{"id":30548,"date":"2022-08-01T01:18:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-01T01:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=30548"},"modified":"2022-08-02T11:46:47","modified_gmt":"2022-08-02T11:46:47","slug":"bill-russells-legacy-of-nba-championships-and-cerebral-fight-for-equal-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/bill-russells-legacy-of-nba-championships-and-cerebral-fight-for-equal-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Russell\u2019s legacy of NBA championships and cerebral fight for equal rights"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aram Goudsouzian<\/a>, University of Memphis<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 1, 1968, Bill Russell led the Boston Celtics to another NBA championship<\/a>, triumphing over the rival Los Angeles Lakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this time Russell was not just the star center, the defensive stalwart, the linchpin of pro basketball\u2019s most extraordinary dynasty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was also the coach<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the locker room celebration, reporters marveled at Russell\u2019s legacy of achievement. What else he could possibly achieve?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He deflected the question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo tell you the truth, it\u2019s been a long time since I tried to prove anything to anybody,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He got quiet for a second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Undisputed champion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Russell, who died on July 31, 2022<\/a>, had a winning record in basketball<\/a> that is unmatched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 1954 to 1956, he steered the University of San Francisco as a player to two consecutive NCAA championships and a record 55-game winning streak<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the 1956 Olympics<\/a> in Melbourne, Australia, he dominated the court and drove the United States to a gold medal. And during his 13-year professional career with the Boston Celtics, Russell won an astonishing 11 NBA titles<\/a> \u2013 the last two, in 1968 and 1969, as the player-coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my biography of Russell, \u201cKing of the Court<\/a>,\u201d I argued<\/a> that he spearheaded a \u201cbasketball revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his athletic reign, the sport transformed from a white man\u2019s game with a small-time, \u201cbush league\u201d reputation into a dynamic, modern, nationally televised sport associated with Black culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russell was also the NBA\u2019s essential barrier-breaker: its first Black superstar, its first Black champion, its first Black coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most fascinating, though, was Russell himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As suggested by his proud comment after the 1968 title, he undertook an intellectual and personal journey during his career. He sought to find worth in basketball amid the racial tumult of the civil rights movement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He emerged from that crucible not only as a stronger man, but also as one of the most potent figures at the intersection of sports and politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A reluctant sports hero<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As fans crowded him for autographs at Madison Square Garden in December 1962, Russell raised a poignant question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat does all this mean?\u201d he asked. \u201cThis is without depth. This is a very shallow thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few weeks later he confessed, \u201cI feel that playing basketball is just marking time. I don\u2019t feel that this can be it for a man. I haven\u2019t accomplished anything, really. What contribution have I made of which I can be really proud?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that point, Russell had won three MVP awards and five NBA titles. He had emerged as a hero in the media-driven rivalry with the taller and stronger scoring machine, Wilt Chamberlain<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Celtics won plaudits for their spirit of cooperation, serving as sports\u2019 greatest example of racial integration<\/a> in action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet Russell chafed at every reminder that he was still a second-class citizen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He refused to accept segregated accommodations<\/a> on road trips. During a 1961 preseason tour, when a hotel coffee shop in Lexington, Kentucky, refused service to two teammates, Russell boycotted the exhibition game, and the Black players on both teams followed suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the 1962 season, while driving back to his native Louisiana, he and his two young sons had to sleep one night in their car because no hotels would accommodate Black people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this happened to the best basketball player in the world, how much could basketball matter?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Militant activism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In response, Russell crafted a persona that one teammate called \u201ca kingly arrogance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most Black athletes gained wider public acceptance by acting humble and gracious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In stark contrast, Russell started refusing to sign autographs. The ritual made him feel like a commodity, rather than a man with a real personality and his own ideas. He resolved to express his political opinions with fearless honesty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the 1963-64 season, in profiles in Sports Illustrated and the Saturday Evening Post, Russell questioned the philosophy of nonviolence<\/a> espoused by Martin Luther King Jr., and he defended the ideas of Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have got to make the white population uncomfortable and keep it uncomfortable,\u201d he insisted, \u201cbecause that is the only way to get their attention.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"With
Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell, center, appears at meeting of the Boston branch of the NAACP. Hal Sweeney\/The Boston Globe via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In his 1966 memoir, \u201cGo Up for Glory<\/a>,\u201d Russell extolled the ideals of American democracy, but he kept describing its shortcomings in practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He recalled such indignities as police brutality during his teenage years in Oakland, the racist fans who called him slurs such as \u201cbaboon\u201d and the bigotry of the Boston press who praised white stars like Bob Cousy at Russell\u2019s expense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He urged the Black freedom movement to grow more aggressive, to express Black unity and anger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a thing you want to scream,\u201d he wrote. \u201cI MUST HAVE MY MANHOOD.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such militant pronouncements stoked a backlash from not only conservatives who resented him, but also from liberals who felt betrayed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russell stood firm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He had weathered his period of personal crisis, and he had sharpened the tools to express his authentic humanity, whatever the consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bigger than sports<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the late 1960s, Russell\u2019s career entered its most extraordinary and underappreciated phase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he replaced Red Auerbach as coach, the aging Boston squad no longer dominated the NBA, and the Celtics lost in the 1967 playoffs, spurring doubts about Russell\u2019s viability as player-coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, improbably, he led the Celtics to two more titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time he retired in 1969, the Boston press could no longer doubt his significance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Celtics story,\u201d wrote Jerry Nason of the Boston Globe, \u201cis bigger than the sports page.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
U.S. President Barack Obama presents Bill Russell the 2010 Medal of Freedom on Feb. 15, 2011. Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, he stood like a lighthouse for his fellow Black athletes. When Muhammad Ali was exiled<\/a> from professional boxing for refusing to serve in the Vietnam War, Russell described him as a man of principle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Black athletes threatened to boycott the 1968 Olympics<\/a> in Mexico City, Russell supported their cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a generation, Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics had showcased the glorious possibilities of racial integration. But Russell had demanded that the public see the Black athlete as something more than a symbol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe see each other as men,\u201d he said after the Celtics\u2019 final triumph in 1969. \u201cWe judge a guy by his character.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he defined his place in the world, Russell had demanded the same of the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aram Goudsouzian<\/a>, Bizot Family Professor of History, University of Memphis<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aram Goudsouzian, University of Memphis On May 1, 1968, Bill Russell led the Boston Celtics to another NBA championship, triumphing over the rival Los Angeles Lakers. But this time Russell was not just the star center, the defensive stalwart, the linchpin of pro basketball\u2019s most extraordinary dynasty. He was also the coach. During the locker […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":30549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[6354,11106,713,2592,1538],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30548"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30548"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30556,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30548\/revisions\/30556"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}