The thirteen times championship winner, William Felton Russell had athletic features since his early years and was a good runner and jumper. Born in February 1934 to Charles Russell and Katie Russell in West Monroe, Louisiana, Russel was often a victim of racism in his daily life and later became a civil rights activist as well. Coach George Powles noticed raw athletic potential in Russel during his high school days and encouraged him to play basketball. Russel then soon became known for his unique style of defence.
Bill Russel’s Personal Life
The former basketball player Russel was married to his college sweetheart Rose Swisher from 1956-1973. The couple had three children. Russel then married Dorothy Anstett in 1968 but the marriage ended with a divorce in 1980. In 1996, Russel married his third wife, Marylin Naul. The marriage lasted till the death of his wife. Russel was married to Jeannie at the time of his death.
The New York Times, in 1966, described Russel as an individual with characteristics such as pride, intelligence, an active and appreciative sense of humour, a preoccupation with dignity, a capacity for consideration once his friendship or sympathy has been aroused and an unwillingness to compromise whatever truth he has accepted. Russell gave most of his life to sports making him a legendary personality.
Bill Russell died on June 31, 2022, at the age of 88 at his home in Mercer Island, Washington. North American Sports lost a gem but his legacy would continue forever.
Professional Basketball Career
The Boston Celtics drafted Bill Russel in 1956, who later became one of the most legendary sportspeople in American sports history. Russel was the U.S. men’s Olympic Basketball team captain in the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia and won the gold medal in the competition.
Russell played 48 games during his debut year, the 1956–57 NBA season and averaged 14.7 points per game which later increased to 16.6 points per game in the next season. During his career at the Celtics, Russel won thirteen championships among which two were as a coach-player. Russel was the first black player in NBA’s history to achieve superstar status. The legendary basketball player also worked as a player-coach for the Celtics becoming the first black NBA coach to win a championship.
To everyone’s surprise, Russell left Celtics in the 1970 to start a new career in movies and television. The former player joined NBA on ABC to do commentary on the Game of the Week. He also attended his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach in 2021.
After retiring, Russel worked as head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics (1973-1977) and Sacramento Kings (1987-1988). Russel also hosted Saturday Night Live in which he appeared in several sports-related sketches in 1979. He also wrote books as joint projects with other professional writers and worked on projects such as “Second Wind” which was published in 1979.
Russell was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1975, was one of the founding inductees into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006, and was enshrined in the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2021, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame a second time for his coaching career.
Russel has also been awarded the Presidential Medal of freedom for his accomplishments by President Obama in 2011. Ben Russell was selected for the NBA 25th Anniversary team in 1971 and the NBA 35th Anniversary in 1980 and was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996.
How much is Bill Russel’s net worth??
Russell was one of the first big earners in the National Basketball Association history throughout his career. At the time of his death, the estimated net worth of the legendary player was $10 million. Although the amount may not seem much as compared to the sportsperson in current years, this was a considerable amount for someone of his time and someone who started from nothing.