[SHAMS] Bill Russell has passed away peacefully at 88…

[First Step]

RIP to one of the best to ever lace them up. I was fortunate enough to have him grace my presence twice when I was living in Seattle.

[Salieri]

Wow. I didn't anticipate how much this would hurt.

I am devastated right now. Damn.

RIP.

[NO-KG-AI]

Had the pleasure of seeing him during an all star weekend event hosted by Tom Benson(in 2014), and thought it was amazing that the other Legends seemed to sort of pay their respects to his table like he was the Godfather. His aura was strong, even amongst the greatest of the greats at the party.

RIP to a Legend among Legends.

[PistolPeteJR]

May God comfort his family at this time.

[hoosierdaddy34]

RIP

[maxpower8888]

One of the GOATs. RIP legend.

[MAMBAEMD]

RIP

[Wall_To_Clips]

RIP to a legend on and off court.

[G R E Y]

A legend and gentleman on and off the court.

Rest in peace, Bill.

May his memory be a blessing.

[MAMBAEMD]

Praying for peace and comfort for his family and the Celtic faithful

[Up-And-Coming]

RIP. Condolences to all his loved ones.

[LuDux1]

Wilt scored more only because he didn't have to worry where to put 11th ring

[Ritzo]

Sad to see legends go. RIP

[G R E Y]

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[titlebound1]

This one hurt

[The Rebel]

A close friend and business mentor (who also recently passed at 86 years old) used to tell me the story about the time he went to a Celtics Minny game while the Lakers were still in Minny. He was from a very rural area of the state and while he was a senior in college that obvious knew about and had been around racists his whole life, even still he was shocked at the way the crowd was harassing Russell and the Celtics as they got off the bus and went into the arena. He swore that he had never seen anything like that, Russell and his teammates were treated worse than any of us younger than 50 can even imagine.

According to the story Russell kept the same expression from the bus to the arena, as did the other Celtics, and then Russell came out and put up something like 20 and 30 while blocking shots everywhere. He never said a word back, just went about his day and embarrassed the **** out of the Lakers that night.

Russell was a great player, but more importantly Russell helped changed the world for black people in the United States. While there are plenty of racial issues today throughout the country and the world as a whole, things have improved tremendously since the 1950s. As much as the marches and speeches helped, guys like Bill Russell and Jackie Robinson had their part and played them as well as anybody could expect. May he rest in peace, and may the lessons that he helped teach the world never be forgotten.

[BallerTalk]

A Champion
A Legend
An Icon.

Rest easy Mr. Russell

[RTG HD]

RIP Bill Russell. The greatest player to ever play in the NBA. As Kareem said, the best player is the player who helps his team win the most championships.

[Howard Mass]

RIP Bill Russell.

One of the great players and people to ever play the Game.

[carrrnuttt]

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