Russ

Sports books captured my attention as a boy, along with history, probably to supply fodder for my imagination. I imagined myself to play, for example, with the Boston Celtics' many championship teams. It wasn't that Boston demanded my affinity, it was Bill Russell's Go Up For Glory (out of print).

 It provided an eye-opening journey into the racist world facing black players in the 50's and 60's. It introduced me to the great players and coach of the team that won 11 championships in 13 years and eight straight.

Mr. Russell faced the most dominant player of that era, Wilt Chamberlain. The Celtics got the best of Chamberlain more often than not and Russell got the best of Chamberlain. They were different players and different men. Chamberlain was offensively minded - the only player ever to score 100 points in a game and earned a reputation for being difficult to coach. Bill Russell was a defensive specialist and a great rebounder. Possibly the best shot-blocker in NBA history, he made sure his teammates got the ball off of a block rather than sending it to the stands.

Red Auerbach relished beating the Warriors/76'ers and Lakers (Chamberlain's teams) and Russell's edge over Chamberlain. I believe it was 1965 when Chamberlain commanded a contract for the then unheard of sum of $100,000. Auerbach stood firmly behind his man and got Russell $1 more - $100,001.

The team team blended not only the unique talents of the players - Bob Cousey, Bill Sharman, KC and Sam Jones, Russell, John Havlicek, Tom Heinsohn, etc. - a reflection of Red Auerbach's ability to recognize those talents and to weave them into an effective unit. It is not easy to get men to lay aside their egos but Auerbach effectively cast the vision of what might be if they would work together. The real mastery may well have been pioneering a racially diverse team during those years. Ironically, those Celtics represented Boston which divided along racial lines. Russell became the first black head coach in the NBA.

A memory of one of Russell's stories: if memory serves, the team played one night with a heckler sitting courtside wearing out the Celtics. They set up a play to deal with the man. One of the players ran to the sideline in front of the man. The ball swung round to the same side of the key. A hard two-handed chest pass flew towards the Celtic perched on the sideline. At the last second, he side-stepped, the ball whizzing past him...into the face of the heckler.