Bill Russell was the greatest champion in all team sports
“Bill Russell was the greatest champion in all of team sports,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged in a statement.
“The innumerable recognitions he received for his historic career with the Boston Celtics – including a record 11 championships and five MVP awards – only begin to tell the story of Bill’s immense impact on our league and society at large.”
In addition to his exceptional career on the slopes, Russell was also a sports emblem of the fight against racism and for civil rights in the United States.
He faced racism in the 1960s to become the NBA’s first black star. He was recognized with five NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards and captained the US team that won the gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics in 1956.
But the legendary ‘center’ is not only remembered for completing an unrivaled showcase of titles but also for revolutionizing the NBA’s defensive game, with levels of rebounds and blocks never seen before.
In 1957, at the age of 23, Russell won his first ring and between 1959 and 1966 he accumulated eight more in a row. In that last year he was named player-coach, being the first black coach in American sports, and in that facet he achieved his last two titles in 1968 and 1969, the year he was fired from the Celtics.
Russell was also the first black player to be inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame in 1975 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011 for lifetime achievement in sports and civil rights.