Rare is the man that can revolutionize the way the game is played, singlehandedly initiating a paradigm shift in thought, strategy, preparation and execution. William Felton Russell was one such man, the greatest defensive force the world has ever seen.
Able to dominate the game like no other before or since, he transformed the simple act of blocking a shot and concept of man-to-man defense into priceless art, utilizing those intimidating weapons to accomplish mind boggling team and individual feats. He accrued championships in the same manner that Stevie Wonder pumps classics, with bizarro regularity, and is recognized without debate as the game’s greatest winner. EVER!!!
But the voyage toward the zenith of distinction began with no hint of his monstrous impact, not only on basketball, but within the world of sport as a whole. Russell was born in Monroe, Louisiana in 1934, in a time and place whose confluence exposed the worst of America’s unique, ugly idiosyncracies.
His father once had a shotgun aimed at his face for having the audacity to pull up to a gas station in Monroe. The pervasive, suffocating racism and some scary altercations with ignorance led his father to uproot the family to Detroit. After a brief stay there, the family headed out west to Oakland, California.
photo: espn.com
Russell’s mother passed away when he was twelve. He found solace in the public library, spending countless hours digesting books on philosophy, art and history. He took particular interest in Henri Christophe and Haiti, which was the first country in the Western Hemisphere that was ruled by a black man and was, at one time, just as prominent as some countries in Europe.
As a child and teen, he frequented the playgrounds of Oakland with his older brother Charlie. Russell was, by most accounts, rather unremarkable and clumsy.
“I had to leave them alone a lot,” Russell’s father Charles said in the book The Dandy Dons by Joe Barber-Starkey and James W. Johnson. “But they never got into trouble. They were always at the playgrounds instead of running the streets.”
photo: jamd.com
Early on, Russell existed in the shadows of his brother Charlie who was an accomplished, talented athlete at Oakland Technical High School. When Bill tried out for the basketball team at McClymonds High as a freshman, the 6′2″, 128 pound amalgamation of skin and bones was cut. He also got cut from the football and cheerleading squads.
As a sophomore, he was the 16th man on a 15-man squad. He shared a uniform with another student as they took turns dressing for alternate games. His coach, George Powles, saw a diamond in the rough and encouraged the gangly teen, even paying for his local membership to the Boys Club. Russell could run and jump, but seemed lost on the court whenever the ball touched his hands.
photo: jamd.com
He started hitting the playgrounds at DeFremery Park, among others, and the Boys Club with abandon, often playing six hours a day. One of his running buddies and high school teammates was future baseball Hall of Famer Frank Robinson. Russell gradually improved as McClymonds won the Oakland Athletic league championship during his last two years. But he was firmly affixed to the bench his junior year.
He was often on the receiving end of cackling chants and howling, derisive laughter whenever he entered the game. Russell did not even earn an honorable mention on the all-league team as a senior. He was still relatively mediocre, yet stood 6′6″.
But he fell in love with the game and read everything related to hoops he could get his hands on.
photo: si.com
“I had stacks and stacks of magazines,” Russell said in The Dandy Dons. “I studied what players said, learned their idiosyncracies and I remembered all of them.”
University of San Francisco assistant coach Hal DeJulio saw Russell play during his final high school game. He scored 14 points – the final 8 in the first half and six in a row to close out the game. It was the first time he’d ever had more than 10.
“All the players could jump, but Russell excelled at it,” DeJulio said in The Dandy Dons. “I could see great speed, great quickness. He had great timing. He was all over the ball. The tighter the game, the tougher Russell got. I could feel the electricity.”
photo of russell grabbing one of his 49 rebounds against the pistons in ‘65: si.com
DeJulio spoke with Powles, who informed him that no college had even inquired about Russell.
After graduating from high school in January of 1952, Russell was selected, mostly due to his height, to play for a traveling team comprised of Oakland players. They went to small towns in the Pacific Northwest, as well as Canada. The team played a run and gun style, as opposed to the “textbook” approach that dominated at the time, where players barely left their feet on the defensive end.
Russell studied the moves of some of his more talented teammates and visualized himself executing the advanced coordination. He talked endlessly with others during long bus rides about spin moves, pump fakes and ball handling. He also studied the inverse of those moves he admired, pondering how he could neutralize them defensively.
“To play good defense… it was told back then that you had to stay flatfooted at all times to react quickly,” he once said. “When I started to jump to make defensive plays and to block shots, I was initially corrected, but I stuck with it, and it paid off.”
photo: si.com
In practice, the left hander elatedly started tossing his man’s weak stuff astray.
“I had a premonition that defense would become my calling card,” he once said.
His excitement grew into confidence as his hours of practice and study began to pay off. As the tour progressed, he blocked and altered shots with regularity. That may sound simple and plain, but at the time, there was little value attached to the blocked shot.
Defense was seen as an opportunity to rest up for the next offensive possession. Expending such energy reserves was deemed by some coaches as not worth the risk of leaving your feet, opening up the lane or committing fouls.
Russell was also devloping an acumen for rebounding as he studied caroms and how they related to the angles of the shot, the parabolas and the spin of the ball. He concentrated on footwork and positioning as it became apparent that his leaping ability surpassed any other teammate or opponents’.
When he spoke to his father, he told him gleefully, “I can play now.”
But his future seemed headed in the direction of being a sheet metal worker, as no scholarship offers materialized.
University of San Francisco coach Phil Woolpert had continually been hearing from one of his players who came across Russell at the Oakland playgrounds and the Boys Club. Rumors started to fly around about the skinny kid in the Oakland parks that was rejecting every shot that came his way.
photo: procorbis.com
Returning home from the tour, his father informed him that coaches from the University of San Francisco had stopped by the house, wanting to talk about college.
The school took a calculated risk by offering him a scholarship, relying on his vast potential as opposed to his meager high school resume. As a freshman in 1952-1953 school year, Russell and his freshman teammates Hal Perry and KC Jones were among a small handful of African-American students on campus.
The small Jesuit school of 3,000 students was far from a b-ball powerhouse. Lacking an on campus facility, the Dons practiced at a high school gym. On road trips down south, Russell and his teammates encountered blatant racism where they were denied housing and food. Things weren’t rosy at home either, as the players and school officials received nasty letters. These early experiences, combined with his advanced personal studies of philosophy and black achievement, planted the seeds of his later social activism.
photo: procorbis.com
Russell marinated on the freshman squad, as first year students could not play varsity ball back then. During his first practice, he struggled with a warm-up exercise of walking while squatting. Some teammates openly called him an awkward freak.
But the freshman coach accelerated his development and slowly armed him with fundamentals. Russell put in late night, solitary hours, armed with a drive to not only learn and improve, but to excel.
The freshman squad went 19-4 with Russell averaging 20 points per game. He also showed remarkable promise as a high jumper in track and field, clearing 6 feet 9 inches. In his first varsity game as a sophmore, he scored 23 and swatted 12 shots. USF finished 14-7, a marked improvement from previous years.
photo: si.com
During his junior and senior seasons, the University of San Francisco won 55 straight games and back-to-back NCAA titles. They were transformed from a impotent team in a weak conference into the country’s best program. Before Russell and KC Jones made the scene, the college game was white, earthbound and deliberate.
When they were done, the blueprint of college ball’s racial integration and the future premium placed on speed, aggressive defense and verticality was firmly in place. And Bill Russell was, literally and figuratively, the pivot point of this transformation, paving the way for African-American talent in major college basketball and transforming the game in the process.
Legendary UCLA coach John Wooden called him “the greatest defensive man I’ve ever seen” and he averaged 21 points and 20 rebounds during his college career. Bill Russell was so nice, that the lane was widened in the college game from 6 to 12 feet due simply to his dominance.
photo: si.com
The Harlem Globetrotters came calling, but owner Abe Saperstein attempted to negotiate solely with his college coach. Russell was kept occupied by Saperstein’s assistant, who fed him corny jokes. Livid at being thought of as too dumb to negotiate his own future, Russell angrily declined their substanial contract offer.
Russell missed a big portion of his rookie season to captain the ‘56 US Olympic hoops team, which won the gold in Melbourne. The average margin of victory was a staggering 54 points per game.
In 48 games as a rookie with the Celtics, he averaged 20 rebounds and delivered the franchise its first ever world championship. He proceeded to lead them to ten more chips over an incredible 13 year period.
Let’s be clear – without Bill Russell, the great Boston franchise enjoys nowhere near the marquee status it currently enjoys as one of history’s finest franchises. Think IRRELEVANT, as in Leaders of the New School without Busta Rhymes, the Pips without Gladys Knight and Suge Knight without Dre and Snoop.
photo: si.com
Until some guy named Michael Jeffrey Jordan came along, Russell was wholeheartedly endorsed as history’s greatest. And according to many aficionados, still is. His rivalry with the game’s most inexorable offensive force ever, Mr. Wilt Chamberlain, yanked the game out of sporting obscurity and into the mainstream.
artwork: scottmedlock.com
And don’t believe, for even a minute, that the great Kareem Abdul Jabbar is the NBA’s all-time blocked shots leader. Had the stat been kept during Russell’s reign (blocked shots were not an official statistic until ‘74), his record would be insurmountable.
He was the greatest victor in the history of American team sport, the best defender OF ALL-TIME, the progenitor of modern basketball as we know it. And this one-man human force that changed the game had his genesis on the Oakland playgrounds.
THE PLAYGROUND IS NOT THE PROBLEM. IT IS THE SOLUTION!
April 27th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Zach Smart says:
B-
This is piece is tough like an all-dyke bar. I think there is certainly a dearth of bigs with refined back-to-the-bucket moves in the league these days. This seems to be why the draft appears wide open this year, and why unproven cats like Ater Majok from UConn are jumping into the fray.
http://zsmart.blogspot.com/2009/04/unproven-majok-declares-for-nba-draft.html
April 27th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
richard says:
Bill Russell is the undisputed King of Championships when it comes to round ball! Back to back NCAA titles, Olympic Gold, and an unprecedented run thru the NBA that will probably never be matched. All this by a man who never referred to himself as basketball player, but a person who played basketball for a living! Above all else he used his celebrity position to bring about social change and awareness!
April 27th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
kenny Patt says:
Nice write up Ali. Can anyone that actually saw him play tell me if they think he would dominate in today’s game? I dont think so but I still give much props to the architech. It reminds me of the early rappers (Melle Mel, Caz etc.). The greatest of their time and set the wheels in motion.
April 27th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
ali says:
kenny,
you don’t think bill russell could be the best defensive player in the league right now if we had a time machine to transport him here in his mid 20’s?
i think he’d be better than rodman.
i doubt he’d dominate in the sense of 11 titles in 13 years, but i’m sure he’d have dudes shook on the defensive tip.
April 27th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
kenny Patt says:
That’s what I meant Ali. These kids today are his evolution. Winning 3 or 4 titles today is like winning 11 in his day with only 8 teams in the league. I say this with much due respect to his game.
April 27th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
ali says:
no doubt kenny. just wanted to check and see if we were on the same wave length. all of these dudes are his athletic offspring.
and there is a lesson in his story – for all those kids who are hyped on themselves because they’re the #4 ranked 7th grader in the country, there is someone out there who has not even touched a ball yet that will bust that tail down the road. stay humble and work hard. and never get a big head.
April 27th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Cisco Kidd says:
We all stand on the shoulders of those before us. NUF RESPECT.
April 27th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Dan the Man says:
Heard Dennis Johnson thought he could score against
” Big Bill ” when he was coached by him at Seattle. According to Big Russ; he made him taste leather !! Or as “Chickie Baby” would yell, “Fly-Swatted by Russell..what a play.”
April 28th, 2009 at 9:01 am
richard says:
No, not 11 titles in 13 years, because of free agency and 32 teams. However Rodman was nowhere near the talent Russell was. I’ll tell you this much, Russell was a permanent fixture at Georgetown practices during Big John’s tenure, tutoring his inside players on interior defense. Ewing, Mourning, Mutombo, Othello Harrington, Jerome Williams, Don Reid, and I could go on. The point is he had guys no one ever heard of who played ten or more years in the NBA because they new how to play post defense. Thanks Bill Russell…..He set the tone for physical play in the Big East which is still on display today.
April 28th, 2009 at 9:05 am
pop steals says:
Congratulations on having written yet another excellent piece! I met Bill Russell back in the early seventies when I was working on a master’s degree.
My classmate who introduced me to him also wanted me to make the opening remarks for Bill Russell before the great speech he delivered later on that evening, but I was too shy at that stage of my life to do so. He made quite an impression on me.
Keep up the GOOD work!
April 28th, 2009 at 9:19 am
ali says:
yeah richard. most people are unaware that big john was bill russell’s backup for a few years with the celtics and they had a close relationship. heckuva recruiting advantage, telling a young big man that he was going to be tutored by the great bill russell?
to a lesser extent, calipari has that – telling young, phenomenal point guards that they will be tutored by one of the best to ever do it (and most underappreciated and least recognized) in his assistant rod strickland. if you think derrick rose and tyreke evans didn’t factor that into their decisions, you’re buggin’!
April 28th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
richard says:
I agree with what you said about Rod Strickland 200%. Rod was vicious. Classic NYC point guard. Never gets the props he deserves. He could do it all, penetrate, pass, hit the J, make free throws. I thought the Knicks made a big mistake keeping Jackson over Strickland.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
ali says:
ooohweeee richard. rod was vicious, nutricious and like a slice of pie so delicious. they once asked michael jordan, “who is the one player that the press doesn’t talk about but all the players know that when they go up against him, they could be in for a long night?” and w/out hesitation he said, “oh, that’s rod strickland, without a doubt.”
i would not be the least bit surprised to hear that john wall, the #1 high school point guard and top overall player period, signed w/ kientucky to play under calipari and get that one year internship under rod.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
ali says:
my man fly ty out in vegas sent this over -
“I got to sit next to him an NBA All Star dinner when it was here in Vegas a few years ago. I’m generally jaded on celebs by now but I will admit to a “groupie moment” lol I know I got on his nerves, Sorry Bill!”
April 28th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
funkalot says:
Listen, being from Boston I have come to appreciate Big Bill for the man and loathe the Celtics at the same time.
Bill was never fully appreciated in this hockey town. For instance, he lived in the city for awhile and then relocated to a idyllic suburb. Some of the town’s people decided to show their appreciation by breaking into his home, smashing his trophies and smearing the “n” word in fecies on his bedroom wall. Could you imagine that happening to Ted williams or Bobby Orr? The answer is no.
The Celtics, nor the city of Boston, have a legacy of winning without him and yet, there is no monument erected in his honor, but we have a Ted Williams Tunnel, statues of Larry Bird and Red Auerbach in the Haymarket area. Are you kidding me? Just like Mike, he deserves a life like statue outside of the Boston Garden. It will never happen because he was not a sycophant with the local press. Instead, he was vilified for being an opinionated and intellectual Black man. The local scribes tended to seek out Heinsohn, Cousy, Sharman and Havlicek for post game interviews, further alienating him. Yet, for all that Red did for him, he did not seem to defend him when he needed it most. So, I can appreciate “Big Bill”, but not the Celtics, never will. Cousy some years ago when Bill attempted to make peace with Boston (when he retired, he made it known that he extolled no love for the city and declined to return when invited) in a fundraising effort for a charity of his, he routinely was interviewed openly about his disdain for the city and its patrons,his teammate Bob Cousy upon listening to Bill lament in depth about his time spent in Boston, cried and said that he had no idea what Bill or any of his other Black teammates were subjected to, ongoing. I laughed, it was incredulous. Surely, you are not suprised though!
Being at G’Town, pre -Pat Ewing, Bill was always around on campus working with John’s Bigs. Plus, his daughter, Karen was the class behind me and one in front of Pat at G’Town. Karen would go on to attend Harvard Law, during the same time as the “Prez”.
Anecdotally, Bill and Wilt were fierce competitors but very good friends, as well. They often stayed or dined with each other, while visiting the other’s city.
Lastly, his 1956 accomplishments may never be duplicated with an NCAA chip, USA Gold and NBA chip. Marinate on that for a minute. Straight gangster!
Funkin forever!
Bill was a transcendent figure in Boston. He arrived at at time when Blacks represented less than 5% of the city’s population and immediately gave the hood (Roxbury) love and an identity. He , along, with Sam Jones spent off time in the Roxbury Boys Club or the Norfolk House and mentored wanna be ballers, most notably, Jalen Rose’s pops, Jimmy Walker, who was the NBA;s no.1 overall pick in the 1967 draft. That draft included Pearl and Clyde.
The man defended the rights of blacks politically and supported issues around civil rights in the city and nationally
April 29th, 2009 at 9:02 am
illest says:
It shows you what a disgrace of a town Boston is that there is no Bill Russell statue.
richard….the knicks made a mistake in drafting Strickland. I love Rod Strickland pause no homo but Action was ill when he first got to the Knicks and it didnt make sense to draft another point guard….THE NEXT YEAR.
April 29th, 2009 at 9:50 am
ali says:
well said funk. it’s beyond disgraceful that there is no statue of bill russell outside of the boston garden. he made that franchise what it is.
and illest, i agree with richard that rod should have stayed with the knicks. loved mark jackson, but rod’s game was much better suited for pitino’s style.
April 29th, 2009 at 10:40 am
illest says:
marks game was fine the first years he was there. mark wasnt the turtle then. it was stupid to draft two point guards in back to back years.
April 29th, 2009 at 11:59 am
ali says:
illest and funk,
if bill russell played in today’s NBA, how do you think he’d fare? i personally believe that he’d better than dennis rodman.
April 29th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
illest says:
he would fare very well because of his smarts and quickness. he would add weight because thats the way the game is now. i wouldnt compare russell to rodman anyway. russell did score a lot more. i laugh how people say greg oden is the next bill russell. why because he is a defensive presence against 6 foot guys in high school?
April 29th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
ali says:
i just compare him to rodman in the sense of being a defensive and rebounding savant.
April 30th, 2009 at 6:25 am
funkalot says:
The comparison to Rodman is apt because of the agility and ferocity that Rodman displayed. They both focused on getting defensive stops by sacrificing for the team’s greater benefit. I, agree, though that Big Bill was a notch above Rodman offensively.
However, it is always difficult to project a past player’s game into the future because conditions are not static. For instance, given the media hype of today, although Bill may have still been into defense, he may have focused on his offense more to get paid. So instead of averaging 15p and 20r, the converse would be more probable (20p 15r). Nonetheless, Bill would be significant post presence probably more at the 4 than his traditional 5 position.
April 30th, 2009 at 10:42 am
ali says:
no doubt funk. but i was thinking static aside, as if he was inserted into today’s game, being the player he was. i see him terrorizing at the 4 spot. wonder what his blocked shot averages and totals would have really looked like if they kept the stat back then.
April 30th, 2009 at 11:51 am
funkalot says:
Ali,
If the “L” maintained stats on blocks, I believe “Big Bill” might have encroached “Big O” territory with averaging a triple double, with pts., rebs., and blocks, for seasons.
Now that is serious to marinate on, for awhile. The other under accounted for stat relative to Russell, were the shots he altered or just plain deterred from being attempted.
He was that dude.
April 30th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
ali says:
to average a triple double with blocks would be even more incredible than oscar’s accomplishment. and you’re right funk, there were a lot of bricks tossed up just because dudes were shook that russ MIGHT block it. indeed, he was THAT DUDE!
younsters need to know about their b-ball forfathers like the great bill russell.
May 4th, 2009 at 11:19 am
illest says:
do the youngsters care about their forefathers of anything?