The pvot, who won 11 rings in 13 seasons in Boston, has died at the age of 88. He was the first black star in NBA history and a civil rights activist.
In the Olympus of basketball already lives Bill Russell (Monroe, Louisiana, 1934), who died this Sunday at the age of 88, a legendary player not only for his achievements, a unique record, but also because he changed the history of one of the most successful franchises in world sport and became the first black NBA star. He, who suffered so much and fought against racism.
When he retired in 1969, aged 36 (an average of 15 points and 22.5 rebounds per game)He did it by winning what was his 11th ring in 13 years as a professional with the Boston Celtics. Like everything in his career, the goodbye was unmatched, a seventh game in Los Angeles against the Lakers, the eternal rival. Russell, who had a unique rivalry with his nemesis Wilt Chamberlainwho was able to dominate basketball from defense as never seen before, wrote the most glorious chapters of the green franchise.
He had come to the Celtics from Red Auerbach preceded by his college legend and after turning down an astronomical offer from the Harlem Globetrotters. With San Francisco he had conquered the NCAA two years in a row (1956 and 1957) after winning 55 career games. He had grown up in Oakland, where he arrived at the age of nine from Louisiana and where his family suffered from problems of racism. His 207 centimeters, his impressive size and his privileged legs made him a true defensive specialist who memorized the movements of his rivals. A revolution. At the Olympic Games in Melbourne he won gold and made his Celtics debut in December: in his fourth game he grabbed 34 rebounds against Philadelphia.
Under Russell, the Celtics were founding one of the longest dynasties in sports history. Already in his first season they won the ring, although in the following one, in which he had been named MVP, they fell in the final against the Hawks after he injured his ankle and had to play diminished. Next, they would win the NBA eight consecutive times.
Russell and those legendary Celtics from Bob Cousy, John Havlicek. Tom Heinshon, Bill Sharman o Sam Jones, among others, passed over franchises destined to win and legendary players. But no rivalry like the one he had with Chamberlain, two antagonistic pivots. They met head-to-head 142 times, with 88 wins for Russell and 74 for Chamberlain, who won neither of the seven-game series against the Celtics.
“Chamberlain was the most incredible physique I ever knew. There was nothing he couldn’t do on a basketball court. One year he averaged over 50 points. But there was one thing he couldn’t do, beat us. I remember how Bill Russell, much lighter , run the court from top to bottom until exhausted”, Auerbach recalled those duels of giants.
At the end of the 65/66 season, Auerbach announced Russell as his replacement on the green bench, combining the position with his work on the track. The pvot became the first black coach in the history of professional sports in the US. The streak ended, but Russell knew how to lead the Celtics to two more rings. Later, already retired, he was a coach of the Supersonics and the Kings, without much success.
In 2009, David Star He named the trophy given to the Finals MVP after him. Five times MVP, 12 All Star… but, above all, as Adam Silver has acknowledged in a statement, “the greatest champion in the history of collective sports“And a great fighter against racism that he suffered in his childhood and even in his college days. San Francisco, the first team to field black players, suffered ridicule, insults and even the refusal of hotels to accept guests with that color of skin
“I never allowed myself to be a victim,” repeated Russell, who in 2010 received the Freedom Medalthe highest distinction a civilian can aspire to in the United States.
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