Bill Russell obituary

In his 13 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Boston Celtics, Bill Russell, who has died aged 88, won 11 championships, a record unmatched in team sports. But his place as one of the most influential American athletes of the 20th century, behind only Muhammad Ali and perhaps the baseball player Jackie Robinson, is based on more than his implacable will to win, and his intelligence in allying his skills to his teammates’ to facilitate that process.

He was the NBA’s first black star, five times the league’s most valuable player. His defensive leaping ability transformed basketball from a horizontal to a vertical game. And in 1966, when the Celtics coach Red Auerbach stepped down and named Russell his successor, he became the first black head coach in modern America’s four major sports leagues.

Off the court, he was a trailblazer in the fight for human dignity. Russell stood beside Martin Luther King during his “I have a dream” speech in Washington; when Ali resisted the draft, Russell was next to him at the “Cleveland summit” of star athletes, with the gridiron star and actor Jim Brown on the other side.

Russell came to his abilities late, but learned his sense of self-worth early. He was born in deeply segregated Monroe, Louisiana, and his father, Charlie, taught young Bill what his father had taught him: “A man has to draw a line inside himself he won’t allow any man to cross.” When Charlie was denied a pay rise he believed he deserved, he went to work in Detroit, leaving his wife, Katie (nee King), to look after their sons, Bill and his brother, Charlie Jr. Bothered by the cold winters, Charlie moved to Oakland, California, started a profitable trucking business transporting day labour, and