said. “Through the taunts, threats and unthinkable adversity, Bill rose above it all and remained true to his belief that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity.”William Felton Russell was born on Feb. 12, 1934, in Monroe, Louisiana. He was a child when his family moved to the West Coast, and he went to 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 1956 at the Melbourne Olympics in Australia.Celtics coach and general manager Red Auerbach so coveted Russell that he worked out a trade with the St. Louis Hawks for the second pick in the draft. He promised the Rochester Royals, who owned the No. 1 pick, a lucrative visit by the Ice Capades, which were also run by Celtics owner Walter Brown. Still, Russell arrived in Boston to complaints that he wasn’t that good. “People said it was a wasted draft choice, wasted money,” he recalled. “They said, ‘He’s no good. All he can do is block shots and rebound.’ And Red said, ‘That’s enough.’” The Celtics also picked up Tommy Heinsohn and K.C. Jones, Russell’s college teammate, in the same draft. Although Russell joined the team late because he was leading the U.S. to the 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 double-overtime seventh game against Bob Pettit’s St. Louis Hawks. Russell won his first MVP award the next season, but the Hawks won the title in a finals rematch. The Celtics won it all again in 1959, starting an unprecedented string of eight consecutive NBA crowns.A 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; Wilt Chamberlain holds the record with 55. Auerbach retired after winning the 1966 title, and Russell became the player-coach – the first Black head coach in NBA history, and almost a decade before Frank Robinson took over baseball’s Cleveland Indians. Boston finished with the second-best regular-season record in the NBA, and its title streak ended with a loss to Chamberlain and the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Division finals.Russell led the Celtics back to titles in 1968 and ’69, each time…