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Bill Russell (left) from the Boston Celtics with coach Arnold "Red" Auerbach in 1964
Photo: Bill Chaplis/AP
The North American professional basketball league NBA mourns one of its greatest legends: Bill Russell, the most successful player in history, died on Sunday at the age of 88.
This was announced by Russell's relatives via his Twitter account.
"The greatest winner in American sports history passed away peacefully at the side of his wife Jeannine," it said.
As a center for the Boston Celtics, Russell won 11 league titles in 13 seasons between 1956 and 1969, more than any other player.
Russell also coached the last two titles, becoming the first black head coach in North American professional sports to win championships.
Russell has been named the league's most valuable player five times and has been an all-star twelve times.
In 1956 Russell won Olympic gold with the USA.
In a tribute, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver wrote, "Bill Russell was the greatest champion of any team sport.
It represented something bigger than sport – the values of equality, respect and inclusion that are still ingrained in our league’s DNA today.”
"At the height of his athletic career, Bill was a vigorous advocate for civil rights and social justice, a legacy he passed on to generations of NBA players who followed in his footsteps," the commissioner continued.
Despite threats and unimaginable adversity, Bill Russell remained true to his belief that "every human being deserves to be treated with dignity."
Russell became a superstar in the 1950s and '60s, largely because of his dominant rebounding and intense defensive play that redefined the sport.
Russell, who was rather slight compared to his center position competitors when he entered the NBA, was jumping to block opponents' shots at a time when the prevailing defensive philosophy was that players generally shouldn't protect their feet should leave.
"Russell defended as Picasso painted as Hemingway wrote," said Aram Goudsouzian in his book King of the Court: Bill Russell and the Basketball Revolution.
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