Bill Russell: My Life, My Way

[Music] it was really important that played the game with honesty and integrity most valuable player of the tournament we cared about each other and we respected each other dinah'll people always been comfortable with being what I am in Who I am I kicked out five hours head supreme confidence that comes from intelligence and knowledge not from bravado I think the only things that I have a bigger system which is that I've been able to recognize what is true for me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] perhaps no one in any team sport has ever won so consistently at Bill Russell he played 13 years in a row 13 years he won 11 World Championships but not only did he win 11 World Championships he went to 12 of those championship finals there's not one person in any sport who has accomplished but Bill Russell did not mean Percy Russell redefined the game of basketball revolutionising the center position and changing the face of defensive play what he did seemed almost magical in addition to his 11 NBA titles as a Boston Celtic Russell also won two NCAA Championships at the University of San Francisco and an Olympic gold medal in Melbourne in 1956 yet despite all these accomplishments Russell remained distant and enigma to so many people in true russell fashion even demanded at the retirement of his celtic jersey number six be conducted as a private ceremony one which excluded the Boston fans his career with the Celtics lasted from 1956 to 1969 and though he would later return to the NBA first as a network broadcaster and then as a coach with Seattle and Sacramento mostly he remained out of the limelight content and reclusive in the spring of 1999 Russell returned to Boston where he was honored in a public ceremony Russell was overwhelmed by the tribute touched by a response from the Boston fans he had never really enjoyed during his 13 years as a Boston Celtic I was with hevacheck one time and this person came up we were going someplace in somebody your basketball player I said no dude John says what do you always see their best ball player I said John that's what I do that's not what I am Bill Russell of course was born in Louisiana in the 1930s when the deep south was truly the deep south and this was a place as god-forsaken as politically backwards as one could possibly imagine it was a cesspool of hatred hatred was being not only tolerated but it was part of the whole environment my dad was definitely subjected to racial intolerance growing up in the rural South but my grandparents Katie and Charlie did a fantastic job of shielding him from outside racial influences well my mother told me the white people in Monroe Louisiana would really quite mean and so she did everything she could to keep me protected so that they didn't get a chance to do anything to me or have any negative impact on me like so many blacks who left the segregated south during the 1940s Charles and Katie Russell took their children to California in search of a better life from a very young age my grandmother kept telling my father that he was going to encounter people in the world who weren't gonna like him based solely on the color of his skin and she taught him that he needed to stand up to those people in order to live life as a dignified person well we got a apartment in the projects yeah I'll sit on the steps and these five boys were written back and one of them who came by him slept me as he was running back and my mother he said you're gonna fight him out one at a time so I had to fight these five guys I think I might have won two and lost three but she said the important thing is not what do you want a loss but the wilderness to fight for for yourself three years after moving to Oakland when Bill was only 12 years old his mother passed away I spent some time I know it would hurt for leaving although she though as a kid I didn't know that she didn't happen in control over that and I don't know why'd you leave me here with these people you know because I think my father there was people just were not generally overwhelmingly client to you russell's father was left to raise his two sons alone but it was here in Auckland the bill was introduced to the game of basketball I had never seen a basketball until I went to California and asked her playing basketball and I could that understand how I was nine and the kids six could play better they could shoot and hit the rim and I could shoot and miss the whole outdoors Russell attended McClement High School in Oakland where he was an easily forgettable basketball player ironically it was his mediocre basketball skills which earned him a scholarship to the University of San Francisco but the all-black neighborhood of Oakland was in stark contrast to what he found across the bay at the Catholic University at USF in the 50s for most in four years I was there I think there were nine black students on the campus but there were always a one or two guys around that thought it was okay to do or say anything they wanted and it wasn't alright and my reputation was not that good at school because they said you'll fight for nothing and I wasn't gonna bother anybody I wouldn't let people visit their problems on me the periodic harassment that Russell had to suffer on campus paled in comparison with what he had to deal with when the USF team was on the road in the 1950s much of America still remained segregated he told me no war in 1947 Jackie Robinson had broken the major-league color barrier in 1950 Earl Lloyd had become the first african-american to play in the NBA but during this time few colleges yet recruited black athletes and for those that did an unofficial quota system tacitly existed if you remember the climate in this country now my college coach used to catch hell from the other coaches and from the administration by playing three black guys I mean we used to get without exaggeration buckets of hate mail every week especially when we're on a win streak we won 55 straight games we'd go to office after a game and it'd be just stack of mail manic fives never hate mail they caulk fill everything but a child of God Russell continued to improve his game especially working with his friend Casey Jones the team's star play maker Jones and Russell began to study basketball theory and concepts approaching the game as an intellectual exercise but coach walpert continued to believe that his star was defensively unsound after all it was basketball Dogma the defender must not leave his feet and Russell was regularly airborne in fact he so dominated the inside game that the NCAA changed the rules widening the free-throw Lane from six feet to 12 [Music] San Francisco is one of the most spectacular California teams habitus teaming for the finals in the spring of 1955 bills junior year the USF Dons went to their first NCAA Championship against LaSalle University so I went to him before the game I says Billy Boy what do you think about this with Sal team you think we can give him a good tussle he leaned back he says they don't have a prayer we're gonna take them out and I mean out the first thing he did in that game and I had never seen in a game before he moved on to the bucket took the ball and smashed it in backwards and kept going they're running over there the coaches say well it didn't happen that was a mistake the players he had him in shock so that we thought we'd give her an encore they came back again gave it to Russell BAM again she's they were discombobulated then then Casey Jones stole a ball for goalie and he slammed it so it was slam slam Pam and the game was over early Russell led USF to an easy victory but the wind would later turn bittersweet when I was a junior in college we won the national championship and for the year we won 28 out of 29 games and I averaged over 20 points and 20 rebounds a game for the whole season and that was the outstanding player in the tournament came home and they had a big parade and everything and every year they would have Northern California sports banquet and I was running up to another Center miss Player of the Year in Northern California I was deeply offended by their they was obviously to everybody there that I thought this was a bunch of crap they didn't start right how arrogant I was and the other thing is they gave me that same trophy the next year and I threw it away I said people that would do things like that cannot honor me the following year 1956 USF went under three twin stretching its winning streak to a record 55 straight games as Russell ended his college career leading the Dons to their second straight national title people still didn't understand how good Russell was though again it's that business of he blocks a shot early in the game and then everybody gets scared and so you don't quite comprehend what he's doing out there he's changed the game in the first five minutes so that even though he sweeps through these 55 games and wins two national championships people were not cognizant of how great he was [Applause] Boston may have been northern liberal and well-educated the Athens of America it proudly calls itself but in the 50s in terms of race Boston was a city rife with racial conflict clearly the mid 1950s at the point it was the civil rights movement begins to take shape dr. Martin Luther King and Birmingham Rosa Parks things like this starting to gain you know widespread public attention and the question of race is being forced on the agenda in America in a way that it had never been addressed before [Music] the Boston Celtics led by the popular guard Bob Cousy were always a contender never a champion the coach Red Auerbach knew that what the Celtics needed was an outstanding rebounder someone who could get koozie the ball to start the fast-break Auerbach decided that Russell could fill that role it was a brilliant decision but bringing a prominent black player especially an intelligent and outspoken black player to Boston made a lot of people uncomfortable well there was another element of cost involved in it the country has gone through great social change at the time and I don't think they were ready for black athlete let alone a world-shaking black athlete who revolutionized the game that they didn't know anything about that's what was going on here lost the feelings against Russell were intensified in order to obtain Russell Auerbach had traded edy McCauley a popular white center and the rights to another white rookie cliff Hagan I play the best players who in the game from me and make the substitutions accordingly I don't care they're black white green yellow away a there was a being I don't need to discuss it I think that red made or conscious effort to coach me and better tell a lot of stuff you got to remember now I went through three years in college what a coach didn't think I was that good so I get to Boston and the very first play that I made I blocked a shot and the referee called goaltending and red jumped up and got technical foul hard with referees I thought they were so cool you know cuz res answered was I can't expect his players to fight for me if I won't fight for them [Music] by the time the playoffs began in 1957 Russell quickly proved to the skeptics that he could fill the one void in the Celtic offense he got them the ball but our backs amazement Russell also proved to be revolutionary as a defensive player for the first time ever the Celtics made the NBA Finals they met the st. Louis Hawks next up is Boston on cavalcade where a capacity crowd sees the NBA championship struggle between the st. Louis Hawks and the Boston Celtics st. Louis the southernmost city in the NBA at that time had been a vicious venue for Russell during the regular season and when the final series moved to st. Louis right away the racial slurs began to pour down on Russell from the stands first game I started was in st. Louis against Alex first played a game and as the guy sitting about as far away as you are and he says hey pity don't get no chocolate on you and that was the nicest thing I heard that neck it was a series filled with tension tied after six games the seventh and deciding game was played at the Boston Garden where for the first time the Boston fans enamored more with the game of hockey than basketball finally embraced their Celtic team up until that time red they'd never used rookies as he said going down the stretch the last three or four minutes of the game he always wanted veterans well the three guys Tyson Rams in myself while rookies and I think we are all played just about the most minutes during the end of regulation with the Hawks ahead Russell scored a layup to put the Celtics up by one point but st. Louis now had possession with less than a minute left in the game st. Louis got the ball at the foul line made one pass up towards the sideline by the foul line extended Jack Coleman who received the past but one dribble was going out for a layup to win the game the championship and everything else 90 feet they must have done it in four or five giant stars and rustling blocked the shot he went by me I was trying to get to this guy called me he went by me like the roadrunner I mean 15 he just swooped literally like Superman swooped left up in the air and bad at that damn football against the backboard the most amazing play I ever saw Russell's game saving block help set up a double overtime victory giving the Celtics their first championship in Celtic history then I remembered I could see the pebbles on the ball Alex Hannum passed the ball they hit the backboard and my friend Pat his hand and then trying to get off what a clock went off here we missed it [Applause] [Music] the Boston Celtics became the best team in the league virtually overnight Russell not only led the Celtics for their first championship as a rookie but his shot-blocking revolutionized the game sending terror through the lead his ability to grab the rebound whirl and fire an outlet pass to kuzey raised the Celtics fast-break to a new level and made it a work of athletic art Russell was this Savior all right red became bill Russell's John the Baptist he spread the word everybody was in love with Bob Cousy you could see what he was doing but Red Auerbach spread the word about Bill Russell he could help create the image and the importance of what Russell was doing the Celtic rain had just begun but the following year the Celtics would lose against the st. Louis Hawks when an injured Russell proved to be ineffective in 1959 with Russell back in good health the Celtics recaptured what was rightfully theirs the Celtics swept the Minneapolis Lakers and four very ridiculously easy games in 1959 here is what the coach of the defeated Lakers said about that series that's quite a twist isn't it having a defensive player mean the difference we don't fear the Celtics without Russell take him out and we can beat them he's the guy who whipped us psychologically Russell has our club worrying every second every one of the five men is thinking Russell is covering him on every play he blocks the shot and before you know it Boston is getting a basket and a play by Russell has done it from 1959 through 1966 the Celtics did not lose a playoff series winning eight NBA titles in a row a feat never accomplished by any other team in any major sport the common denominator during those years with one William Felton Russell [Music] [Music] in 1959 Wilt Chamberlain's entrance into the NBA began the most storied one-on-one rivalry in all of team sport it was a constant battle of wills gusting Russell and Chamberlain's mental and physical agility it was sportsmanship in its purest form first time I saw the two of them standing beside one another I said poor Russ is gonna get killed oh my god I'm ready to get on my knees and pray for the man but just as I've heard him say before he used his mobility use his quickness he was always very friendly with wilt before the game you know you would have thought if you saw the two of them before a game that he was talking to his loving brother I cannot begin to describe to you as an opponent how good he was but I had to show up and so my game plan was to get him in a rhythm that he's comfortable with now that may require he gets 45 points but if we play it right he get 45 we win the game [Applause] this is the part of theme in the history of the game the rivalry between Bill Russell and world Chamberlain was the rivalry that in essence maintained the league I mean Boston won all these championships they didn't have very much competition so what reason is there for anyone the watch and basketball was not that popular at this time anyway but you had these two giants the two best players in the game it was very much like bullfight or a boxing match or two gladiators and it was certainly a transitional point in history of the NBA the media portrayed the dual of the two Giants as a struggle between good versus evil Russell the selfless team player against Chamberlain the greedy individual star the press made those guys out to be bad guys in terms of hate each other but I think those guys liked each other and I think they liked to play against each other not because of camaraderie because of the experience of both of them Chamberlain reveled in the spotlight unlike Russell who chose to maintain his privacy there were a couple times I was with him and people would come up and call him wilt and thought he was with all he knew was it was a big tall basketball player and everybody knew Wilf too still because Chamberlain was a much more famous person than Bill Russell was and they didn't make any difference how many times Russell won Chamberlain was still famous [Music] he was the Dipper he was just a little more flamboyant little cooler he hung out and big cars the old smalls paradise and Russell played in bosses we didn't have the same kind of boss and had no five we'll play it in Philly he played in LA so he had a cooler cooler persona it was always kind of a class argument away the finding is went down was well a little bit more than the other brothers were so you know it was like easier Wolfman or Russell man and it was hard to be both not to be outdone by Chamberlain Russell's style was just as flamboyant when Russell came to Washington I went to rid Iraq's home as a woman comedian and I never will forget the car pulling up and this guy pulls up with a top hat like a little Derby hat on he has a cane and I'm in my mind said here's an here honey and I said I gotta know that this guy's crazy I remember Russell used to have this black suit he wore a black suit and every playoff game he also had a cape I thought he was Dracula Count Dracula something so we started calling him count Russell but anyway I asked him why does he wear a black suit and he says well I'm like a mortician I come to bury the players that I'm playing against so I decided I would wear a black suit so if I could be a mortician awesome but that's Bill Russell very very different as his celebrity grew Russell was harshly criticized for being inaccessible off the court and nothing upset or mystified fans more than Russell's refusal to do what all athletes were expected to do I never ever can remember one single day that I was comfortable signing autographs even when I was in college and as I got older became increasingly impersonal someone could put a piece of paper in front of me and sign it and we never even say hello to each other I remember one time we were in New York guy came over I said you mr. Russell was the hour back I said yes he said yes I'd certainly appreciate if you would sign an autograph for my son and he did it and I did it then another guy came by I said hey you Bill Russell sign this yeah he blew up he doesn't say much he says I don't sign autographs he turned his back to this guy because of the impertinence and the rule does cylinder that's where was Bill Russell was not a person who initiated anger towards you he was not a rude person but if you violated him you would know in a minute that he objected to it I find bill to be very simple for me if he go to him stupid if he impose if you assume or take for granted you're gonna have a problem while many athletes agreed with Russell's stance most thought it was easier to simply sign the autographs in the pure form we probably shouldn't sign autographs but he had the courage to take the criticism and not do it just because his principal I decided that when I said no it wasn't a hostile act at least seem a wuss so I'm not saying no to you I'm not saying I don't do that I understood that Russell didn't sign autographs but I also thought that I was in a different category a teammate and also a friend and so I asked Russell in a dressing room before a game would he sign a picture simply because I was trying to get all of the teammates and people I had played with their pictures and photo together in the group and first thing he looked up and said was hatch you know I don't sign autographs I said I understand that you don't sign autographs for other people but I would assume that you would sign this for me and he said that I don't sign autographs so first I thought he was joking and then he said the third and the fourth time then I know he was serious but that was Russell that's how strongly he felt about the subject the most important thing was a game of basketball and signing autographs or what the public had to say off the court was really not that important to him can I think this is something that again for many people at the time was quite radical because first of all they had this attitude that black people owed them something anyway and secondly that an athlete of all people who was very prosperous really owed them something and Russell said no I owe you absolutely nothing because Russell remained aloof and refused to make an effort to please his critics much of the public saw him as haughty and rude what Bill Russell was was proud what Bill Russell was was direct what Bill Russell was a person who was not apologetic Bill Russell did not ask for permission to be a human being and there were many whites in our society that was not exposed to a black person who would be that way Bill Russell wouldn't say oh please treat me like a person he would tell you I am a person but a lot of people would interpret him as being a racist because of his intelligence because of his violation of what was traditionally called the place of where a black person should be he was not that way are you saying then that there are white people who will never accept Negro people is that what you mean sure mr. blanky the word that was usually apply was arrogant he's arrogant and that's the way an awful lot of people felt about Russell one of my father's most unique qualities is that he really does not care what other people think about him and even if there's misinformation he won't go out of his way to correct the misinformation I guess he really listens to the internal voice to make his decisions about how he's going to live his life and we think it doesn't feel you need to explain anything bill when he is not on stage as I say to the average public I wish people could see him then funniest men and the whole wide world [Music] [Applause] [Music] difficult video efforts which smile which I thought was wonderful but I've never seen a person in my life that can make the simple things in life as complicated as Bill Russell asked him does he love his children and listen to the answer it's not just yes he don't tell you about the trees the flowers and philosophic hey Russ I don't want to hear this do you love him he's a thinker and he can see he if is there he'll see it he is so bright he fools people are you talking about athletes they are and as soon as people set apart from the time they were seven eight years old when everybody realized that athletic prowess they are treated like a beautiful girl nobody really cares what they think or anything people because he wouldn't sign the autograph and he was a little and he was sort of introverted people got the idea it was totally arrogant and he wasn't smart they say it was just a big dumb guy a big dumb athlete and he was just the opposite [Music] during the 1960's Boston was reflective of the times the city still largely segregated in racially tense became a civil rights battleground despite his prominence Russell was not spared the lashes of prejudice and discrimination there even as the Celtics Championships piled up even as he continued to bring glory to Boston they remained many whites who still hated the idea of a black man wearing their Celtic green I got some hate mail in Boston a couple of times people said it if I played in the next game I was gonna be my last day on earth or something like that but I really was never concerned about that because if someone's gonna gonna send an anonymous mail they were not likely to show up but Russell could not escape the bigots and he and his family were subjected to some of the most horrific racial abuse I knew that Bill Russell wanted to live in Redding because they threw a night for him at a country club there and it's the first time I ever saw Russell legitimately touched by anything where his defenses were down and he broke down he started crying and he said I wanna live here the rest of my life yet you people have been so great and the next thing he went to buy a bigger house and they started circulating petitions a group of people try to buy the house so he couldn't get it then the break-ins and his house stein they broke into our family home which is just an incredible violation and they were pretty sadistic they broke most of my father's trophies and they defecated my parents bed and sort of covered it up with perfume and so after sort of dealing with everything they dealt with and the police when they finally went to go to bed they pulled back the sheets and discovered that so it was really pretty insulting he genuinely thought these people by putting this night on him reading and they ended up doing the worst possible thing to this guy [Music] Boston was hardly the only city where racism flourished black athletes were met with hostility we're going down to play in the south and Walter brown Iona had pledged that he would never embarrass any of the black players and we played a Marion in the end we'd pull it to town and they'd throw a big luncheon for us everybody and the Celtic team gets a key to Marion Indiana Wow is it that wonderful so now we played a game and we go out to find a place to eat after the game there's only two places on and neither place would serve the black players so at two o'clock in the morning we found that we're two male lift and we collected all the keys and we took cabs to the mayor's house rang the doorbell and gave the mayor back all the kids the next day the Celtics played an exhibition against the Hawks in Lexington Kentucky home of the University of Kentucky were Frank Ramsey of the Celtics and cliff Hagan of the Hawks had starred as collegians red told us what would happen down he says now you can't even eat and any restaurants down there in Lexington but you can eat in the hotel but you have to tell he'd the hostess however that you were the Celtics they seated us in the dining room and hinder late he gave me said I'm sorry I can't serve you I already went to get the manager and the manager came over only to say that we don't serve for Negros okay so we just got up and and left the counter so Russell being the senior guy with the Celtics decided that we should see red-eye back we talked over the door he saw that a sense of emergency we're on our faces then he says what's wrong and I says well we can't eat in the hotel he says oh yes you can so he gets on the phone and calls the manager and the manager says well it was a mistake we can certainly say you know we can certainly serve the members of the st. Louis and the Selphy basketball team so then Russell says well if we weren't on team we could need it he was it well no I said we were just joking we're not on the basketball team we just haven't been able to passing through and we thought we'd come in for a bite to eat we wanted to eat with some of the Celtic guys you know but we're not on the team I said well then we can't serve you we left again and Russert well you know can't play in a place like this there's no reason the world why we could stay in the hotel to come here to play and we can't eat in the restaurant and those real said ok said you want to go home and we all said yes resevoir wouldn't it be better if you played the game and then really get some attention to this saying through media and Bill said really would get more attention from the media if we didn't play while the black players return to Boston they're white teammates remain behind and played against the Hawks that happened in Lexington which where I went to school and I was very embarrassed by it but I certainly didn't blame him for leaving one of the same those writers had written quote a disgrace it was what we had done and I weed and embarrassed these two fine gentlemen but not plan and the game that was honoring them and how we embarrassed them and that the league should find us and possibly suspend us for being so rude and I was thinking now what part is did I miss you know the 60s in America was a time of social awakening [Music] the hippie movement free love Vietnam war but in the world of sports the 60s belong to the Boston Celtics [Applause] at the end of the 1962 season Russell became the first player to repeat as MVP he pulled down almost 24 rebounds per game the Celtics now had their fourth consecutive championship Bill Russell 30 points I repeat 40 rebound the next two years would not be any different for the Celtics as they amassed a record six consecutive titles seven overall whether it was the lucky leprechaun a few lucky bounces or a strong belief in a superstitious cigar that kept the Celtics winning Auerbach wasn't taking any chances with the one Celtic constant one night we were warming up and then Red Auerbach call us all together says we got to go back in to the dressing room this has never been done before so we go back in the dressing room and we're sitting down and real live access it Russell go throw up you haven't thrown up tonight so I thought this is funny it's Russell threw up before every game but he had not thrown up that night and so Red Auerbach brought us all on the floor not just bill Ross all of us so Russell goes back and he throws up we got to listen to all they don't mess this guy's Doug you know so he'd go back over cook here in the ball game Red Auerbach was superstitious in a way that Russell had to throw up before game start in college we're playing an NCAA night I got nervous and not eating a rare steak and I wouldn't bathroom and threw up and so I can't part my routine it never bothered me it never made me sick is throwing up is know it's like wiping sweat off your face is no more to add in eighth before almost every season the experts would predict the demise of the Celtics but when Chamberlain returned from San Francisco in 1964 to play for the newly formed Philadelphia 76ers Boston obviously had a genuine challenge [Applause] sure enough the 76ers took the cells to the limit my career's getting ready to put the ball on a play goes into Chamberlain table of chairs and stops the ball Wilkes dunk cut the Celtics lead to one 110 to 109 then came one of the most bizarre sequences in NBA history in those days and the old Boston Garden they had the basket was attached to these two long long long cables that were attached to the balcony and Russell took the ball and threw the pass in and hit the guide wire Russell lost the ball off the support and Boston is only leading by a run point career is putting the ball on a play he gets it out deep in half [Applause] I did not trust anyone until they pass it but me because I always felt that I was a best pass might have been true but I always thought then they immediately called timeout and Russell's completely crazed about hitting the guide wire and the ball going back to them we could lose the game if they make a basket it's not good 200 I said you guys you got to do something you know you got to take care of me down [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Oh Chucky [Music] I always tell have a check listen if I hadn't done that you never could the hero [Applause] [Music] by the mid 60s the Black Power movement is making its presence known during that particular time it was Martin Luther King Stokely Carmichael's and the Muslim movement was coming alive there all kinds of things so it was all on the forefront in 1963 Martin Luther King and civil rights demonstrators were attacked by the birmingham police two months later the n-double-a-cp x' local leader Medgar Evers was assassinated in front of his home in Jackson Mississippi during the summer of 64 medgar's brother Charles invited Russell to Mississippi and them to conduct basketball clinics in an effort to calm racial tensions well do you think that you will get some white kids to play basketball with Negro kids I think so I don't see why not my kids play with white kids and nobody got hurt yet during these times it was a prominent black athletes who could afford to speak out on the in justices of black people and did so 20 years that Bo was playing he was one of few of black athletes that those of us in the sport really truly looked up to it was that he stood for the types of things that we needed to stand up for we held on to the future just merely by watching and listening to the bill Russell's in the Jim Brown people who outspoken in a show of solidarity the leading black athletes gathered in Cleveland to meet with Muhammad Ali after he refused induction into the armed services [Applause] I had an organization called the black economic union and Bill Russell and Bobby Mitchell re a fleets and young MBA so around the country dealt with that organization Muhammad Ali brought us together actually when he refused to go into the service and the feeling among Jim Brown and Bill Russell was that the thing to do would be to bring Muhammad Ali to Cleveland and we all sit down with it and try to find out if he is in fact sincere in his beliefs at that point we're saying that what you're really doing is you embarrassing all the black athletes and we need to talk to you I know that we wanted to find out you know you read the papers you see on television and all this kind of stuff what is going on and had a full-day discussion with him and naturally built put some heavy intellectual reasoning to him but it was when it was all over though Muhammad Ali typically win arguments and he won that won this very prominent meeting with Jim Brown and Kareem abdul-jabbar and Bill Russell and Muhammad Ali just to see all of them in the same space and not be dealing exclusively with athletics to be dealing with politics I think we have to look at that as a sign of the times I think there were black people through our society who were no longer going to accept the treatment that they had been receiving but I think the fact that you have these top athletes of their time coming together to take a stand on a racial and political issue is really unprecedented by 1966 after 16 years of coaching an aging Auerbach began the search for his replacement we came into that year and I was mulling over what to do when finally were in the playoffs Russell came up to my room he says at this stage of my life he says I'd appreciate not playing for another coach he says can i coach the team I said to myself who could better motivate Bill Russell than Bill Russell I asked myself first about that thing I could do a good job would I be the best man for the job and then divided won all the aggravation I've seen red going through for the last ten years before Bill Russell was he liked a coach I don't know african-american coaches in football baseball anywhere so we felt that this was an opportunity that was opening up for not only for for Bill Russell but everybody I mean he was almost like the Jackie Robinson of coaching and I think man was thinking about well I'll be known as the guy who hired the first bike coach he was singing what's best for team however during Russell's first year as player-coach the Celtics win streak would come to an end when Boston faced Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference Finals Philadelphia have learned that all-time great team J here physically imposing I think Chamberlain finally had a team around me that really complemented him [Applause] we were good you know we had 168 games in the last 13 so we were the team what must be going through a man like bill Russell's mine for years he's been the hub of this successful team his first year as a coach and now he stands one minute away from his team being ousted from the playoffs for the black players on the 76ers their triumph over Boston at last was made bittersweet by the fact that they had defeated the first black coach in NBA history so it was kind of a joyous moment but we've talked good about effectively one but we were kind of said that we had to be Bill Russell I can remember when they beat us in Philadelphia in the convention hall they said the Celtics are dead the Celtics are dead the Celtics are finally dead and I said were only dead until next September when the season starts again [Music] like anybody I would like to live a long life longevity has its place but I'm not concerned about that now I just want to do God's will but it really don't matter with me now because I've been to the mountaintop Promised Land with you [Music] [Applause] the promised land n-b-c interrupts its regular program schedule to bring you the following special report Martin Luther King jr. was killed tonight in Memphis Tennessee shot in the face as he stood alone on the balcony of his hotel room the 68 playoffs were a disappointment in many ways Russell was still the coach and we met the Celtics in the Eastern finals and then Martin Luther King was shot and assassinated both teens went to the same locker room to decide if we were little play this game enough and it was a real intense meeting and eventually it was decided that we would play [Music] in an extraordinary comeback down three games to one the Celtics won the series in Philadelphia in the seventh game on the heels of what was a tumultuous time they then moved on to beat Los Angeles Bill Russell the first black coach in the NBA had now become the first black coach to win a championship [Music] Russell struggled with injuries the following season but in true Celtic fashion they battled their way through to Game seven of the finals against the Lakers for Russell it was to be his most significant game a win was crucial I knew before the season started it was gonna be last year but I didn't tell anyone because that to out my career I was always very careful not to say things that were changed my teammates second our vision or anything but Game seven at home gave the Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke reason to celebrate albeit a little too early I saw the owner of the Lakers coming downstairs early before anybody did come into gym along with the Commissioner and Jackie and his heavy voices sound I want to give you one of these sheets it says when the Lakers win the championship the USC band would play happy days are here again and they had these seats behind the baskets where the USC band would sit and the balloons would come out of the rafters and it must mean thousands of balloons that I had never seen I didn't look up and chick Hearns would interview Elgin Baylor Jerry West will Chamberlain in order so I took this sheet back to Bill Russell essence Russell I like for you to see this sheet you know I want you to read it first reaction was away you know I said look at this and guys this is what I know there's not a remote possibility or chance to Lakers and win this game but then he says we're gonna change our game plan we're gonna run run run we're gonna run them into the floor and it was a bizarre game because the Celtics take a big lead and then Chamberlain gets her and takes himself out of the game and everybody is thinking how can do this in the seventh game but he says he's hurt which friend Redick off coach sends him Mel counts to take his place and sure enough the later start chipping away well during the fourth quarter I found and I knew that we had built up enough points that I thought we could win it within about the last three minutes they started making a comeback that you could not believe they was going on every possession we were missing [Music] [Applause] Chamberlin comes down the bench move on Brett o'clock and says I'm ready to go back in the game let it come says no it's amazing jack kent cooke now appears behind von beretta cough and says send him into the game and on Greta cough turns around and delivers a very pithy epithet at his boss and he keeps Chamberlain out of the game and right near the end in one of the most is the most extraordinary shot I've ever seen the ball gets tipped out of havilah checks and it ends up in Don Nelson's and like this the clock is running down he shoots it it hits the back rim and goes straight up in the air like a waterfall like a waterspout goes past the backboard up straight up in the air and comes straight back down that was a shot and really since the NBA follows for us at this point I honestly believe they must have thought you know God wears a green uniform they couldn't have thought it in the house and staggering but hanging on the Celtics win and it's it's Russell's finale [Music] Boston Celtics have done it again another jewel there you see Don Nelson here comes Bailey how Tom Sanders 108 to 106 here Gus I'm here with Phil rustle Phil this must been a great win for you exactly [Music] I know trying to say what's in your mind right now bill it must been a great win well this is such a great bunch of guys you know and it's been a different such that's so fabulous the way they played for me and it sounds off you know talking like that but I told these guys I bought a game out there what happened I would trade you got four guys in the world Russell left basketball as he entered a champion the Celtics had their eleventh title in 13 seasons a record unmatched in any sport bill Russell's contributions to the game and to life resonate to this day I'm sure all great ball players want to win but I'm not sure that all great ball players sacrifice himself to win and I think Russell did he was the heart and soul of the Celtic teams and he played the game the way you like to see people play with the passion every night he just brought all of his intelligence to basketball court not only was he extremely competitive as a player but he out thought many of his opponents he was a role model by what he was and other people said okay this is a new way of looking at a black person I want to be like him he was going to risk everything to be his own person and to deal with what would be right and at the time what was right for white America wasn't great for black America so bill was an individual that wanted things to be right for everybody Russell did it on the basketball court and more importantly as a black man he stood up and said you're not going to reduce me to and entertainer I'm gonna play basketball and I'm gonna be a man and you're gonna respect me for this at the end of the day any black man particularly at that time to stand up and make those sort of statements with his play and with his words for me eminently significant I have 11 rings but I have Anthony more French that I acquired long journey to get to race and that is the most important thing [Music] this has been a presentation of HBO Sports the network of Champions [Music]

Channel: Kendall Bridges Reid

Views: 205,246

Keywords: Bill Russell, Boston Celtics, Basketball, Documentaries

Id: PU8NwhRAFg8

Length: 59min 59sec (3599 seconds)

Published: Wed May 30 2018