Maclean's Interview: Bill Russell

Q: That’s a healthy attitude.

A: I was telling someone this and they said, “You got cut from junior varsity in the 11th grade. How do you feel?” I wasn’t good enough to make the team. I went out that night and played basketball for five straight hours. The fact that I didn’t make that team did not make me enjoy basketball less.

Q: I was shocked reading the book at the levels of racism you encountered in Boston.

A: It wasn’t that much different than any other city in the country, you know? And coming from the projects of West Oakville I had pretty much developed a code of conduct so I knew how to deal with it, keeping in mind I would not let it destroy me, or even injure me, because if I let it injure me then I’ve lost more.

Q: It got in the way of your relationship with the people in Boston. Has there been a reconciliation between you and Boston since then?

A: Not really. The only thing that’s changed is the way people approach me now as opposed to the way they approached me then. I don’t know if you’ve heard it, I’m supposed to be “a private person.”

Q: That was one of the first things I heard.

A: I think that that’s another one of the things I got from my father. He had a few friends, not a lot, because friendship is a full-time job.

Q: You do have this reputation as a private person, but I want to challenge it a little bit. You’ve lived a big part of your life in public—you can’t help it being a successful pro athlete—and you’ve written, now, is it four books?

A: Yeah.

Q: Which is communicating with the public, and often being very frank with your opinions on life and revelations about yourself.

A: Well, I don’t know. First of all, the things that I revealed in the books are probably about five per cent of me. The other 95 per cent is, you know, in the book I talk about there’s a place inside that you’d never allow anybody to go? Well, I maintain that.

Q: I’m interested in how somebody who is so driven to win deals with losing. You didn’t lose very much but you had some, as a coach—was it in Sacramento?

A: Yeah. Well, two stories. One, when Philadelphia beat us in ’67, we get in the locker room and I say, “Okay, guys, let’s go.” “Where are we going? It’s over.” “We’re going over to the other locker room and congratulate those guys.” That’s how I handled that loser.

Q: That’s a great story.

A: In Sacramento I was going to try to rescue that franchise. When I got there I found out why the franchise was so dysfunctional.

Q: Was it at the ownership level?

A: Yes. The very first exhibition game, after the game, this guy brings me a note saying, “The owner doesn’t like the way you use time outs.” This guy had never seen a pro game until he bought the team. That kind of stuff went on, so I just said, “Okay, I’ll just leave.”

Q: With the election of President Obama we’re hearing a lot about this being a post-racial America now. Do you feel that?

A: No.

Q: Not at all?

A: No, this is the beginning of maybe trying to approach that, but just a beginning, it’s not the end of anything.

Q: Do young players today have any conception of what you went through in the early years in the league?

A: Much more than people would expect.

Q: How do they express it?

A: The NBA has a week of orientation, and the conversations I have with the kids are enlightening, and I enjoy it. The athletes, they’re pretty much the same, you know? A lot of outsiders dwell with the money and all that kind of stuff. I don’t. I dwell with young kids whose profession is basketball, and I find them delightful.