So sad he's gone. The grandfather of basketball. Just read an article on him, didn't realize he went to University of San Francisco. Hope another ex Univ of SF alum can find greatness.
He will always be my GOAT. Others scored more and had more exciting styles of play, but nobody has ever (or will ever, IMO) win more. Then, amazingly, he was even more of a GOAT off the court when his playing/coaching career was over. RIP, Mr. Russell.
Mind-blowing stat that I read yesterday shortly after the news of Russell's passing broke... If you go back to his days at USF and include his Olympic career, Russell played in 21 "winner take all" games - contests where the winner claimed a title or moved to the next round, while the loser's season was over. Think Game 7, NCAA Tournament games, Olympic medal round, etc. In those 21 games, Russell's record was 21-0.
11 rings as player, 2 for coaching, One Gold metal around his neck....not sure what they gave back then to players winning NCAA (whatever it is then it's 2). Funny but some years ago David Flaherty interviewed him on Golf Ch and BR was a golf fanatic.
Just a handful of players changed how the game was played. Glenn Roberts made the jump shot a thing that was part of the game. It was all set shots and layups before then. George Mikan was the first true big man. Before him everybody thought that guys that size were too slow. Before he was done the "key" was no longer keyhole shaped. Wilt also changed the game and also changed the rules. Kansas used to run an out of bounds play where they threw the ball over the backboard and Wilt slammed it. It was then outlawed. Bill made the blocked shot a big part of the game and took away easy layups. He truly turned the game into the modern version. And he was a really smart guy.
