“America loves a winner!!”
That phrase was coined by George C Scott portraying George S Patton on the big screen. But if that was the case, we should have had a 70-year love affair with Bill Russell.
Russell was a center for the Boston Celtics of the NBA during the late 1950’s through the 1960’s. His passing yesterday at the age of 88 has put his incredible record of sports success–and cultural impact–back into the public’s attention. But I have to ask, why wasn’t it already there?
When you look at Russell’s team sports success, it is unprecedented. He won two California state high school basketball championships–despite getting just one college scholarship offer. He won back to back NCAA Basketball championships at the University of San Francisco–which had very limited national success before he got there–and almost no national success since he graduated. That USF team lost just once and had a 58-game winning streak during those two seasons. Russell won a gold medal with Team USA at the 1956 Olympics in Australia–on a team that won its 8-games by an average margin of 55 points. He also could have qualified as a high jumper for those games, being the 7th ranked jumper in the world at that time.
In the NBA, Russell played 13 seasons and won 11 championships. Only Henri Richard of the Montreal Canadiens won as many titles as Russell–and he played for 21 seasons. Russell’s Celtics lost just twice in the playoffs during his entire career (and one of those years he was hurt and missed games in the playoffs).
Bill Russell was also a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. He marched in the protests. He organized player boycotts when he and his Black teammates were not allowed to stay in the same hotels as the white members of the team. He sat beside Muhammad Ali when the fighter announced he would not report to the Army after being drafted. He became the first Black head coach of a major league sports team in the US when he took on the role while still playing for the Celtics. He then won NBA titles in two of the three seasons he coached and played.
And yet whenever talking heads discuss the “greatest of all time”, Bill Russell gets ZERO mention. Younger fans today dismiss Russell’s career by saying he “beat a bunch of truck drivers and plumbers” and that “he wouldn’t get off the bench in today’s NBA”. Yes, the Association is much more athletic today than it was in the 1960’s–and the pool of talent is greater–but do you honestly think that Bill Russell would not have been in the gym as much if not more than today’s stars? Do you think that he wouldn’t have worked with specialized trainers to hone a more proficient jump shot or put on more muscle? The dude did whatever it took to win then–and he would have done the same thing today.
And while we laud today’s athletes for their “bravery” and for “standing up for civil rights” by tweeting or wearing special Nike shoes, Bill Russell was out there putting himself on the line regularly. His USF team was the first in college hoops history to start 3 Black players. Until that point, Blacks were “tolerated” in the sport–so long as they weren’t the majority of players on the floor at any one time. In the 60s’, the Celtics were the first NBA team to field an all Black starting lineup (they won the NBA Championship that year).
After being drafted by the Celtics, Russell moved into an all-white neighborhood in Boston. His neighbors called the cops on him a number of times. “There’s a black man entering a home down the street, I think he may be robbing it.” or “There is a black man driving a nice car on our street. I think he may have stolen it.” And if the cops didn’t recognize him, they would give him a hard time too. Meanwhile, when Bill reported vandalism to his house or his vehicles, the police never seemed to find the perpetrators.
Russell was named NBA MVP five times during his career. All of those accolades came while the players themselves voted for MVP. Amazingly in four of those five seasons, Russell was only 2nd Team All NBA–which was voted on by the writers. The same writers that voted Russell’s white teammate Tommy Heinsohn Rookie of the Year after both he and Bill had been taken in the same draft–and Russell had the better stats.
Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe brought up my favorite Bill Russell stat yesterday: Russell played in 21 winner-take-all games in his career (NCAA Tournament games, Olympic medal round games, and Game 7’s in the NBA Playoffs) his team’s record in those games? 21-0.
In the late 1990’s Nike had a photo taken of Michael Jordan wearing his six NBA Championship rings on one hand–with one on each of four fingers and two on another. Sports Illustrated countered with a photo of Bill Russell wearing his championship rings on two hands–with one on nine fingers and two on the tenth–just remind everyone that MJ was only halfway to catching Bill.
I don’t know what plans are in place for a public memorial service for Bill Russell, but I hope that someone will put out those two state high school championship trophies, the two NCAA Tournament trophies, the gold medal, and the 11 NBA Championship trophies–along with photos of Bill standing with Martin Luther King, Junior, and Ali and other leaders just to remind everyone that he was the greatest winner. And why we should have loved and respected him more.
