On this day in Boston Celtics history in 1934 in West Monroe, Louisiana, one of the game’s all-time greats was born: legendary Celtics Hall of Fame big man William “Bill” Fenton Russell.
Widely considered one of the greatest frontcourt players to ever play the game, Russell was renowned for his unearthly defensive skills and timing, especially rebounding and shot-blocking. To this day, he is still in second place for both total rebounds and rebounds per game in the NBA with 21,620, and along with Wilt Chamberlain, is one of two players to ever have over 50 rebounds in a game.
He’s also one of only seven players to win Olympic Gold, an NCAA championship.
More than anything else, however, Russell is known as the greatest winner of all time with 11 NBA titles to his name, more than any other player, and is one of only four players to win back-to-back NCAA and NBA titles.
His list of achievements is too long to list in its entirety, as he also coached in the league, both as a player-coach with Boston and later as coach-only with the Seattle Supersonics and Sacramento Kings.
He was also a major force not only in integrating the then-white-dominated sport but serving as a noteworthy activist in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.
The depth and breadth of his impact on the sport cannot be overemphasized; Russell was the engine that drove the franchise to greatness in his 13-year career, all of it in Boston.
He averaged 22.5 rebounds and 15.1 points per game over that stretch, and likely had an equally mind-boggling average for blocks, but they were not recorded in that era.
In fact, Russell was instrumental in integrating the action more firmly into the defensive end of the court.
It also happens to be the birthday of former Celtic big man Scott Pollard, who won a championship with Boston in his final year in the league after spending the previous ten seasons with the Detroit Pistons, Sacramento Kings, the Indiana Pacers, and Cleveland Cavaliers.
He also is known for having appeared on the popular reality television show Survivor as a celebrity contestant in their 2016 season.
Pollard appeared in just 22 regular-season games and no playoff games, averaging 1.8 points and 1.7 rebounds per contest — he also appeared on “Survivor”.
Today is also the day that then-owner John Y. Brown made a trade for his girlfriend, ex-Miss America Phyllis George.
George was a fan of (at that time) New York Knick Bob McAdoo, so the ownership went over then-team president Red Auerbach’s head and traded three future first-round picks and forward Tom Barker to acquire McAdoo.
Auerbach nearly quit and joined the Knicks, but the fans convinced him to stay — in no small part because of the efforts of one taxi driver.
McAdoo only played a single season in Boston and only 20 games of it.
While his production was not terrible – 20.6 points and 7.1 boards per game – especially when considering he was playing hurt, you would be hard-pressed to find a worse return on three first-round draft picks in the history of the league.
Weirder still — and perhaps the ultimate testament to Red’s capabilities as a general manager — the trade would provide Auerbach with the ammunition to assemble the Kevin McHale/Robert Parish/Larry Bird squads of the 1980s.
Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi
YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ
