Bill Russell: A Man Truly Worthy of Admiration
I grew up in a small town in Eastern Washington State and was a huge sports fan. Naturally I was aware of Bill Russell though my earliest opinion was unfavorable, which was probably attributable to the influence of my dad and grandpa. That all changed in 1973 when he became the head coach of my beloved Seattle Supersonics.
The Sonics were the only professional team in Washington for much of my childhood, so they received a great deal of my attention. When it was announced Bill Russell would be our new head coach, the possibility of winning became real and with it an awareness of racism would be sparked.
For more on Bill Russell, check out this excellent article at Andscape by Marc J. Spears.
The winning came right away as the Sonics made the playoffs (for the first time ever) in Mr. Russell’s first two years but recognition of bigotry was slower to develop for me as race had never been an issue as far as I knew in our town. I did however start asking questions which is always the best place to start and what I learned was that the reason we didn’t have race issues was because our town was a “sundown town”, meaning that “negroes” were not allowed to be there after dark at their peril. My biggest surprise hearing this was how proud those telling me were about it and that this was not a historical recollection but in practice during my time.
I’m grateful for the role Mr. Russell played in my life, I hope he’s aware of the impact he had on the lives of so many, not only those facing the same struggles he did but also for those of us so unaware of those obstacles. The loss of Bill Russell makes for a sad day but his life made ours more informed and the world a better place. We’re going to miss Bill Russell.
