Bill Russell was a part of the Boston Celtics dynasty that won eight straight titles and 11 overall. The Hall of Fame member died.
A statement on social media said that Russell died peacefully with his wife at his side. There will be a memorial service soon.
Bill's understanding of the struggle lit up his life. Bill received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010 for his decades of activism.
Bill's wife, Jeannine, and his friends and family would like to thank you for your prayers. Maybe you'll remember one or two of the golden moments he gave us, or maybe you'll remember his trademark laugh as he explained how those moments unfolded. We hope that every one of us can find a new way to speak up with Bill's always constructive commitment to principle. That would be the final victory for our beloved #6.
An announcement... pic.twitter.com/KMJ7pG4R5Z
— TheBillRussell (@RealBillRussell) July 31, 2022
Russell was the most remarkable player in the history of team sports over the course of 15 years. He was a two time All-American and two time NCAA champion at the University of South Florida. He won a gold medal at the games.
In 13 years in Boston, he carried the Celtics to 12 NBA Finals and 11 NBA Championship titles. Russell was hospitalized when the Celtics lost to the Hawks in 1958. The Celtics lost two games in a row.
Russell was one of the best shot blockers in NBA history. He was the league's leading rebounder four times and finished his career with 21,620. He had 1,000 or more rebound in 12 of the last 13 seasons. Over his career, Russell averaged over 15 points and 4.5 assists per game.
Russell was considered the greatest player in NBA history until Michael Jordan came along.
The nation's highest civilian honor was given to Russell in 2011. The NBA gave him a lifetime achievement award.
William Russell was born in Louisiana. He attended McClymonds High School in Oakland. He was an unremarkable center on the basketball team but his size earned him a scholarship to the University of San Francisco.
Russell told The New York Times that he was an innovative person. I had never seen a shot blocked before. The first time I did that, my coach told me not to leave my feet.
Russell and K.C. Jones led the Dons to 55 straight wins and two national titles. Jones didn't play in the 1956 tournament because his eligibility had expired. The NCAA tournament's Most Outstanding Player was Russell. The US basketball team won the gold medal at the Olympics.
The Celtics wanted to add Russell to their lineup when the NBA draft came around. The Celtics lacked the defense and rebounded needed to become a championship-caliber club, according to Auerbach. The missing piece was Russell.
Russell was traded to Ed Macauley after the Hawks selected him.
The starting five for Boston were Russell, Heinsohn, Cousy, Sharman and Loscutoff. The Celtics had the best regular-season record in the NBA in 1957 and went on to win the NBA title.
The Celtics and Hawks played the first two games of the NBA finals in Boston. Russell injured his ankle in the third game of the series and was unable to play the rest of the series. In the six games, the Hawks won.
The Celtics went on to win 10 titles in 11 years and give professional basketball a level of prestige it had not enjoyed before.
Russell made a huge impact on the game. He was a 6-foot-9 center with lightning reflexes who brought shot- blocking and other defensive maneuvers to the table.
After eight straight titles, Auerbach retired as coach and gave the job to Russell. Russell was the first Black coach of a major league team in any sport and so distinguished a team. Russell and Auerbach didn't see the move like that. Russell won two more titles in the next three years because they felt it was the best way to win.
Age was their biggest challenge. Russell retired after winning his 11th championship at the age of 35. The NBA expanded from eight to 14 teams. Russell was able to win a title without having to survive more than three rounds.
Bob Ryan, a former Celtics beat writer, said that Bill Russell would be the best rebounder in the league if he came back today. He was way ahead of his time as an athlete. He wouldn't win 11 titles in 13 years.
Russell's career was partly defined by his rivalry with Wilt Chamberlain.
In the 1959-60 season, the 7-foot-1 Chamberlain, who averaged a record 38.6 points per game in his first season, made his debut with the Philadelphia Warriors. On November 7, 1959 Russell's Celtics hosted Chamberlain's Warriors, and pundits called the game between the best offensive and defensive centers "The Big Collision" and "Battle of theTitans." The Celtics won the game 115-106 and were called a "new beginning of basketball" by the media.
One of basketball's great rivalries was between Russell and Chamberlain. In 1964, the Celtics won a title against the Warriors.
Russell usually got the nod as the better over the course of their 142 career games, even though they outrebounded and scored more than the other way around.
Russell and the Celtics won seven in the playoffs. Only one championship ring was won against Russell's Celtics.
In 1995 he told the Boston Herald that he was the villain because he was so big and strong. Bill was a happy man back then and he had a great laugh. He was a member of the greatest team of all time.
It would be natural for me to be jealous since my team was losing. It's not true. I'm happy with the outcome. He was the best, and that brought out the best in me.
After Russell retired from basketball, he moved into broader spheres, hosting radio and television talk shows, and writing newspaper columns.
Russell took over the Seattle SuperSonics in 1973, a team that had never made the playoffs. The Sonics sold 350 season tickets and won 26 games. They made the playoffs twice under Russell. They had 5,000 season tickets and enough to get to the NBA finals in the next two years.
The players were reluctant to embrace Russell's team idea. Russell was thought to be the problem, as he was unable to accept anything but the Celtics' traditions. The same team concept that Russell tried to instill was preached by the same man who led Seattle to a title two years later.
Russell took over as coach of the Sacramento Kings early in the 1987-88 season after leaving Seattle. Russell left the team at the end of the season.
Russell was most visible as a color commentator when he was a coach. He and Rick Barry would provide brutally frank commentary on the game. Russell told the Bee that the most successful television is done in eight-second thoughts and that the things he knows about basketball, motivation and people go deeper than that.
He acted in a Seattle Children's Theatre show and in an episode of "Miami Vice" as well as writing a provocative book.
He was voted the greatest player in the history of the NBA by the Professional Basketball Writers Association of America in 1980. He was a member of the 75th anniversary team.
Russell was honoured with a statue in Boston.
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