(1934-2022)

Who Was Bill Russell?

Hall of Fame basketball center Bill Russell led the University of San Francisco to consecutive NCAA titles before starting his pro career with the Boston Celtics in 1956. Over the course of his 13-year NBA career, Russell steered the club to 11 titles. He retired in 1969 and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame six years later.

Early Years

Considered one of the greatest basketball players in NBA history, William Felton Russell was born on February 12, 1934, in Monroe, Louisiana. His early childhood was shaped by poor health, as the sickly Russell battled several different illnesses.

When Russell was 10, his father, Charlie, fed up with trying to navigate a racially charged South, moved his family across the country to Oakland, California, where he found work at a shipyard.

In California, life for the Russell family proved rocky. While Charlie found good work, in 1946 his wife, Katie, became quite sick with the flu and died. Russell was grief-stricken by the death of his mother, who’d been his biggest advocate and pushed him to work hard in school. In the wake of her passing he committed himself to his studies.

Outside the classroom, Russell began playing basketball. His talent did not immediately shine through. Athletically awkward at first, Russell struggled to find playing time on the team at McClymonds High School in Oakland. But by his senior year, his game had picked up enough to earn him a starting spot.

University of San Francisco Star and Olympic Gold Medalist

Russell’s 6’9″ frame also earned plenty of attention. In the fall of 1952, he tried out as a walk-on at the University of San Francisco and earned a scholarship.

It wasn’t long before the defensively adept Russell proved to be dominating presence, with a scorer’s touch and uncanny ability to rebound. During his three-year varsity career, in which he led the team to consecutive NCAA titles in 1955 and 1956, he averaged 20.7 points and 20.3 rebounds per game.

Russell capped his amateur career by leading the U.S. men’s basketball team to the gold medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

Boston Celtics Career and Championships

That same year, in the NBA draft, the Boston Celtics orchestrated a deal with the St. Louis Hawks and traded for the draft rights to the young center. The team’s coach, Red Auerbach, coveted Russell as the missing piece to what he believed could be a championship roster.

With Russell anchoring the middle of the floor, the Celtics finished with the NBA’s best record in 1957, and went on to win the title over the Hawks in a tense seven-game series. It was the start of an unprecedented championship run for Russell and the Celtics. Over his 13 seasons in the league, the team played in 12 NBA finals, winning 11 of them.

Even against more physically imposing centers, like Wilt Chamberlain, Russell was a defensive and rebounding force. Five times he was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player, and his 21,620 rebounds are second only to Chamberlain’s career mark. He most likely would have led the league in blocked shots many times, but the NBA had not yet started keeping track of the statistic.

Following the 1966 season, in which Russell led the Celtics to an eighth consecutive title, Auerbach retired from coaching. Rather than play for somebody else, Russell took over as a player-coach, steering the team to titles in 1968 and 1969.

Executive and Hall of Fame

Following the 1969 season, Russell retired from the game. Over the next several decades he periodically came back to the game as a coach or as an executive, but his teams failed to win with the kind of regularity he enjoyed as a player. He last led the Sacramento Kings as president of basketball operations in the late 1980s.

Russell was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1975.

Personal Life

Even as he won on the court, Russell, an outspoken backer of the Civil Rights Movement, experienced his struggles off of it. He was never embraced by Boston fans in the way his white teammates were. On the road it was not uncommon for him to have to sleep in a different hotel from the one the rest of the club used.

Russell was married three times. With his first wife, Rose, to whom he was married for 17 years, he had three children: a daughter, Karen, and two sons, Buddha and Jacob.

In 2010 Russell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civil honor, from President Barack Obama.

Russel died on July 31, 2022. He was 88 years old.

On August 11, 2022, the NBA announced the retirement of Russell’s No. 6 jersey across the entire league.

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QUICK FACTS

• Name: Bill Russell
• Birth Year: 1934
• Birth date: February 12, 1934
• Birth State: Louisiana
• Birth City: Monroe
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: 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.
• Astrological Sign: Aquarius
• Schools
• University of San Francisco
• Death Year: 2022
• Death date: July 31, 2022

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CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Bill Russell Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/athletes/bill-russell
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: August 11, 2022
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014

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QUOTES

• Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory.