NBA legend Bill Russell passed away at the age of 88.
NBA legend Bill Russell passed away at the age of 88. Many people think that Bill Russell was the best NBA player ever because he won 11 titles and was named MVP five times. Unfortunately, he died on Sunday at the age of 88. William Felton Russell was one of the best defensive players in the league’s history. He played in 12 All-Star games and won an Olympic gold medal in 1956. Russell was an amazing 28-2 in 30 elimination games in college, the pros, and the Olympics.
Russell’s Life
Russell entered this world on the 12th of February, 1934, in Monroe, Louisiana. In the 1940s, Russell’s family moved to Oakland, California. It was there that he first learned about basketball. But, at first, his skills weren’t recognized. He didn’t start high school until his senior year and didn’t get many scholarship offers. The only college that gave him a scholarship was the University of San Francisco, which was close by.
He became one of the best college basketball players with the help of his coach Phil Woolpert and his assistant coach Ross Giudice. The Dons had a winning streak of 55 games and won two college basketball championships.
Bill Russell Career
Through trade, the Boston Celtics got the chance to pick Russell in the draft. It was the start of a run in which Russell’s ability to block shots brought out the best in the rest of the team. Red Auerbach, the coach of the Boston Celtics, said that the way he changed his shots “put a whole new sound in game. The sound of footsteps.”
Russell was never just a guy who played basketball. When asked if he was, he often said “No” when he was at an airport. Russell spoke out against unfairness everywhere she went. Russell was once given the key to the city of Marion, Indiana. Later that night, Russell was turned away from a restaurant in his area. He drove straight to the mayor’s house and gave the key back.
Bill Russell Social work
Russell was also an activist who spoke out against racism at a time when athletes didn’t usually do that. He said that the NBA had quotas for the number of black players, which he thought was unfair. When some of the Celtics’ black players were turned away from a restaurant in Lexington, Kentucky, before an exhibition game in 1961, Bill Russell got the game boycotted. As a result, he didn’t go to his Hall of Fame induction in 1975, and later, he said it was unfair to all the black players who hadn’t been inducted before him.
Russell quit baseball in 1969 after three years as a player coach for Boston. In 1973, he went back to coaching, this time in Seattle, where he stayed for four years. In 1987, he took over as coach of the Sacramento Kings, but he only lasted 58 games before moving to the front office. Then, in 1989, he lost his job. He didn’t come back to the NBA.
In 1996, he was named one of the 50 best NBA players of all time. In 1999, the authorities decided to name the Finals MVP trophy after Bill Russell. In 2011, he got the Presidential Medal of Freedom; in 2013, a statue of him was unveiled in Boston.
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