PUBLIC DOMAIN
By Paul Wickham Schmidt
Special to Courtside
August 1, 2022
The 1950s. Black and white TVs. NBA coverage more or less an afterthought on winter weekend afternoons when nothing else was on. The eight team NBA, comprised of teams representing the East and Upper Midwest only — including such major Metropoli as Syracuse, Rochester, and Ft. Wayne. Even the introduction of the “shot clock” in 1954 failed to “jazz up” the game.
Mostly, it was played by a bunch of White guys named Clyde, Bob, George, Dolph, Paul, Dick, Easy Ed, Red, Carl, Cliff, and Larry. They were talented athletes, to be sure. But, mostly what they did was dribble and shoot. Some launched two-handed “set shots” — hard to fathom in 2022! Defense and athletic moves were an afterthought, at best. Competent, but fundamentally boring. Something you watched if you were stuck at your Grandmother’s or maiden aunt’s apartment in Milwaukee after lunch.
The major problem, of course, was integration — or more accurately the lack thereof! Although Alexandria, VA native Earl Lloyd had become the first African American to play in the NBA in the 1950, and helped the Syracuse Nationals win the NBA championship in 1955, Blacks remained woefully under-represented in terms of their talent. Indeed, many of the best African-American players chose to play with the “barnstorming” Harlem Globetrotters because of the ingrained racism of the NBA.
That changed in 1956 when future Hall of Fame Coach Red Auerbach of the Boston Celtics convinced his team to draft and sign Bill Russell, who had just won two NCAA Championships with the San Francisco Dons (they reached the “Final Four” only once since, in 1957) and an Olympic Gold. Suddenly, the distinctive parquet floor of the Boston Garden took life. Blocked shots, rebounds, and passes to teammates in green, as well as some close in hook shooting by the athletic 6-10 center became the “norm.”
The Celtics quickly became my favorite NBA team. The short-lived Milwaukee Hawks had decamped to St. Louis some years earlier. The Milwaukee Bucks of Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Oscar “Big O” Robertson were many years in the future. Interestingly, 6’8” Milwaukee Braves pitcher “Big Gene” Conley was a backup for the first few years of Russell’s Celtic career.
Behind Russell, the Celtics dominated the NBA for the next 13 years, winning championships in 11 of those seasons. He was the player-coach during the last three seasons of this run, becoming the first African American coach in the NBA.
In 1960, Russell’s “Modern Big Man” rival, Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain moved from the Globetrotters to the Philadelphia Warriors of the NBA. This set up one of the greatest individual matchups in American sports history. Although Wilt won many of the individual “statistical” battles, Russell won the “war” hands down. A Wilt-led team bested the Celtics only once for the NBA Championship during the Russell era — in 1967 when Wilt’s Philadelphia 76ers won it all. (Wilt would go on to win another ring with the LA Lakers in 1972, after Russell’s retirement).
Perhaps the most telling stat of all in terms of Bill Russell being the most dominant “winner” in American team sports: In 22 so-called “elimination games” in college, the Olympics, and the NBA — where everything was on the line and the loser went home, Russell was 22-0. https://fadeawayworld.net/nba-media/bill-russell-never-lost-a-winner-take-all-game-in-his-career-with-an-unbelievable-22-0-record. Teamwork is important — in sports and in life! Russell made everyone around him better!
Great as he was on the court, Russell’s impact was even bigger off it. At a time when the White sports ownership system wanted their “carefully metered” Black stars to win games, fill seats, smile, sign autographs, and remain silent about systemic racism in American society, Russell took a big “pass” on the last three! He recognized that true greatness wasn’t measured by willingness to “go along to get along!”
For that reason, out of the countless tributes to Russell published over the past two days, I have selected this one as most representative of the greatness and impact of this American hero: “Bill Russell, Activist For The Ages,” by Martenzie Johnson in “Andscape:”
https://andscape.com/features/bill-russell-activist-for-the-ages/.
Rest In Peace!
😎 Due Process Forever!
PWS
08-01-22