“Bill Russell was the greatest champion in all of team sports.” (Adam Silver, NBA Commissioner)
When the great baseball Hall of Famer and African American icon Jackie Robinson died in 1972, his widow called Boston Celtics player Bill Russell and asked him to be a pallbearer at her husband’s funeral.
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When asked why, she responded that Russell had been Jackie Robinson’s favorite athlete.
All of the pallbearers were Jackie’s former teammates with the Brooklyn Dodgers, except for Bill Russell.
It’s likely that Bill Russell was Jackie Robinson’s favorite athlete – not because he was so athletic or talented – but because he was a champion, both on and off the playing court.
Many consider Bill Russell one of the greatest teammates of all time.
He constantly sacrificed his own glory, statistics, or comfort for his team and teammates. Great teams have great teammates.
Russell would often say, “The most important measure of how good a game I played was how much better I made my teammates play.”
When Russell passed away at the age of 88, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said that “Bill Russell was the greatest champion in all of team sports.” This is the highest of praise and makes sense considering Russell won a record 11 NBA championships in his 13-year career with the Boston Celtics.
He would also be named the NBA’s most valuable player an astounding five times. Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, earned more MVP awards with six.
Russell was considered such a champion, that the NBA named their Finals MVP award after him in 2005. Whenever Steph Curry, Lebron James, Tim Duncan, Kevin Durant, or Kobe Bryant earned Finals MVP honors, they received the Bill Russell MVP Trophy.
Quite the accomplishment for a guy that was cut from his junior high basketball team and would later receive only one college scholarship offer. However, he made the best of that one offer, winning back-to-back national championships at the University of San Francisco in 1955 and 1956, including a record 52 straight games.
Not only was the Hall of Famer a difference maker on the court, but he also became the first-ever black coach in the NBA, a fighter for civil rights, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.
According to NBA commissioner Adam Silver, Bill Russell stood for something much bigger than sports. He stood for the values of equality, respect, and inclusion, which he stamped into the DNA of the league.
Most people believed Russell could have accumulated more gaudy individual statistics throughout his career but always seemed to do what the team needed. Great teams aren’t necessarily made up of individuals building up their resumes but rather those who build up their fellow teammates. A rising tide lifts all ships and Russell was concerned about his teammates whether it was on the court or off.
He only averaged 15 points per game during his career but also averaged 4 assists per game. His scoring and stats didn’t define him, but he did exhibit rebounding prowess, remarkably grabbing 22 rebounds per game.
He was athletic and aggressive as a player, which lead to many blocked shots. Even though he was a fierce shot blocker, he didn’t swat the ball out of bounds in a look at me sort of way. Instead, he was known for keeping his blocked shots in play, which lead to countless fast break opportunities.
He was also not afraid to get on the floor for a loose ball or sprint the floor as a decoy. He constantly said that unselfishness was the most important team attribute.
There is a difference between being the Most Outstanding Player and the Most Valuable Player. Russell was more concerned about adding value to his team than seeking recognition as an individually talented player. He never scored 40 points in any NBA game but that didn’t matter.
He liked to say that “the only important statistic was the final score.” Russell definitely padded these kinds of statistics, accumulating an incredible number of wins and championships.
Not only did his teams win nearly 72% of their games, but he was money when it mattered the most. As a player, he won two NCAA championships, 11 NBA championships, and an Olympic gold medal. In fact, throughout his college, Olympic, and NBA career, he was 21-0 in winner-take-all games.
Most of us say we want to win. Most of us say we want to be champions. But some of us don’t have the right mentality and instead choose to put ourselves first over the team or those closest to us.
In the widely popular best-selling book, “The Purpose Driven Life”, the first line of the book from author Rick Warren is, “It’s not about you.”
Bill Russell understood this.
Great teams have great teammates and great teammates make each other better.
Great teammates understand it’s not about them individually.
Champions understand they need others in sports, business, or in life.
Together everyone achieves more. Team.
Bill Russell was the greatest champion of all time, not because his individual stats were gaudy but because the stats that mattered were.
During the Celtics dynasty of winning 11 titles in 13 years, they never had the league’s leading scorer.
Together everyone achieves more.
Together, Bill Russell and his Boston Celtics teammates achieved something special.
This wasn’t surprising considering Russell loved to say, “If a guy pays you five dollars, you give him seven dollars worth of work.”
Bill Russell was a great teammate and champion.