Tabatabaie: The NBA should universally retire Bill Russell’s No. 6 jersey
The passing of Bill Russell has left an incalculable hole in the world of sports and beyond. A man with grace and courage far greater than his admittedly preposterous basketball resume, Russell was a consummate member of the NBA community.
Russell won elven titles with the Boston Celtics, including two as a player-coach. In doing so, he became the first black man to serve as a head coach in one of the four major North American men’s sports leagues. He ended his career with five MVPs, two NCAA championships, and an Olympic gold medal.
Perhaps more importantly, Bill Russell was a champion for civil rights and justice everywhere he went. This wasn’t always celebrated or understood by the NBA — Russell boycotted his own selection to the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1975, suggesting Chuck Cooper should be the first black inductee instead.
In the years that followed, though, and especially later in life, Russell made amends with the NBA. He served as an incredible ambassador to the game for beyond the hallways of the Boston Garden, an outpouring of tweets and condolences following his death only scratching the surface of what Bill Russell meant to the world.
The NBA and its franchises will no doubt find ways to honor Bill Russell in the season to come. In order to permanently etch his greatness into the everyday fabric of the sport, the NBA should universally retire Bill Russell’s No. 6 jersey.
(AP Photo)
The idea of universally retiring a jersey isn’t a new one. Major League Baseball decided to honor Jackie Robinson by unilaterally retiring his No. 42 in 1997. Robinson famously broke the color barrier in the MLB in 1947, a few years before the NBA admitted any black players, and almost a decade before Bill Russell was drafted.
Players who wore that number could still keep their jerseys, but no new No. 42 uniforms would be issued in the MLB. New York’s Mariano Rivera was the last to don the No. 42 in 2013. Every year on April 15th players across baseball wear Robinson’s No. 42 in tribute.
Jackie Robinson was a big supporter of Bill Russell. In 1961 after Russell and the Celtics boycotted an exhibition game in Lexington, Kentucky, Robinson penned a letter to Russell thanking him for his courage. The two remained friends and admirers until Robinson died in 1972 — Bill Russell served as one of the pallbearers at his funeral.
The National Hockey League also has a universally retired jersey in Wayne Gretzky’s No. 99. The NHL unveiled a ceremonial blue banner at the 2000 All-Star Game signifying the moment. At the time, Gretzky held almost every major offensive record in professional hockey.
Chuck Cooper. Courtesy Boston Celtics.
Bill Russell didn’t integrate the NBA. The first non-white player was Wat Misaka, a Japanese-American point guard who briefly played for the New York Knicks in 1947. At the 1950 draft, the Boston Celtics selected Chuck Cooper of Duquesne, the first black man drafted in NBA history. Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton and Early Lloyd joined Cooper in bringing black players into the league the following season.
Russell also had a thorny relationship with his Celtics and with the Association for a time. His retirement in 1970 stunned and offended some folks in Boston, and though he has his No. 6 number retired by the club in 1972, his relationship with the Celts waned. Instead, he spent the next few decades trying his hand as a coach and commentator before living a rather anonymous life in Seattle for a brief while.
What Russell did accomplish as a player and beyond, though, simply can not be ignored. And it’s for these reasons his number ought to be retired by the NBA.
AP Photo/Harold Filan
When Russell first suited up for the Celtics he was the only black player on the team. This was a point of contention for some of the fans and media around Boston. Russell faced threats of violence, racial slurs, and vandalism at home and on the road.
Russell endured, and soon was a member of the first all-black starting lineup in NBA history. In 1966, Russell became the first black head coach in NBA history, winning two titles as Boston’s player-coach.
Bill Russell enjoyed a loving and trusting relationship with legendary head coach Red Auerbach. He and Celtics owner Walter Brown were vehement that talent and character were much more important than phenotype in an era of violent racism. Russell’s friendship and admiration for Auerbach is long and well-documented.
It wasn’t just on the basketball court or among his teammates and Celtics supporters where Bill Russell stood tall for racial and social justice. He understood the importance of his platform and made sure to use it whenever and wherever he could.
Russell’s life as a civil rights advocate cannot be overstated. It took him to challenge apartheid conditions in places like Mississippi and segregated restaurants up north. It took him to the steps of the Washington Monument alongside Dr. Martin Luther King and to Cleveland to support Muhammad Ali’s protest of the Vietnam War. Bill Russell’s courage and conviction took him to the forefront of change and justice in the United States.
Many players past and present in the NBA community have advocated for change from Elgin Baylor and Shareef Abdur-Rahim to Jaylen Brown and LeBron James. Russell helped light a torch that has been burning bright for decades, but one that has been carried and tended to by many. His unique position as a founding father of the league, however, deserves special consideration.
(AP Photo)
Bill Russell is the winningest player in men’s professional sports. Eleven titles in thirteen seasons is a nearly impossible feat to consider in any era. Russell’s combined sixteen titles and MVP awards stand head and shoulders above anyone else in league history. (LeBron James’ eight combined is good for fourth all-time.)
The man they called Whiskers redefined defensive tenacity, and is second all-time in career rebounds behind Wilt Chamberlain. He became the anchor and identity for the NBA’s flagship franchise.
Russell’s contributions are impossible to calculate and hard to articulate. From Jerry West and Michael Jordan to Shaquille O’Neal and Magic Johnson, the outpouring of support over the last few days may help bring things into focus.
In 2009 the NBA renamed its NBA Finals MVP award to honor Bill Russell. In 2011 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He was one of the founding members of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame and has been honored by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach.
Alongside his aforementioned eleven championship rings, certainly Bill Russell has a lot of laurels to rest on. And yet it’s not enough.
There isn’t a modern NBA without Bill Russell. Not because of the athleticism or the league’s status as a television product. But because the NBA prides itself on its collective conscious, on its character, and its soul. All of us in the NBA community are still trying to follow an example set by Bill Russell.
Retire his No. 6 jersey. Not for the rebounds or for the titles, but for the foot steps Bill Russell carefully left behind for us all to follow.
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