PHILADELPHIA — It’s a testament to Bill Russell that one of the most underrated aspects of his life is that he revolutionized college basketball. His work and activism within the civil rights movement, his remarkable career with the Boston Celtics, his well-earned status as the greatest winner in North American team sports: These qualities and achievements were listed and lauded, rightly, in the immediate aftermath of his death last Sunday. They gave his passing a resonance in Philadelphia, too, as did his role as an adversary to two of the city’s basketball legends. One of them was his Hector on the day that he changed a sport forever.
For those who grew up rooting for the Warriors or 76ers, Russell was a particular kind of rival. He possessed an intangible, nameless … something — An unsurpassable will to win? Toughness? Unselfishness? All of these attributes and more? — that Wilt Chamberlain did not have and the Celtics’ opponents could not overcome. Red Auerbach would light a victory cigar and gloat, which made him easy to hate, but there was nothing to do with Russell but acknowledge his greatness, especially his ability to enhance the collective performance of his teammates, and respect him for it.
Before he got around to beating the Warriors and Sixers seven times in the playoffs and winning those 11 championships in his 13 NBA seasons, though, Russell dethroned the king of college hoops — the king of Philadelphia college hoops, the king of national college hoops.
