Posted on 07/31/2022 11:43:45 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
BOSTON (AP) — Bill Russell, the NBA great who anchored a Boston Celtics dynasty that won 11 championships in 13 years — the last two as the first Black head coach in any major U.S. sport — and marched for civil rights with Martin Luther King Jr., died Sunday. He was 88.
His family posted the news on social media, saying Russell died with his wife, Jeannine, by his side. The statement did not give the cause of death.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Sorry to hear this. He won a lot of championships and was Wilt Chamberlain’s nemesis. RIP Bill Russell.
All 4 years in college
And he won 11 of 13 NBA championships. Absolutely unreal.
wow, high school and college titles as well?
Does any athlete, in any sport, have a record of winning so many championships at all levels of competition? Bill may be in a class by himself on that score.
Sorry, two of four college championships.
MJ won titles in College and the Pros, I put MJ second behind Russell on the GOAT list.
Wilt should have been a better FT shooter, would have made a big difference, ditto for Shaq.
Vaxxed?
88 is a very long life for a man that tall. RIP. Possibly the GOAT.
Jim Thorpe had a city renamed after him.
They were genuine friends off the court, though.
Olympic Gold Medal as well
Not only vaxxed, but I’ve seen him on commercials pushing the vax. Ends with a line similar to, “No Celtics were hurt getting this shot.”
Off the top of my head, I can name more players from those old Celtic teams of the 50s and 60s than I can of the current Celtics: Bill Russell, Sam Jones, K.C. Jones, Bill Sharman, Bob Cousy, and John Havlicek.
Plus a gold medal.
The guy could play ball.
It’s a sad day in Celtics land.
What an inappropriate comment.
You are probably a Philly fan.
A couple of announcers at the Milwaukee Brewers-Boston Red Sox game today were talking about Russell. One said that he was in 21 games that were the equivalent of Game 7 of the World Series (meaning the loser of that game went home defeated). Russell's team was 21 for 21 in those games.
He coached the Sonics for a short time, but he had no patience for mediocre work habits.
I think he is the greatest human being of my lifetime. He had an incredible intellect, and did not suffer fools. Both outstanding characteristics. Plus I loved watching him play, coach and do NBA games.
Russell said that when he was growing up in the segregated South and later California his parents instilled in him the calm confidence that allowed him to brush off racist taunts.
“Years later, people asked me what I had to go through,” Russell said in 2008. “Unfortunately, or fortunately, I’ve never been through anything. From my first moment of being alive was the notion that my mother and father loved me.” It was Russell’s mother who would tell him to disregard comments from those who might see him playing in the yard.
“Whatever they say, good or bad, they don’t know you,” he recalled her saying. “They’re wrestling with their own demons.”
But it was Jackie Robinson who gave Russell a road map for dealing with racism in his sport: “Jackie was a hero to us. He always conducted himself as a man. He showed me the way to be a man in professional sports.”
The feeling was mutual, Russell learned, when Robinson’s widow, Rachel, called and asked him to be a pallbearer at her husband’s funeral in 1972.“She hung the phone up and I asked myself, ‘How do you get to be a hero to Jackie Robinson?’” Russell said. “I was so flattered.”
Amen
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.