Russell, "Bill" (William F.)
Basketball
b. Feb. 12, 1934, Monroe, LA
Russell's intimidating defense and great rebounding skills transformed basketball. After college coaches saw him in action at the 1955 NCAA tournament, they adopted "Russell's Rules," widening the free throw lane to 12 feet and making it illegal for a player to touch the ball when it's on its downward arc to the basket.
"Doggie" Julian, the Dartmouth College coach and a member of the Rules Committee, said afterward, "We weren't planning to make any changes. But after some of the coaches saw Russell's performance, they got scared." His own coach, Phil Woolpert of the University of San Francisco, predicted that the new rules would actually help Russell, explaining, "He's so much the fastest of the big men that now he'll just leave them further behind."
As a skinny, awkward 6-foot-2, 128-pounder, Russell couldn't even make his Oakland, California, high school basketball team in his sophomore year and was only a third-string player as a junior. His coordination improved, he grew to 6-foot-7, and he became a starter as a senior, but graduated in the middle of the year.
Russell enrolled at USF in 1952. As a 6-foot-9 sophomore, he became the team's starting center and he led the school to 55 consecutive victories and two NCAA championships during the 1954-55 and 1955-56 seasons.
Because the 1956 Olympics were held in Melbourne, Australia, they didn't take place until November. Russell postponed his professional career to play for the gold medal Olympic team. Meanwhile, the NBA's Boston Celtics had traded two established players, Ed Macauley and Cliff Hagan, for the St. Louis Hawks' first round draft choice in order to get Russell.
He joined the Celtics in the middle of the 1956-57 season and helped lead them to their first championship. By then 6-foot-10 and 220 pounds, Russell made the team's fast break work by getting rebounds and making great outlet passes. His shot-blocking skill allowed the Celtics to use a new kind of defense, playing tough on the corners and wings to funnel the offensive players into the middle, where they would have to face Russell.
During his first ten seasons with Boston, the Celtics won nine championships, losing only in 1958, when Russell missed the last three games of the final series against St. Louis. He became the team's player-coach in 1966, the first black coach in NBA history, and took the Celtics to two more championships, in 1968 and 1969, then retired.
Russell was named the league's most valuable player in 1958, 1961, 1962, 1963, and 1965 and led the NBA in rebounds per game with averages of 19.6 in 1956/57, 22.7 in 1957-58, 23.0 in 1958-59, 24.7 in 1963-64, and 24.1 in 1964-65. The Professional Basketball Writers' Association of America in 1980 voted him the greatest player in league history.
In 1973, Russell returned to coaching with the Seattle Supersonics and resigned after four losing seasons. He became coach of the Sacramento Kings in 1987, but was replaced before the end of the season and became a vice-president of the team.
During his 13 seasons as a player, Russell scored 14,522 points in 963 regular season games, a 15.1 average, and had 21,620 rebounds. He added 2,673 points in 165 playoff games, a 16.2 average. He pulled down a playoff record 40 rebounds in games against St. Louis in 1960 and against Los Angeles in 1962. As a coach, Russell had a 341-290 regular season record and was 34-27 in the playoffs.