Few humans – let alone athletes – have touched the stars in as many ways as Bill Russell.
He is, in short, incomparable.
The 11-time champion, two-time Hall-of-Famer and longtime civil rights activist and mentor died peacefully Sunday, according to a statement by his family. He was 88 years old.
Basketball legends and world leaders alike took to public forums to express their sadness Sunday after learning of Russell’s death.
Michael Jordan said in part, “The world has lost a legend.”
Larry Bird issued a statement during which he said he “always had tremendous respect for Bill as a man, as a player, and great champion.”
Among many others, President Barack Obama also stated in part, “Today, we lost a giant. As tall as Bill Russell stood, his legacy rises far higher – both as a player and as a person.”
That legacy is unmatched, and surely, it will live on forever.
Russell won an NBA-record 11 championships as a player and a player-coach for the Boston Celtics. That astounding total included a stretch of eight straight titles from 1959-1966. In total, Russell’s Celtics won 11 titles during his 13 NBA seasons.
Amid all of those championship runs, Russell accumulated 12 All-Star appearances and 11 All-NBA selections, while winning five NBA MVP awards.
What’s most impressive about those individual accolades is that Russell earned them while putting team success ahead of his personal statistics. He once stated of his mindset, “My approach was: it’s a team game, and the only important stat was the final score.” He would do anything to come out on top.
That oftentimes included doing the dirty work as an elite defender and as a rebounder, which ignited his team’s success.
He is a four-time rebounding champion who ranks second in league history in total rebounds with 21,620. Russell averaged at least 21.0 rebounds per game for 10 straight seasons from 1957-1967.
The NBA did not begin tracking blocked shots until after his career ended. Otherwise, it is widely regarded that Russell would be the all-time leader in that category – and by a long shot. He was an astute defender and rim protector who possessed elite timing. He was once called “the smartest player to ever play the game” by opponent Bill Bradley.
As great of a regular-season player as Russell was, he took his game to a whole other level during the postseason. He led his team to a perfect 11-0 record in winner-take-all scenarios, during which he averaged more than 18 points and 29 rebounds per game. He owns the NBA Finals record for most rebounds in a game with 40 (twice), and rebounding average at 29.5.
It was fitting that in 2009, then-NBA Commissioner David Stern renamed the NBA Finals MVP award in honor of Russell as the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP award.
Russell was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 1975, and as a coach in 2021. He broke the color barrier for head coaches in the NBA, becoming the first Black head coach in league history in 1966 before leading the C’s to two titles. He also won two NCAA championships at the University of San Francisco, and captained the 1956 gold medal-winning US Olympic team.
Remarkably, Russell’s greatness as a human being matched his greatness as a basketball player. He utilized his fame to speak loudly and proudly to the masses for decades as a civil rights activist and mentor.
Russell marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he stood by Muhammad Ali in his disagreement over being drafted into military service, and he helped to initiate the first official boycott of an NBA game as a civil rights protest, among many other notable moments as an activist. He even stated publicly that he would give up his basketball career “without hesitation” to participate in the civil rights movement if it would help to ease racial tensions in the country.
“On the court, he was the greatest champion in basketball history,” President Obama said. “Off of it, he was a civil rights trailblazer.
“For decades, Bill endured insults and vandalism, but never let it stop him from speaking up for what’s right.”
Russell did his best to inspire others to do the same through mentorship. A line he is known to have used is, “There is no such thing as other people’s children.” A statue of Russell was erected in 2013 in Boston’s City Hall, and that statue now includes two young children by his side to commemorate his commitment to mentorship for anyone and everyone who sought such relationships.
As the Celtics stated Sunday afternoon, “To be the greatest champion in your sport, to revolutionize the way the game is played, and to be a societal leader all at once seems unthinkable, but that is who Bill Russell was.”
There was only one Bill Russell. He is the true essence of a legend, one who helped not only to grow and improve the game of basketball, but also to make the world a better place.