Bill Russell death

Reactions to the death on Sunday of Bill Russell, who won 11 championships during a Hall of Fame career spent entirely with the National Basketball ...

Many of us tried to follow in his footsteps." He had a career of firsts and led the way for many. Once called out of the blue because he thought I looked sad on TV ... best pep talk of my life. RIP" Russell changed the landscape of sports in America by fighting for equality for everyone - on and off the field. I admired him my entire life and he had a huge influence on my career. The world has lost a legend." On the court, he was the greatest champion in basketball history. Over the course of our friendship, he always reminded me about making things better in the Black community. "Perhaps more than anyone else, Bill knew what it took to win and what it took to lead. I looked up to him on the court and off. "Today, we lost a giant.

Celebrities and athletes have posted tributes to NBA legend Bill Russell, who died on Sunday at 88 years old.

sending love and condolences to the Russell family." Once called out of the blue because he thought I looked sad on TV…best pep talk of my life. He had a career of firsts & led the way for many. Bill Russell was one of the kindest, most thoughtful people I've ever met. Once called out of the blue because he thought I looked sad on TV... best pep talk of my life. "I looked up to him on the court and off.

Reaction from the basketball world and beyond on the death of NBA great and 11-time champion Bill Russell, who died Sunday at the age of 88.

___ ___ ___ ___ “Rest in peace Bill Russell you were everything we all aspired to be, your winning spirit will live forever my friend. ___ Bill was a champion unlike any other in the history of team sports — an 11-time NBA champion, including winning eight consecutive titles, a five-time MVP, an Olympic Gold Medalist and the NBA’s first Black head coach.” — the Boston Celtics said in a statement. ___ “The promise of America is that we are all created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives. ___ “Today, we lost a giant. ___

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 ...

Thank you for all you did for us and this game. This is a teary-eyed Sunday knowing that we lost a legendary human being@RealBillRussellHis dedication to civil-rights, human-rights and the sport of basketball puts him beyond legendary status. Thank you for everything you have given to the game and all of us. My condolences and prayers to his family.pic.twitter.com/v2aHm5x4yt Was an absolute honor to spend time with#BillRussell. He was a walking encyclopedia. The ultimate leader and just happened to be one of the best hoopers ever! Thank you, Bill, for leading the way and giving us such a high bar to shoot at. My friend. My hero. RIP to an all-time winner, teammate and person. May he Rest in Power. Bill Russell was an inspiration to me in so many ways.

Bill Russell, an NBA legend who won eight consecutive titles and served as the first Black head coach of a U.S. pro sports team, has died.

On the court, he was the greatest champion in basketball history. On the court, he was the greatest champion in basketball history. In 2011, Russell was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. “More than any athlete of his era, Bill Russell came to define the word ‘winner,'” Obama said at the ceremony. As a player-coach, Russell led the Celtics to two additional titles before retiring as a player in 1969 at the age of 35. “As tall as Bill Russell stood, his legacy rises far higher—both as a player and as a person,” the former president wrote on Twitter. “Perhaps more than anyone else, Bill knew what it took to win and what it took to lead. I had to persevere to succeed, to climb out of the life that society had programmed for me.” Described by NBA commissioner Adam Silver as “the greatest champion in all of team sports,” Russell brought 11 championships to the Boston Celtics across his 13-year tenure with the team. It was through those outlets that Russell added his voice to the civil rights movement, utilizing his unique position as a successful Black athlete to share his thoughts on the racist practices of the NBA. Russell led the San Francisco Dons to consecutive NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956. The two teams would go on to face each other in the 1957 NBA Finals, in which Boston emerged victorious, beginning an eight-year run of consecutive championships for the organization. In his 1968 memoir “Go Up for Glory,” Russell said he “should epitomize the American Dream,” writing, “for I came, against long odds, from the farthest back to the very top of my profession. Russell was named as his successor, becoming the first Black coach in the history of U.S. major league sports.

Russell won a record 11 championships with the Boston Celtics and became the first Black head coach in the NBA.

In 2009, the MVP trophy of the NBA Finals was named in his honor. In 2013, a statue was unveiled on Boston's City Hall Plaza of Russell surrounded by blocks of granite with quotes on leadership and character. Celtics coach and general manager Red Auerbach so coveted Russell that he worked out a trade with the St. Louis Hawks for the second pick in the draft. "She hung the phone up and I asked myself, 'How do you get to be a hero to Jackie Robinson?'" Russell said. On the court, he was the greatest champion in basketball history. "From a childhood in segregated Louisiana to a career playing on the biggest stages in sports at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Bill faced the hostility and hate of racism embedded in every part of American life. The Celtics also picked up Tommy Heinsohn and K.C. Jones, Russell's college teammate, in the same draft. But it was Jackie Robinson who gave Russell a road map for dealing with racism in his sport: "Jackie was a hero to us. It was Russell's mother who would tell him to disregard comments from those who might see him playing in the yard. The native of Louisiana also left a lasting mark as a Black athlete in a city — and country — where race is often a flash point. In 1980, Russell was voted the greatest player in the NBA history by basketball writers. The 6'10" former center dominated the NBA as a defensive and rebounding force over his 13-year career, winning five Most Valuable Player awards and becoming a 12-time all-star between 1956 to 1969.

The Celtics icon and 11-time NBA champion leaves a profound impact, on and off the court.

In 2012 the NBA released a documentary about the night in 1962 when Wilt scored 100 points in a single game, and Russell did the narration. He remained wary and held the media at arm’s length, but he was approachable and often brightened a room with his distinctive high-pitched cackle that seemed to come out of nowhere. Game 7 of the Finals at the Forum in Los Angeles, Russell in his final season with the Celtics, Wilt in his first season with the Lakers. And remembering the slights of a league in which a de facto segregation existed, he refused to attend his 1975 Hall of Fame induction ceremony. But encouraged by NBA commissioner David Stern, he gradually returned to the fold and became more and more of a fixture during All-Star Weekends, the Finals and other NBA events. He was 34, beaten down by so many trips up and down the floor and also the mental burden of serving as the team’s player-coach, an honor that Auerbach had bestowed on him in 1966. Though Russell often felt that his talents weren’t recognized by the media and the fans, he was voted MVP of the league five times, one more, he was sure to have noted, than Wilt earned. Russell had spent the summer of 1968 living with Jim Brown in Hollywood as news from the chaotic Democratic convention washed over them like a tidal wave. They hung in netting on the Forum ceiling, a silent, inflated taunt that Russell and the Celtics noticed when they took the court. But Russell also frequently got the rebound and joined the break, finishing it with a dunk at the other end. That was William Felton Russell, who learned his basketball chops on the Oakland playgrounds, refined them at the University of San Francisco and perfected them with the Boston Celtics. Russell wasn’t the first great defensive center, but he was the first around whom an offense could be constructed from his defensive talents.

Bill stood for something much bigger than sports," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said.

In 2009, the MVP trophy of the NBA Finals was named in his honor. In 2013, a statue was unveiled on Boston’s City Hall Plaza of Russell surrounded by blocks of granite with quotes on leadership and character. Bill was the ultimate winner and consummate teammate, and his influence on the NBA will be felt forever. Celtics coach and general manager Red Auerbach so coveted Russell that he worked out a trade with the St. Louis Hawks for the second pick in the draft. 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. The Celtics also picked up Tommy Heinsohn and K.C. Jones, Russell’s college teammate, in the same draft. At the height of his athletic career, Bill advocated vigorously for civil rights and social justice, a legacy he passed down to generations of NBA players who followed in his footsteps,” Silver said. He endured insults and vandalism, but he kept on focusing on making the teammates who he loved better players and made possible the success of so many who would follow.” 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 was at the March on Washington in 1963, when Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech, and he backed Muhammad Ali when the boxer was pilloried for refusing induction into the military draft. Often, that meant Wilt Chamberlain, the only player of the era who was a worthy rival for Russell. A Hall of Famer, five-time Most Valuable Player and 12-time All-Star, Russell in 1980 was voted the greatest player in the NBA history by basketball writers.