Bill Russell, the all-time nice Boston Celtics middle who received 11 championships throughout 13 dominant NBA seasons, died Sunday at age 88.
The Hall of Famer died peacefully along with his spouse, Jeannine, by his facet, in line with an announcement on Russell’s official Twitter web page.
The 6-foot-10 Russell, a five-time NBA Most Valuable Player, averaged 15.1 factors and 22.5 rebounds per recreation throughout his profession from 1956 to 1969, taking part in every of his seasons for the Celtics throughout a dynasty that featured celebrity teammates like Bob Cousy and John Havlicek.
He was a 12-time All-Star, four-time rebounding champion and was included on the NBA’s fiftieth and seventy fifth anniversary lists of the best gamers of all time.
Russell received his first 9 championships alongside prolific Celtics coach Red Auerbach. Russell then grew to become the primary Black coach in skilled sports activities in North America in 1966, spending his closing three seasons with the Celtics as a player-coach.
His closing two championships got here as a player-coach, making Russell the primary Black coach to win knowledgeable championship in North America.
“But for all the winning, Bill’s understanding of the struggle is what illuminated his life,” reads Sunday’s announcement.
“From boycotting a 1961 exhibition game to unmask too-long-tolerated discrimination, to leading Mississippi’s first integrated basketball camp in the combustible wake of Medgar Evans’ assassination, to decades of activism ultimately recognized by his receipt of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010, Bill called out injustice with an unforgiving candor that he intended would disrupt that status quo.”
()
Source: www.bostonherald.com