William Felton Russell was born on February 12,1934 in Monroe, Louisiana, a small industrial city located in the swampy southeastern portion of the state By the time Bill was born 34 years late, Monroe had developed into a typical city in the deep South, a place where racial segregation determined the patterns of life and blacks were treated as second-class citizens.
Nevertheless, it took several years before Bills view of the world was colored by these discriminatory practices. When  you're a kid, you just never realize that there is a tremendous basic difference between mere existence and freedom. Russell wrote in his autobiography "Go Up For Glory". He was just a kid who liked his friends and loved his mother and father and brother and scuffed along the dirt road, laughing, on my way to a barn that was converted into a school.

Bill Russell was now 6 feet 5inches tall and weighing 160 pounds, was asked to join the 1952 squad chiefly because few players in the Oakland area graduated from school in January. He was available to travel up and down the coast to play the local teams. Like the McClymonds players, the California all-stars took jump shot, a recent development in the game, and left their feet on defense even though such tactics were frowned upon.

                                                     

 

 

 

"He is an unbelievable man". Those words emerged in the spring on 1968 from the downturn lips on Jerry West, Star forward of the Los Angeles Lakers. They can talk about individual players in any sport, but  he will tell you what it takes to become a winner. People say what  has he won. He would say Ten championships have been won by him in 12 years. There has never been anyone like him.

Bill Russell guided the Boston Celtics to 60 wins during the 1966-67 season, his first as the teams head coach. He prepared himself for the job in much the same way that he had improved his play: by observing how others did it. He borrowed a page from Red Auerbachs book and learned to treat each player as an individual; same of the players needed to be encourage, where as others had to be  badgered to give a better effort. Russell also emulated his former coach in the way he ran the Celtics practices.

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