
Russell was born in Louisiana, his family moved to Oakland, California during his youth and it was there he took up the sport that made him famous. He wasn't the typical superstar athlete in high school, in fact he struggled a bit and was nearly cut from his team several times. The coach of his high school team saw that he had the ability to play the sport and encouraged him to work on his fundamentals so he could reach his true potential. Russell listened to the coach and by the time he finished high school his hard work paid off enough to earn him a scholarship to the University of San Francisco. Great things were on the way for this kid.

After winning a gold medal in the 1956 Olympics Russell joined his new team. He played in 48 games, putting up a 14.7 points per game average while leading the league with a 19.6 rebounds per game average. Russell's rookie season ended with a title as the Celtics beat the St. Louis Hawks in 7 games. Russell went down in the third game of the 1958 Finals and his playoff run ended early, the Hawks took home the title after 6 games. It was merely a hiccup for Russell and the Celtics. They won the title for the next 8 consecutive years with Russell leading the charge. They were denied their ninth consecutive championship by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1967, but they came right back and won the title in 1968 and 1969. The 1969 Finals went to a 7 games and Russel contributed with 21 rebounds in what would be his final game as a professional basketball player. He would surprise everyone by announcing his retirement following the season. The fans and media alike felt betrayed, Russell who was only 35 years old had not only left the team without a center they were also in need of a coach, he had taken on the role of player/coach during the '65-'66 season after Auerbach retired from coaching. Auerbach remained with the organization as GM and he was so blindsided by Russell's retirement that he didn't even draft a center. The first season the team was without their star center they missed the playoffs for the first time since 1950.
When Russell left the game he left on his own terms and they were terms the fans and media had to accept. Time heals all wounds and just a couple of seasons after he made his choice the organization honored him by raising his #6 to the rafters in Boston. Russell was one of the best defensive minded centers to ever play the game, he scored more than 14,000 points in his career and he was a rebounding machine that had more than 20,000 rebounds on his resume. Bill Russell will forever be a legend in Boston and he will also be remembered forever in the history of basketball, he was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1975.
Bill Russell's retirement letter which was published in Sports Illustrated in 1969:
http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=166170
Bill Russell's stats:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/r/russebi01.html
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