Bill Russell, who passed away a few days ago, was a monumental figure—on and off the basketball court.
He is undoubtedly the greatest champion of all time in American team sports. Over 15 years, starting with his junior year at the University of San Francisco, Russell had the most remarkable career of any player in the history of team sports.
His University of San Francisco team won the NCAA tournament his junior and senior years, with Russell averaging 20.7 points and 20.7 rebounds per game during his three varsity years there. In those days, first-year students could not play on varsity teams.
During his 13 years with the Boston Celtics, he led them to the NBA finals 12 times, winning the championship 11 times. Russell’s shot blocking and rebounding were the main cogs in the Celtics dynasty during that period. Please note that the team had never won a championship before Russell arrived in 1956. Thus, he was an all-time most valuable player (MVP).
During his last three years with the Celtics, Russell was the coach and player, becoming the first African American to coach an NBA team.
He changed the game from being solely offensive to a game that could be dominated by defense. Russell’s battles with his friend, the phenomenal Wilt Chamberlain, were sports highlights. By my calculation, Russell won battles against the multi-talented and much-taller Chamberlain more often than he lost.
But unlike some of the other great African American athletes in the early 1960s, Russell is well known for speaking out about the racism he and other African Americans faced. He participated in several civil rights events, including the 1963 March on Washington. He also went to Mississippi and conducted a basketball clinic after Civil Rights leader, Medgar Evers, was assassinated.
Significantly, Bill Russell was a leading participant in the historic Cleveland Summit with Muhammed Ali on June 4, 1967. Organized by the great football player Jim Brown, the group consisted of 12 African American men, including eight professional football players and one collegiate basketball player, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor. The other person was Carl Stokes, who would win the election as Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, later that November.
Ali had proclaimed that he would not accept being drafted into the Army. And legend has it that these men met with Ali to provide him cover for his ultimate decision. If he changed his mind as many thought he would, they would take the “blame” for convincing him to do so. But, on the other hand, they would support him if he did not change his mind.
While it seemed to work out that way, some participants told a different story, a story that might be better than the legend. Bob Arum, the powerful boxing promoter who controlled the closed-circuit television rights for Ali’s fights, had asked Jim Brown to call such a meeting to persuade Ali to accept a deal that one of Arum’s law partners had negotiated with the government. The draft-dodging charges would be dropped if Ali agreed to perform boxing exhibitions for U.S. troops.
The athletes would be rewarded with local closed-circuit franchises if they were successful. But, of course, they failed to persuade Ali to change his mind.
I could have told them that Ali would not change his mind as it happened. I had met Ali at a Muslim Mosque in D.C. the Sunday before he first refused to step forward and accept induction into the army.
I could tell by how he spoke that day and how he shook my hand, looked me in the eye, and said firmly, “We will die for you, brother.” Many people thought that Ali was bluffing and would relent. However, I was confident of his seriousness after meeting Ali and hearing him talk. Afterward, I told everyone who would listen that Ali would refuse to join the military.
Several of the men gathered in Cleveland came seeking economic opportunity: however, I am glad that the men met. They could have walked away when they recognized that they were not going to change Ali’s mind and not see any money from a deal with Arum. Instead, they used their collective power to support Ali. They sacrificed some of their popularity to stand up for religious freedom and to stand up to a government that seemed to be singling Ali out for punishment because he was Black and outspoken.
Bill Russell was right at home supporting Ali.
