“Let’s have the fellows who want to play basketball on one side,” said Bill Russell, “and the fellows who want to fight in another place.”
Tag Archives: Bill Russell
Tommy “Gun” Heinsohn, 1960s
Cousy agreed. “Heinsohn can do everything Baylor can do,” he said one day. “On top of that, he’s the best offensive rebounder in the business.”
Tom Meschery: Bard of the Backboards, 1969
What follows are 13 poems penned by the NBA great Tom Meschery.
Ode to a Rookie Referee in Two Takes, 1967
Moser, about to hand the ball to the Celts’ John Havlicek, looked at the agonized Holzman—the Knicks were 16 points behind—and said firmly, “That’s enough,” without exclamation point.
Red Auerbach: An Old Friend’s Telling You to Hang ‘Em Up, 1979
Heed those words, Red. Sit back, light up a cigar and relax. You don’t need the aggravation anymore.
Player Bill Russell Takes a Look at Coach Bill Russell, 1968
“I’ll repeat what I said before about this job,” says Russell. “The best player I’ve got is me.”
Bill Russell’s Biggest Challenge, 1967
The success or failure achieved by Russell, his team, and the NBA in picking their precarious way along that path will, justifiably or not, affect the future ambitions and lifetime careers of Black athletes in baseball, football—indeed, in all sports.
Joe Lapchick: Down Memory Lane, 1969
There is no bitterness in the man because he played in a time when the game was not appreciated, and the rewards were relatively few.
Bill Russell: First Wind, 1957
From that day on, William Felton Russell made everyone an imitator.
Jabbar, Jerry West, and the New Look Lakers, 1978
“Jerry West is one clever dude,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “He was responsible for making us a unified group. And that was the big difference in this team.”
From Way Downtown 