teammates.”
Chamberlain once told the Boston Herald newspaper, “I was the villain be- cause I was so much bigger and stronger than anyone else out there. People tend not to root for Goliath, and Bill back then was a jovial guy and he really had a great laugh. Plus, he played on the greatest team ever.” Before Chamberlain’s passing in 1999, the two larger-than-life Hall of Fame centers shared interviews and public appearances while renewing their friendship after decades of not speaking to one another. Chamberlain, in 1997, on Russell, “You always need the best to bring the best in you. So I was always fortunate to have to know that I was going to play the Celtics and William Felton Russell.” Russell on Chamberlain after Cham- berlain’s death, “We were not rivals, we were competitors. In a rivalry, there is a victor and a vanquished. He was never vanquished.” 1964 All-Star Game For years some NBA players pushed the league to establish a players’ pension fund. The league continued to post- pone discussions with the players’ on the subject. This issue came to a head at the 1964 NBA All-Star Game at the Boston Garden. Led by Russell, the All- Stars from both teams met in the Celtic locker room before the game tip-off to go on strike and forgo playing the game to demand that the NBA provide pen- sions to the players. The 1964 All-Star game was significant for the NBA and its owners as this was the first All-Star game televised under the league’s new TV deal providing an opportunity to grow the league and get positive expo- sure on national TV. With the clocking ticking toward game time, then NBA Commissioner J. Walter Kennedy ac- ceded to demands for a pension fund which started in 1965. However, due to pressure from Russell and others, the NBA established a pension fund for its athletes beginning the following season.
“We were competitors.” One of basketball’s legendary match- ups was the Boston Celtics, led by Rus- sell, against teams led by Wilt Cham- berlain (Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers, and Los Angeles Lakers). Russell and Cham- berlain (Mu 1957) were good friends off the court but fierce competitors on the court. At 6’ 9”, 215 lbs., Russell was at a physical disadvantage matched up at the center position against the 7’1” 270 lbs. In addition to size, Chamberlain was gifted athletically, incredibly strong, and highly skilled. When playing Chamberlain, Russell commented that he never played him the same way twice and that the Celtics won many games against Chamberlain-led teams by shut- ting down Chamberlain’s teammates while letting him score 40 or more points. In 142 games against one another, Chamberlain averaged 28.7 points/game and 28.7 rebounds/game when facing Russell, while Russell averaged 14.5 points/game and 23.7 rebounds/game against Chamberlain. The Celtic teams nearly 60% of the time (84-58) against Chamberlain-led teams.
pionships based on fast-break baskets in transition from defense to offense. Legendary Celtics coach and general manager Red Auerbach wanted Russell’s defense and rebounding skills to com- plement the team’s other stars. Starting in Russell’s rookie season of 1956-57, the Celtics won 11 NBA championships in 13 seasons, including nine consecu- tive seasons finishing first in the Eastern Conference standings. Russell played in 963 regular season games and another 165 playoff games averaging 42 minutes per game. While he never averaged more than 19.0 points per game in a season, Russell’s contribu- tions to his team defensively, rebound- ing, and leadership was the engine for the great Celtic teams of the 1960s. Russell’s philosophy toward winning was “What I do have to do, keep winning.” When reflecting on the differences between Russell and himself, Wilt Chamberlain commented, “his [Cham- berlain] teammates had to feed him [the basketball] while Russell fed his “What was more important to me than winning 11 championships was winning eight straight championships. That is difficult.”
“Red, We are leaving.” One of the most significant events
L-R: Wilt Chamberlain (Mu 1957) and Bill Russell (Gamma Alpha 1955)
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