Bill Russell, the great Lord of the Rings of the NBA

New York, United States | Bill Russell, the dominant center who won a record 11 championships as the cornerstone of the Boston Celtics dynasty, faced racism in the 1960s to become the NBA’s first black star.

Russell, who died on Sunday at the age of 88, was recognized with five NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards and captained the US team that won the gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics in 1956.

But the legendary ‘center’ is not only remembered for completing an unrivaled showcase of titles but also for revolutionizing the NBA’s defensive game, with levels of rebounds and blocks never seen before.

In 1957, at the age of 23, Russell won his first ring and between 1959 and 1966 he accumulated eight more in a row. In that last year he was named player-coach, being the first black coach in American sports, and in that facet he achieved his last two titles in 1968 and 1969, the year he was fired from the Celtics.

Russell was also the first black player to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1975 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011 for lifetime achievement in sports and civil rights.

Born on February 12, 1934, in Monroe, Louisiana, Russell’s family moved to Oakland, California when he was eight years old. His mother died four years later and she could not see how his son Bill won two state high school degrees and two university degrees with the University of San Francisco, after being rejected by other educational centers because of the color of his skin. .

The University of San Francisco team was the first to field black players, which then generated racist taunts in games and even the refusal of hotels to accept guests with that skin color, which led to everything the team slept in university residences.

“I never allowed myself to be a victim,” Russell said. The center was denied recognition as the best player in the region after winning the university title in 1955, which led him to focus more on his team’s achievements than on individual ones.

“That let me know that if I accepted them (the individual awards) as the final judges of my career, I would die a bitter old man,” he explained.

The center delayed his NBA debut to play in the 1956 Olympics, leading the US team with averages of 14.1 points per game. In his first season in the NBA, 1956/57, Russell already made an impact in the league with 14.7 points and 19.6 rebounds per game and added his first championship ring with the Celtics.

In 1958 he got his first MVP award but a foot injury influenced the green team to fall in the finals. The following year began the historic run of eight consecutive rings for Russell and his Celtics.

But the sporting glory had the bitter underside of the prevailing racism, which caused Russell and his teammates to often see how they could not stay in hotels during their exhibition games in some states of the country.

These incidents caused Russell, in turn, to snub autograph seekers and refuse for years to acknowledge the applause.

champion trainer

In 1966, legendary Celtics coach Red Auerbach decided to retire and Russell took over as the team’s star on the court.

“I wasn’t offered the job because I’m black. I was offered it because Red realized I could do it,” Russell said then.

In 1968, the United States was shocked by the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, on the eve of the Eastern Conference finals between Boston and Philadelphia.

In the midst of the commotion, there were calls to cancel the series but the finals were played and the Celtics were the first team to come back from 3-1 down, later winning three straight games and advancing to the NBA Finals, in the who defeated the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Celtics again defeated the Los Angeles franchise in the 1969 Finals, after which Russell ended his playing career. In 1972, the Celtics retired number 6 from him.

Throughout his 13 NBA seasons, Russell averaged 15.1 points and 22.5 rebounds per game, including a playoff-record 24.9 rebounds per game.

Outside of Boston, Russell coached two stints, first guiding the Seattle Supersonics from 1973 to 1977 to a record 162 wins and 166 losses, and then briefly with the Sacramento Kings in the 1987-88 campaign. which achieved 17 wins and 41 losses.



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