[38] The Celtics broke a league record by winning 52 games, and Russell's strong performance once again helped lead the Celtics through the post-season, as they returned to the NBA Finals. [34] Auerbach later claimed that Brown offered Harrison guaranteed performances of the Ice Capades if they did not draft Russell; it is difficult to verify or disprove this, but it is clear that the Royals underrated Russell. Over the years, other rule changes have been made to counter the dominant play of big men. In the 1959 NBA Finals, the Celtics recaptured the NBA title, sweeping the Minneapolis Lakers 4–0. While Saperstein spoke to Woolpert in a meeting, Globetrotters assistant coach Harry Hanna tried to entertain Russell with jokes. [33], Russell was considered the consummate defensive center, noted for his defensive intensity, basketball IQ, and will to win. [148] In 1995, the Celtics left Boston Garden and entered the FleetCenter, now the TD Garden, and as the main festive act, the Boston organization wanted to re-retire Russell's jersey in front of a sellout audience. Ob seiner Meisterschaftserfolge als Celtic gilt Bill Russell als größter Gewinner in der Geschichte des US-amerikanischen Ballsports. "[64][140], As a result of repeated racial bigotry, Russell refused to respond to fan acclaim or friendship from his neighbors, thinking it was insincere and hypocritical. DeFord, Frank, The Best American Magazine Writing 2000, Public Affairs/Perseus, 2000, pg 23, West Coast Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year, San Francisco Dons men's basketball 1954–55 NCAA champions, San Francisco Dons men's basketball 1955–56 NCAA champions, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award, NFL players kneeling during the US national anthem, List of National Basketball Association career minutes played leaders, List of National Basketball Association career rebounding leaders, List of National Basketball Association career playoff rebounding leaders, List of National Basketball Association annual minutes leaders, List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career rebounding leaders, "Bill Russell, K.C. Name + "Statistics" Translations. He later recalled, "To play good defense ... it was told back then that you had to stay flatfooted at all times to react quickly. [1] He also was known as a fine passer and pick-setter, featured a decent left-handed hook shot and finished strong on alley oops. Russell became a vegetarian, took up golf and worked as a color commentator for CBS and TBS throughout the 1970s into the mid-1980s, but he was uncomfortable as a broadcaster. underline indicates incomplete record; Appearances on Leaderboards, Awards, and Honors. Woolpert emphasized defense and deliberate half-court play, which favored Russell's exceptional defensive skills. About Bill Russell. [146] When Russell originally retired, he demanded that his jersey be retired in an empty Boston Garden. He replied "Yes." [150], This article is about the basketball player. The team’s coach, Red Auerbach, coveted Russell as the missing piece to what he believed could be a championship roster. Russell. William Felton „Bill“ Russell (* 12. [28] Like fellow world-class high-jumpers of that era, Russell did not use the Fosbury Flop high-jump technique with which all high jump world records after 1978 have been set. Der professionelle Hochstapler Roy Courtnay kann sein Glück kaum fassen, als er online die Bekanntschaft der betuchten Witwe Betty McLeish macht. But Russell and little-used fifth forward Gene Guarilia successfully pressured Baylor into missed shots. During Russell's college career, the conference was known as the California Basketball Association. He was one of five, along with John Wooden, Oscar Robertson, Dean Smith and Dr. James Naismith, selected to represent the inaugural class. William Seward was a New York governor and U.S. senator before serving as secretary of state under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! [85] The following day, during halftime of the All-Star game, Celtics captains Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen presented Russell a surprise birthday cake for his 75th birthday. NBA-Legende Bill Russell überreicht die nach ihm benannte Trophäe für den Finals-MVP an Andre Iguodala von den Golden State Warriors. Hailed as the greatest winner in sports, Basketball Hall of Fame center Bill Russell led the Boston Celtics to an unprecedented 11 championships in 13 seasons. He still holds the NBA record for rebounds in one half with 32 (vs. Philadelphia, on November 16, 1957). [56] At that time, he became the fourth player in Celtics history to have a triple-double, joining Ed Macauley, Bob Cousy and K.C. Bill Russell had a net worth $10 Million as of April 2021. The United States dominated the tournament, winning by an average of 53.5 points per game. Russell, who had a difficult relationship with the media, did not attend either ceremony. [73], Russell's No. The Celtics won, earning their first NBA Championship. On June 18, 2007, Russell was inducted as a member of the founding class of the FIBA Hall of Fame. One of his highest jumps occurred at the West Coast Relays, where he achieved a mark of 6 feet 9 1⁄4 inches (2.06 m);[27] at the meet Russell tied Charlie Dumas, who would later in the year win gold in the Melbourne Olympics for the United States and become the first person to high-jump 7 feet (2.13 m). "[63] The Celtics' championship streak ended at eight in his first full season as head coach when Wilt Chamberlain's Philadelphia 76ers won a record-breaking 68 regular season games and beat the Celtics 4–1 in the 1967 Eastern Finals. I averaged over 20 points and over 20 rebounds, and I was the only guy in college blocking shots. - The DealRoom", "Glory at the Basket, William Felton Russell", "The Ring Leader: Bill Russell helped the Celtics rule their sport like no team ever has", "Celtics Name Russell Coach, Making Him First Negro to Lead Major Team", "A Farewell Fiercest Rival: Bill Russell Recalls Wilt As His Friend For Eternity", "Bill Russell: Working with Rod Auerbach", https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/celtics/2019/11/15/more-than-years-later-celtics-great-bill-russell-finally-accepts-his-hall-fame-ring/Ns13MPvfsEJwHl06QMdLnN/story.html, "Third Annual "We Are Boston" Event Honors Outstanding Contributions to Boston's Diversity", "Bill Russell: 'Tell those NFL players, I'm with them, UPI College Basketball Player of the Year Award, Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year, NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player, 1955 NCAA Men's Basketball Consensus All-Americans, 1956 NCAA Men's Basketball Consensus All-Americans, NBA All-Star Game Kobe Bryant Most Valuable Player Award, National Basketball Association's 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bill_Russell&oldid=1016050367, African-American sports executives and administrators, American sports executives and administrators, All-American college men's basketball players, Basketball players at the 1955 NCAA Men's Division I Final Four, Basketball players at the 1956 NCAA Men's Division I Final Four, Basketball players at the 1956 Summer Olympics, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees, National Basketball Association players with retired numbers, National Basketball Association broadcasters, National Basketball Association All-Stars, National Basketball Association championship-winning head coaches, Olympic gold medalists for the United States in basketball, San Francisco Dons men's basketball players, San Francisco Dons men's track and field athletes, United States men's national basketball team players, Pages using Sister project links with hidden wikidata, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Career statistics and player information from, This page was last edited on 5 April 2021, at 03:38. The team utilized a strong defensive approach to the game, forcing opposing teams to commit many turnovers, which led to many easy points on fast breaks. And before Bill Russell, no black coach had ever led an NBA team, much less win a championship. [71] It was so surprising that even Red Auerbach was blindsided, and as a consequence, he made the "mistake" of drafting guard Jo Jo White instead of a center. [43], In Game 1 of the Eastern Division Finals, the Celtics met the Syracuse Nationals, who were led by Dolph Schayes. Russell led USF to NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956, including a string of 55 consecutive victories. Bill Bradley for the New York Times Book Review wrote of Red and Me, "Bill Russell is a private, complex man, but on the subject of his love of Red Auerbach and his Celtic teammates, he's loud and clear. Bill Russell. [119][120] For his promotion to coach, the Celtics paid Russell an annual salary of $25,000 which was in addition to his salary as a player. Reserve guard Alex Hannum threw a long alley oop pass to Pettit, and Pettit's tip-in rolled indecisively on the rim for several seconds before rolling out again. Flavor Flav is an American hip-hop artist known for his work with Public Enemy and for his appearances on multiple reality television series. [90], Russell is one of the most successful and decorated athletes in North American sports history. [41] In Boston, both fans and journalists felt betrayed, because Russell left the Celtics without a coach and a center and sold his retirement story for $10,000 to Sports Illustrated. In overtime, the fourth forward, Frank Ramsey, fouled out trying to guard Elgin Baylor, so Russell was completely robbed of his usual four-men wing rotation. He told her to go home and remove the dress, which he described as "white woman's clothing". Their 48–34 record was the team's worst since 1955–56, and they entered the playoffs as only the fourth-seeded team in the East. The relationship was shrouded in controversy because Anstett was white. Finden Sie perfekte Stock-Fotos zum Thema Bill Russell 1969 sowie redaktionelle Newsbilder von Getty Images. Here, Russell ran down Hawks guard Jack Coleman, who had received an outlet pass at midcourt, and blocked his shot despite the fact that Russell had been standing at his own baseline when the ball was thrown to Coleman. [38] Boston defeated the Cincinnati Royals 4–1 to earn another NBA Finals appearance, and then won against Chamberlain's newly relocated San Francisco Warriors 4–1. [5] While there, they fell into poverty, and Russell spent his childhood living in a series of public housing projects. "[11] Russell, in an autobiographical account, notes while on a California High School All-Stars tour, he became obsessed with studying and memorizing other players' moves (e.g., footwork such as which foot they moved first on which play) as preparation for defending against them, which included practicing in front of a mirror at night. [59] It was their sixth consecutive and seventh title in Russell's eighth year, a streak unreached in any U.S. professional sports league. Anmelden Benutzername oder E-Mail. In that season, Russell's Celtics won a record 59 regular season games (including a then-record tying 17 game win streak) and met Chamberlain's Warriors in the Eastern Division Finals. The Celtics made good use of the fact that the Los Angeles Lakers had exhausted St. Louis in a long seven-game Western Conference Finals, and the Celtics convincingly won in five games.[51][52]. The Celtics surprisingly won Game 4, but the Hawks prevailed in Games 5 and 6, with Pettit scoring 50 points in the deciding Game 6. UCLA coach John Wooden called Russell "the greatest defensive man I've ever seen". When I started to jump to make defensive plays and to block shots, I was initially corrected, but I stuck with it, and it paid off. [5], Charles Russell was described as a "stern, hard man" who initially worked in a paper factory as a janitor, which was a typical "Negro Job"—low paid and not intellectually challenging, as sports journalist John Taylor commented. William Wagner „Bill“ Russell (* 26. It wasn’t long before the defensively adept Russell proved to be dominating presence, with a scorer’s touch and uncanny ability to rebound. In 1954, he became the first coach of a major college basketball squad to start three black players: Russell, K. C. Jones and Hal Perry. He played in 11 deciding games (10 times in Game 7s, once in a Game 5), and ended with a flawless 11–0 record. Bill Russell was born in 1925 in Plymouth, UK. The art is by Ann Hirsch of Somerville, Massachusetts, in collaboration with Pressley Associates Landscape Architects of Boston. Career-wise in rebounds, Russell ranks second to Wilt Chamberlain in regular season total (21,620) and average per game (22.5), and he led the NBA in average rebounds per game four times. Listen up. Bill O'Reilly hosted the popular cable news program 'The O'Reilly Factor,' which began airing on Fox News in 2001. Russell further described himself as an avid reader of Dell Magazines' 1950s sports publications, which he used to scout opponents' moves for the purpose of defending against them. Over 50 percent of responses said 'There's too many black players. He led the NBA in rebounds four times, had a dozen consecutive seasons of 1,000 or more rebounds,[4] and remains second all-time in both total rebounds and rebounds per game. Jones. [78][145], Russell refused to attend the ceremony when his jersey #6 was retired in 1972; he also refused to attend his induction into the Hall of Fame in 1975. Russell capped his amateur career by leading the U.S. men’s basketball team to the gold medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Explanation; Players with careers of similar quality and shape (thru 2019-20) College Stats. When Chamberlain died in 1999, Chamberlain's nephew said that Russell was the second person he was told to call. For other people with the same name or similar name, see, Racist abuse, controversy, and relationship with Boston fans. Auerbach, however, knew that the Rochester Royals, who owned the first draft pick, already had a strong rebounder in Maurice Stokes, were looking for an outside shooting guard, and were unwilling to pay Russell the $25,000 signing bonus he requested. One makes himself look good at the expense of the other guys on the floor. He was convinced that the U.S. was a corrupt nation and that he was wasting his time playing something as superficial as basketball. Even against more physically imposing centers, like Wilt Chamberlain, Russell was a defensive and rebounding force. A five-time NBA Most Valuable Player and a 12-time All-Star, he was the centerpiece of the Celtics dynasty that won eleven NBA championships during his 13-year career. I think that there are 8 players in NBA history that you can make the argument for as the Greatest of All Time. [23], On the hardwood, his experiences were far more pleasant. He was nominated for an Oscar for his seriocomic role in 'Lost in Translation.'. [45], In the following 1958–59 season, Russell continued his strong play, averaging 16.7 points per game and 23.0 rebounds per game in the regular season. In Game 4, the Celtics were trailing by one point with seven seconds left and the Lakers having the ball, but then Baylor stepped out of bounds, and in the last play, Sam Jones used a triple screen by Bailey Howell, Larry Siegfried and Havlicek and hit a buzzer beater which equalized the series. Bei den Olympischen Spielen 1956 war er Kapitän des US-Teams, welches im Basketball Gold für die USA gewann. Constantly provoked by New York Knicks center Ray Felix during a game, he complained to coach Auerbach, who told him to take matters into his own hands. [6] Russell was closer to his mother Katie than to his father,[6] and he received a major emotional blow when she suddenly died when he was 12 years old. Ein guter Grund, um einen Deep Dive zu unternehmen und ihn ganzheitlich zu würdigen. Russell has been married three times. This would occur repeatedly throughout his career. After much debate, Auerbach agreed to give up Hagan, and the Hawks made the trade. [38] During this season, the Celtics featured five future Hall-of-Famers: center Russell, forwards Heinsohn and Frank Ramsey, and guards Bill Sharman and Bob Cousy. Brown, who gave him a high $24,000 rookie contract, just $1,000 shy of the top earning veteran Bob Cousy. In the post-season, the Celtics met the Philadelphia Warriors with Chamberlain. The Celtics won a league-record 62 games, and Russell averaged 14.1 points and 24.1 rebounds per game, winning his second consecutive rebounding title and his fifth MVP award. He played alongside future MLB great Frank Robinson on the Heritage High School basketball team in Oakland, California.. Achievement [44], In the NBA Finals, the Celtics met the St. Louis Hawks, who were again led by Bob Pettit, as well as former Celtic Ed Macauley. He also served a three-season (1966–69) stint as player-coach for the Celtics, becoming the first black coach in North American professional sports and the first to win a championship. Height: 213cm (6'11") Position: Center. However, Lakers coach Bill van Breda Kolff kept Chamberlain on the bench until the end of the game, saying later that he wanted to stay with the lineup responsible for the comeback. (K.C. [31], The Harlem Globetrotters invited Russell to join their exhibition basketball squad. "I never permitted myself to be a victim", he said. Chamberlain often invited Russell over for Thanksgiving dinner, and at Russell's place, conversation mostly concerned Russell's electric trains. In Game 6, Russell recorded 19 points, 24 rebounds and 10 assists as the Celtics won 119-105. On February 14, 2009, NBA Commissioner David Stern announced that the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award would be renamed the "Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award" in honor of the 11-time NBA champion. [121], In 1966, The New York Times wrote "Russell's main characteristics are pride, intelligence, an active and appreciative sense of humor, a preoccupation with dignity, a capacity for consideration once his friendship or sympathy has been aroused, and an unwillingness to compromise whatever truths he has accepted. Two examples are goaltending in response to George Mikan (1945) and prohibiting the dunk shot due to Lew Alcindor (1967), although the latter rule was later repealed. Bill Russell was born in 1934 to Charles Russell and Katie Russell in West Monroe, Louisiana. Russell, who was sensitive to any racial prejudice, was enraged by the fact that owner Abe Saperstein would only discuss the matter with Woolpert. Russell was elected to one NBA All-Defensive First Team. [100] Each plinth features a key word and related quote to illustrate Russell's multiple accomplishments. [81] Later that year, on November 17, 2006, the two-time NCAA winner Russell was recognized for his impact on college basketball as a member of the founding class of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. It would be to our advantage if we paid him off for five years to get away from us in the rest of this series. [32] He was active in the Black Power movement and supported Muhammad Ali's decision to refuse to be drafted. His parents were Charles Russell and Kutie Russell. Russell was grief-stricken by the death of his mother, who’d been his biggest advocate and pushed him to work hard in school. Russell made few public appearances in the early 1990s, living as a near-recluse on Mercer Island near Seattle. William Felton Russell (born February 12, 1934) is an American former professional basketball player who played center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969. On February 14, 2009, during the 2009 NBA All-Star Weekend in Phoenix, NBA Commissioner David Stern announced that the NBA Finals MVP Award would be named after Bill Russell. [1] Russell was known as one of the most clutch players in the NBA. [43] He alienated Celtics fans by saying, "You owe the public the same it owes you, nothing! [78] He was so tense before every game that he regularly vomited in the locker room; early in his career, it happened so frequently that his fellow Celtics were more worried when it did not happen than when it did. Even as he won on the court, Russell, an outspoken backer of the Civil Rights Movement, experienced his struggles off of it. [92], In his first NBA full season (1957–58), Russell became the first player in NBA history to average more than 20 rebounds per game for an entire season, a feat he accomplished 10 times in his 13 seasons. [76], After retiring as a player, Russell had stints as head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics (1973–1977) and Sacramento Kings (1987–1988). "[33], However, Russell seemed to reach a breaking point during the 1968–69 season. So we never, or at least I never, ever considered him as having ulterior motives for whatever he did. [10] Russell soon became noted for his unusual style of defense. [16] While at USF, together with K. C. Jones, he also helped pioneer a play that later became known as the alley-oop. When he became player-coach in 1966, Russell bluntly said to his teammates that "he intended to cut all personal ties to other players" and seamlessly made the transition from their peer to their superior. Clubs. Auch ist er als Gründervater der NBA gefragt und generell eine hochgeachtete Persönlichkeit. His early childhood was shaped by poor health, as the sickly Russell battled several different illnesses. [76] While Russell still has sore feelings towards Boston, there has been something of a reconciliation;[146] on November 15, 2019 Russell did accept the Hall of fame ring in a private ceremony with family,[147] and he has even visited the city regularly in recent years, something he never did in the years immediately after his retirement. [144], The FBI maintained a file on Russell, and described him in their file as "an arrogant Negro who won't sign autographs for white children". [20] Even after he became a star with the Boston Celtics, Russell was the victim of racial abuse. [64] Russell thus became the first black head coach in NBA history[1] and commented to journalists: "I wasn't offered the job because I am a Negro, I was offered it because Red figured I could do it. He later said, "The most successful television is done in eight-second thoughts, and the things I know about basketball, motivation, and people go deeper than that. And so [Walter Brown,] the… guy that owned the Celtics[,] was [in addition to Auerbach for whom Russell expressed "respect" and "actual love"] another one of the fine, good, and decent human beings that I've ever encountered… When the [Celtics] drafted Chuck Cooper and they came into Washington, D.C. to sign his contract, Walter Brown the owner of the team walked up to him and said 'Mr. When he attempted to leave and find a different station, the attendant stuck a shotgun in his face and threatened to kill him if he didn't stay and wait his turn. He became known for his strong defense and shot-blocking skills, once denying 13 shots in a game. https://www.biography.com/athlete/bill-russell. Russell was "proud of my grandfather's heroic dignity against forces more powerful than him...he would not allow himself to be oppressed or intimidated by anyone." Wählen Sie aus erstklassigen Inhalten zum Thema Bill Russell Basketballer in … [41], At the same time, Russell received much negative publicity as a player. [Auerbach would] get the information from us and then make a decision based on that information and his thoughts. "[33] The Celtics swept the Nationals in three games to earn the franchise's first appearance in the NBA Finals. [16] In his USF years, Russell took advantage of his relative lack of bulk to develop a unique defensive style: instead of purely guarding the opposing center, he used his quickness and speed to play help defense against opposing forwards and aggressively challenge their shots. The Bill Russell Legacy Foundation, established by the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation, funded the project. Following the 1969 season, Russell retired from the game. He is one of the greatest players of the Boston Celtics in NBA history. [40] This skill also allowed the other Celtics to play their men aggressively: if they were beaten, they knew that Russell was guarding the basket. Like almost all Southern towns and cities of that time, Monroe was very segregated, and the Russells often struggled with racism in their daily lives. [1] On February 5, 1960, Russell grabbed 51 rebounds in a 124-100 win over the Syracuse Nationals. In Game 2, Philadelphia evened the series with a 115–106 win, and in Games 3 and 4, the Sixers won, with Chamberlain suspiciously often defended by Celtics backup center Wayne Embry, causing the press to speculate Russell was worn down. [118] When Wilt Chamberlain became the first NBA player to earn $100,000 in salary in 1965, Russell went to Auerbach and demanded a $100,001 salary, which he promptly received. "[43] Before the 1961–62 season, Russell's team was scheduled to play in an exhibition game in Lexington, Kentucky, when Russell and his black teammates were refused service at a local restaurant. [40] Russell was an elite help defender who allowed the Celtics to play the so-called "Hey, Bill" defense: whenever a Celtic requested additional defensive help, he would shout "Hey, Bill!" The already hostile atmosphere between Russell and Boston hit its apex when vandals broke into his house, covered the walls with racist graffiti, damaged his trophies and defecated in the beds. [16] Decades later, Russell explained that his experiences hardened him against abuse of all kinds. [1], Russell again excelled during the 1964–65 season. Rather than play for somebody else, Russell took over as a player-coach, steering the team to titles in 1968 and 1969. And so the Celtics—all we looked for was: 'Can he play?' Nothing went on outside the borders[] of the court. [135] After that, the two were often seen together at various events and interviewed as friends. We strive for accuracy and fairness. In 2011, Barack Obama awarded Russell the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his accomplishments on the court and in the Civil Rights Movement.[1]. I could hear anything, I could see anything, and nothing mattered. Bill Russell was born on Feb 12, 1934, in Louisiana, US. In the autumn of 1944 his battalion was sent to Northwest Europe. Russell's 51 rebounds in a single game is the second-highest performance ever, trailing only Chamberlain's all-time record of 55. He wrote these words after recounting how grandfather Jake had stood up to the Ku Klux Klan and other whites who attempted to thwart his efforts to build a schoolhouse for black children (Jake Russell was the first person in Bill Russell's patrilineal line born free in North America, and was himself illiterate.[123]). Thus, in one night, the Celtics managed to draft three future Hall of Famers: Russell, Jones and Heinsohn. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. You are less. Over his 13 seasons in the league, the team played in 12 NBA finals, winning 11 of them. In the wake of her passing he committed himself to his studies. Auch ist er als Gründervater der NBA gefragt und generell eine hochgeachtete Persönlichkeit. But then, national tragedy struck on April 4, with the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. With eight of the ten starting players on Sixers and Celtics being black, both teams were in deep shock, and there were calls to cancel the series. Civil rights activist, 11x NBA Champ, Husband, Friend, & Co-Founder of @MENTORnational [42], At the start of the 1957–58 season, the Celtics won 14 straight games, and continued to succeed. [5] During World War II, large numbers of blacks were moving to the West to look for work there.