Throughout his basketball career, Bill Russell compiled a legacy of championship achievement unparalleled in any sport. As the dominant defensive player of his generation, he won an Olympic gold medal for the US basketball team in 1956, then over the next 13 years led the Boston Celtics to 11 National Basketball Association (NBA) championships.
As the cornerstone of the franchise’s dynasty of the 1950s and 1960s, Russell won enduring renown as the most successful player in the history of team sports. When the Celtics named him head coach in 1966, he became the first black man to hold that role in a major professional sport in the US.
