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The sports world collectively mourned Bill Russell’s death at the age of 88 on Sunday, sharing great stories about the NBA legend in the process. One of which stretched back to his high school days where he was viewed as more of a project than a top-tier talent.
John Gasaway shared a blurb from his 2021 book Miracles on the Hardwood: The Hope-and-a-Prayer Story of a Winning Tradition in Catholic College Basketball, where it’s shared that Russell had just one scholarship offer coming out of high school.
Russell attended Oakland’s McClymonds High School and impressed a San Francisco player during a pickup game so much that Hal DeJulio, a scout for the school, offered him a scholarship. Russell was just 6’7” when he arrived on campus, but he went on to have the best freshman season in the university’s history.
He set a record when he averaged 20 points a game with the freshman team, and he stayed at San Francisco even as other schools approached him to transfer. He then went through a growth spurt where he ended up at towering at 6’10”, and the rest is history. Coach Philipp Woolpert had a comedic response when asked what lessons in skills development he could share with his peers.
“Under my coaching, [Russell] improved so much that his is now a 6-foot-10-inch player,” Woolpert said, per Gasaway. “You understand now what coaching genius is.”
