American basketball legend Bill Russell, 11-time NBA champion with the Celtics, died Sunday at the age of 88, his family announced.
The first black player to reach superstar status in the NBA, Russell has 11 NBA championship titles and an Olympic gold medal, won in 1956. He was the first black American to coach a major league team. North American, leading “his” Celtics from 1966 to 1969.
Russell spent his entire NBA career, from 1956 to 1969, in the green jersey of the Boston Celtics, with whom he played 12 finals for 11 titles, a record for a sportsman in a major North American professional league, tied with Henri Richard of the National Ice Hockey League.
The NBA paid tribute to the “greatest champion of any team sport“. “Bill stood for something much bigger than sport: the values of equality, respect and inclusion that he inscribed in our league’s DNA.“said NBA boss Adam Silver.”At the height of his athletic career, Bill vigorously championed civil rights and social justice, a legacy he passed on to generations of NBA players who followed in his footsteps.“Silver added.
Bill Russell here congratulating Kevin Durant on his 2018 MVP trophy. [Larry W. Smith – Keystone]
afp/bur
