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Quick Facts
- NAME: Bill Russell
- OCCUPATION: Basketball Player, Coach
- BIRTH DATE: February 12, 1934 (Age: 79)
- EDUCATION: University of San Francisco
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Monroe, Louisiana
- Full Name: William Felton Russell
- AKA: Bill Russell
- AKA: William Russell
- ZODIAC SIGN: Aquarius
Best Known For
Hailed as the greatest winner in sports, Basketball Hall of Fame center Bill Russell led the Boston Celtics to an unprecedented 11 championships in just 13 seasons.
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Play NowBill Russell. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 06:20, May 24, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/bill-russell-9467384.
Bill Russell. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/bill-russell-9467384 [Accessed 24 May 2013].
"Bill Russell." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 24 2013, 06:20 http://www.biography.com/people/bill-russell-9467384.
"Bill Russell," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/bill-russell-9467384 [accessed May 24, 2013].
"Bill Russell," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/bill-russell-9467384 (accessed May 24, 2013).
Bill Russell [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 24] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/bill-russell-9467384.
Bill Russell, http://www.biography.com/people/bill-russell-9467384 (last visited May 24, 2013).
Bill Russell. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/bill-russell-9467384. Accessed May 24, 2013.
Synopsis
Hall of Fame basketball center Bill Russell was born in Monroe, Louisiana, in 1934. Russell led the University of San Francisco to consecutive NCAA titles before starting his pro career with the Boston Celtics in 1956. Over the course of his 13-year career, Russell steered the club to 11 titles. He retired in 1969 and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame six years later.
Contents
Quotes
"Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory."
Early Years
Considered one of the greatest basketball players in NBA history, William Felton Russell was born February 12, 1934, in Monroe, Louisiana. His early childhood was shaped by poor health, as the sickly Russell battled several different illnesses.
When Russell was 10, his father, Charlie, fed up with trying to navigate a racially charged South, moved his family across the country to Oakland, California, where he found work at a shipyard.
In California, life for the Russell family proved rocky. While Charlie found good work, in 1946 his wife, Katie, became quite sick with the flu and died. Russell was grief-stricken by the death of his mother, who’d been his biggest advocate and pushed him to work hard in school. In the wake of her passing he committed himself to his studies.
Outside the classroom, Russell began playing basketball. His talent did not immediately shine through. Athletically awkward at first, Russell struggled to find playing time on the team at McClymonds High School in Oakland. But by his senior year, his game had picked up enough to earn him a starting spot.
His 6'9" frame earned attention, however. And in the fall of 1952, he tried out as a walk-on at the University of San Francisco and earned a scholarship.
It wasn’t long before the defensively adept Russell proved to be dominating presence, with a scorer’s touch and uncanny ability to rebound. During his three-year varsity career, in which he led the team to consecutive NCAA titles in 1955 and 1956, he averaged 20.7 points per game and 20.3 rebounds.
Russell capped his amateur career by leading the U.S. men’s basketball team to the gold medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
Pro Career
That same year, in the NBA draft, the Boston Celtics orchestrated a deal with the St. Louis Hawks and traded for the draft rights to the young center. The team’s coach, Red Auerbach, coveted Russell as the missing piece to what he believed could be a championship roster.
With Russell anchoring the middle of the floor, the Celtics finished with the best record in the league in 1957, and went on to win the title over the Hawks in a tense seven-game series. It was the start of an unprecedented championship run for Russell and the Celtics. Over 12 years, the team played in 11 NBA finals, winning 10 of them.
Even against more physically imposing centers, like Wilt Chamberlain, Russell was a defensive and rebounding force. Five times he was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player, and his 21,620 rebounds are second only to Chamberlain’s career mark.
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