The Nation Has Lost a Great and Noble Man

NBA great Bill Russell died on Sunday at the age of 88 with his wife Jeannine by his side.  The most prolific winner in NBA history, Russell faced down years of racism to become the centerpiece of the Boston Celtics dynasty that won 11 championships in 13 years. His last two NBA titles were as the first Black coach in any major U.S. sport.  A Hall of Famer, five-time Most Valuable Player and 12-time All-Star, Russell also won two college titles and an Olympic gold medal.  "But for all the winning, Bill's understanding of the struggle is what illuminated his life," his family said.

"From boycotting a 1961 exhibition game to unmask too-long-tolerated discrimination, to leading Mississippi's first integrated basketball camp in the combustible wake of Medgar Evan's assassination, to decades of activism ultimately recognized by his receipt of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010, Bill called out injustice with an unforgiving candor that he intended would disrupt the status quo, and with a powerful example that, though never his humble intention, will forever inspire teamwork selflessness and thoughtful change."

In 1964, Russell led a boycott of the NBA All-Star game in Boston which resulted in then-NBA Commissioner Walter Kennedy agreeing to their demands just minutes before tip-off.

Russell's daughter Karen Russell wrote for The New York Times in 1987 about the racism her father faced while he was playing for the Boston Celtics.   "When he first went to Boston in 1956, the Celtics' only black player, fans and sportswriters subjected him to the worst kind of unbridled bigotry," she wrote in the article.

She also recalled how her family had once come home from a weekend away to find out they had been robbed.  "Our house was in a shambles, and ''N***A'' was spray-painted on the walls. The burglars had poured beer on the pool table and ripped up the felt. They had broken into my father's trophy case and smashed most of the trophies," she wrote.  "I was petrified and shocked at the mess; everyone was very upset. The police came, and after a while, they left. It was then that my parents pulled pack their bedcovers to discover that the burglars had defecated in their bed."

She went on to say that vandals would tip over her family's garbage cans every time the Celtics went on the road.  "My father went to the police station to complain. The police told him that raccoons were responsible, so he asked where he could apply for a gun permit," she wrote. "The raccoons never came back."

But she said that the "only time we were really scared" was after her father wrote about racism in professional basketball for The Saturday Evening Post.  "We received threatening letters, and my parents notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation," she wrote.  When her father got his FBI file years later, he discovered it was littered with references to him as ''an arrogant Negro who won't sign autographs for white children."

Bill Russell's family called on others to follow his example.  "We hope each of us can find a new way to act or speak up with Bill's uncompromising, dignified and always constructive commitment to principle," the family said. "That would be one last, and lasting, win for our beloved #6."