BOSTON – For 13 years, Bill Russell has terrorized opponents on the court, winning 12 All-Star Awards, 5 MVP Awards and 11 NBA Championships. For his efforts, the Celtics enshrined Russell’s No. 6 jersey as one of the players who never wore it again.
So should the NBA.
William Felton Russell died Sunday. He was 88 years old. He died less than two months after Stephen Curry won his first Finals MVP (an award named after Russell). The NBA has done a lot to honor Russell’s legacy. It was David Stern who put Russell back on track in the NBA in the mid-1990s, a decade after Russell’s 58-game stint as Kings coach ended. From there he made it to the All-Stars, made a cameo appearance in the Finals, and even reunited with Russell’s longtime rival Wilt Chamberlain.
The NBA has gone to great lengths to give Russell credit.
Why not go a little further?
In 1997, at a ceremony during a game between the Dodgers and the Mets, then-MLB commissioner Bud Selig announced that if the group of players currently wearing numbers stop wearing jersey numbers, no one should wear number 42 again. announced that it would not. The decision to retire Jackie Robinson’s number came 25 years after Robinson’s death. An extraordinary honor for the man who broke MLB’s color barrier and, in Selig’s words, the only person greater than the game.
Russell didn’t break the NBA’s color barrier. Earl Lloyd, Chuck Cooper, and Nathaniel “Sweetwater” Clifton defeated him in 1950, but his achievements were all significant. He achieved this while battling equal elements on the floor. He fought Chamberlain in front of local fans who defiled his home with racial slurs. He played against Jerry West in the same season that led an exhibition game strike because a restaurant in Kentucky wouldn’t serve black players on the team. He finished with an 11-1 Finals record in the city where he was called “Baboon”, “Koon” and “Ni—–” according to Russell.
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“My relationship with Boston was complicated. he‘ Tommy Heinsohn once told me. “After winning the championship the town of Reading honored him at Reading Country Club and we all went to this thing and he was into it and started crying. , What was his remark like, “I want to live in Reading for the rest of my life.” And he went to buy another house. And baby, they turned against him and joined in all sorts of things going on to keep him from buying a house.
He marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, advocated for desegregation in Boston schools, and stood by Muhammad Ali when a boxer refused to fight in the Vietnam War.1966, Celtic Su appointed Russell as head coach, making Russell the first black coach on a major league team in any sport.
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As Jerry West said los angeles times“In every generation, people make a difference not just in their play, but in their persona. Bill Russell and Jackie Robinson were in the same class.”
In fact, Russell is viewed with a rare level of respect. Michael Jordan called Russell a “pioneer”. He is “my idol,” said Magic Johnson. “My mentor,” said Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Former President Barack Obama wrote, “As tall as Bill Russell is, his legacy will be much higher.” Charles Barkley added, “You are a great man when your actions match your words on important issues.”
Russell never demanded that his number be retired. he may resist it. He went along with it only after the team agreed to do it at the empty Boston Garden in 1972 when the Celtics pulled his number up the rafters. He refused to attend the Hall of Fame because he believed black athletes deserved to be enshrined first.
he wouldn’t want that. But the NBA should. he earned it On the court, where Russell averaged 22.5 rebounds, he revolutionized the game with his defensive skills. While some underestimate how competitive the Russell era was, Bob Cousy said what the Celtics achieved — 11 titles in 13 seasons — is a feat. boston globeIn Russell’s last 14 years as a player, his team participated in 21 winner-takes-all contests.
He earned it out of court, took on systemic racism there, and won.
He was the Robinson of the NBA. Even Robinson would agree. In his later years, Russell told the story of the day Robinson died. He said he received a call from Robinson’s wife, Rachel, who asked Russell to be a pallbearer at Robinson’s funeral. of course, Russell said. but why? Rachel replied: You were Jackie’s favorite athlete.
Major League Baseball has kept Robinson’s number off-limits.
For Russell, the NBA should do the same.
And Bill Russell:
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