William F. "Bill" Russell (1934-2022) was a basketball player and a civil rights activist. Bill Russell played for the Boston Celtics for 13 seasons from 1956 to 1969 and is regarded as one of the greatest basketball players in history. In his last two seasons with the Celtics Russell was both a player and the head coach, making him the first Black head coach in any major US sports league. During his 13 years with the Celtics, the team won the NBA Championship 11 times. In 1973, Russell was hired as the head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics and led the team to greater success than they had previously experienced. He remained with the Sonics through 1977. Russell was also an activist for civil rights – he attended the March on Washington in 1963 and opened a racially integrated basketball camp in Mississippi in the 1960s. In 2011, Russell was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work.

This image shows Bill Russell courtside during a Sonics game in early 1977.

Caption information source: “Bill Russell, who transformed pro basketball, dies at 88,” by Richard Goldstein, New York Times, retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/31/sports/basketball/bill-russell-dead.html