Bill Russell

This article concerns the Boston Celtics star. For the baseball player, see Bill Russell (baseball).

William Felton Russell (born February 12, 1934) is a former American basketball player remembered for his central role in the Boston Celtics dynasty that won 11 championships in the 13 seasons, in which he led the Boston Celtics to eight straight championships. His major contribution to the sport was raising defensive play to a new level; he is commonly considered the greatest defensive center to ever play the game, and is considered by some to be the greatest basketball player of all-time. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1975. ^*

Russell holds the record for the most championships won in a North American sports league, with 11; the only other athlete to match this record is Henri Richard of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens.

Born in Monroe, Louisiana and raised in Oakland, California, the 6-foot 9-inch (2.06 m) tall Russell played at McClymonds High School and college basketball at the University of San Francisco, which he led to NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956, including an impressive string of 55 consecutive victories. For his college career, Russell averaged 20.7 points per game and 20.3 rebounds per game. Russell was also the captain of the 1956 United States men's Olympic basketball team, which cruised to the gold medal at the Melbourne Summer Games with an average margin of victory of 53.5 points.

Russell was drafted by the St. Louis Hawks but played for the Celtics from 1956 to 1969, winning the NBA championship every year except 1958 (losing in the finals) and 1967. In his first 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. Careerwise, Russell ranks second only to Wilt Chamberlain in regular season total (21,620) and average (22.5) rebounds. Russell's 51 rebounds in a single game is the second best performance ever (only trailing Wilt Chamberlain's record of 55), and he still holds the NBA record for rebounds in one half with 32. Russell is the all-time playoff leader in total (4,104) and average (24.9) rebounds, he grabbed 40 rebounds in three separate playoff games, and he never failed to average at least 20 rebounds per game in any of his 13 post-season campaigns. In his career, Russell won four rebounding titles and earned five MVP awards.

In 1966, legendary Celtics coach Red Auerbach named Russell his successor as head coach; he thus became the first African-American head coach in US major league team sports history. Russell served as player-coach from 1966 to 1969, winning two NBA championships; he later coached the Seattle SuperSonics (1973 to 1977) and Sacramento Kings (1987 to 1988), but did not succeed in winning another championship.

Russell has received virtually every NBA honor that exists, and in 1968, he received Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsman of the Year" award. In 1980, he was named the greatest player in the history of the NBA by the Professional Basketball Writers Association of America. He was exceptionally active in the American Civil Rights Movement. At one point, he refused to play a game when he and his black teammates were refused service at a local restaurant. In 1968 Russell's home was vandalized by bigots, an event that led him to call the city of Boston a "flea market of racism"^*.Bill Russell was also active in the "Black Power" movement. He was often called "Felton X" and he even purchased land in Liberia.

He was life-long friends with another legend, Wilt Chamberlain, who many consider to be the greatest ever offensive player; their on-court battles were perhaps the greatest individual rivalry in the history of the league. It should be noted however that Bill Russell never considered Chamberlain his rival and dislikes the term. In his book Russell Rules, Russell describes Chamberlain as his competitor, not his rival, because they were friends.

In recent years, he convinced Shaquille O'Neal to bury the hatchet with former teammate Kobe Bryant, with whom O'Neal had a bitter feud.

Russell has worked as a TV commentator on basketball since his retirement and is also the author of several books, usually written as a joint project with a professional writer. One, Second Wind, is rather different from the typical athlete's reminescences, being a sort of combined autobiography and athletic history of a particularly dramatic time in American history.

Player Profile

Russell could take over a game with his defense alone. Although blocked shots were not recorded during his time, Russell was undoubtedly one of the most prolific, if not the greatest shot blocker and shot changer in history. Some estimates from certain NBA officials have Russell averaging over 10 blocks a game during his career. Russell could not only put a body on opposing centers and shut them down, but also excelled as a help defender, swooping over to cover the weak side or intimidating opponents into making lower percentage shots, as well as disrupting fast breaks. He could leave his man, help out a teammate on defense and then recover his man, while still being able to grab the rebound. Knowing that Russell was guarding the paint, teammates would funnel opposing players into him. Russell's presence in the paint allowed the Celtics' perimeter defenders to be more daring when attempting a steal. Quick leaping ability, sense of anticipation, long arms and excellent lateral movement accounted for his shot blocking ability. Such was his defensive timing, Russell was able to block so many shots and successfully defend other centers and still manage to commit relatively few fouls. Alongside Wilt Chamberlain, Russell was one of the two best rebounders of his era, and managed to lead the league four times. Despite not being regarded as a big time scorer, Russell nevertheless was an extremely valuable catalyst for the Celtics offense. He mastered the art of blocking shots towards teammates, igniting a fast break. He would also pluck defensive rebounds and make mid-air outlet passes to teammate point guard Bob Cousy for easy fast break points. His numerous offensive boards gave the Celtics precious second chance scoring opportunities. He was one of the greatest passing big men of all time and was also excellent at setting picks. Extremely intelligent, possessing strong leadership qualities, athletically gifted, and dedicated to team play, Russell excelled in clutch situations and took his play to another level during the playoffs. In Russell's last year, the Celtics won their 11th championship in 13 years. When Russell retired, the Celtics won only 34 games and failed to make the playoffs, illustrating how valuable he was to his team.

Russell was not without his weaknesses however. At 6-9 (some have billed him at 6-10) and 220 pounds he did not possess the size and stature of his arch rival Chamberlain. He was not regarded as a top flight scorer. He was a poor free throw shooter, and possessed limited range, shooting just 44 percent from the field for his career. His post game was effective, but raw and rudimentary. He did have a decent left handed hook shot, and could hook with the right as well. His splended speed in running the floor made him an excellent fast break finisher. He scored a lot of points on put back shots off of offensive rebounds. Overall Russell is somewhat underrated as a scorer because of two reasons. The first being that he was constantly being compared to the high scoring Chamberlain. The second reason being that he simply did not need to score because the Celtics were already offensively potent. If forced into the role of first or second option on offensive, Russell would undoubtedly have scored more points.

Trivia

At McClymonds High School in Oakland, California, one of Russell's basketball teammates was a future Major League Baseball Hall-of-Famer, Frank Robinson.

The 1958 St. Louis Hawks and 1967 Philadelphia 76ers were the only two teams to prevent Russell from winning an NBA championship; coincidentally, both teams were coached by Alex Hannum.

Russell amassed 21,620 career rebounds, second in NBA history only to Chamberlain's 23,924.

Russell was offered a place in the legendary Harlem Globetrotters after College. However, when owner Abe Saperstein would only talk with Russell's white coach, he declined signing, saying that if Saperstein was too smart to talk to him, he was too smart to play for him. Consequently he signed with the Boston Celtics and became an NBA Hall of Famer.

Brother of playwright Charlie L. Russell.

Is left-handed.

Father of lawyer and television pundit Karen Russell.

At McClymonds High School, Russell only played varsity basketball in his senior year.

Guest starred on the television series Miami Vice as a corrupt judge.

Having won an NCAA Championship his final year with the University of San Franciso in 1956 and an NBA title with the Celtics in 1957, Russell is only one of four players in basketball history to win an NCAA championship and an NBA Championship back-to-back, the others being Henry Bibby (UCLA 1972, New York Knicks 1973), Magic Johnson (Michigan State University 1979, Los Angeles Lakers 1980) and Billy Thompson (University of Louisville 1986, Los Angeles Lakers 1987)

Books

Terry Pluto (1994). Tall Tales: The Glory Years of the NBA in the Words of the Men Who Played, Coached, and Built Pro Basketball. New York: Simon and Schuster.

External links

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Bill Russell

Player Profile

Trivia

Books

External links