His playing career ended with the Celtics’ 1969 Finals victory over the Lakers, but his impact on sport and society continued throughout the rest of his life, and in 2011 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. “In some respects, what he did off the court was more magnified than what he did on the court.” “He was born for those moments,” said West. He spoke out in support of Muhammad Ali’s stance against the draft, he held clinics in Mississippi in the wake of Medgar Evers’ assassination, and he was the first NBA player to conduct clinics in Africa. Long before LeBron James and Colin Kaepernick, Russell was risking his career to fight for social justice. Yet he responded with more than anger, he responded with action. (San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images) So, the FBI opened a file on him in which he is called, “An arrogant Negro.”
He refused to sign autographs because he didn’t want to be a role model for a society that didn’t accept him, and he once led his teammates in the boycotting of an exhibition game when their Kentucky hotel refused service to the Black players. “It is an atmosphere of hatred, mistrust and ignorance.”
“A poisoned atmosphere hangs over this city,” he once said. His suburban Boston home was once ransacked and defaced with spray-painted racial slurs after he had been honored there. He was never embraced like the Celtics’ white stars such as Bob Cousy and John Havlicek. In leading the Celtics to those 11 championships in 13 seasons from 1957 to 1969, Russell became the NBA’s first Black superstar, but he paid the price. (AP Photo/File) (Uncredited / Associated Press) Louis Hawks’ Charlie Share (70) to score a basket in the first period of their NBA basketball game in Boston, Mass., Feb. FILE - Boston Celtics’ Bill Russell (6) goes up against St.
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