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}} William Felton "Bill" Russell (born February 12, 1934) is an American retired professional basketball player. Russell played center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969. A five-time NBA Most Valuable Player and a twelve-time All-Star, he was the centerpiece of the Celtics dynasty, winning eleven NBA championships during his thirteen-year career. Along with Henri Richard of the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens, Russell holds the record for the most championships won by an athlete in a North American sports league. Before his professional career, Russell led the University of San Francisco to two consecutive NCAA championships (1955, 1956). He also won a gold medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics as captain of the U.S. national basketball team.〔 Russell is widely considered one of the best players in NBA history. He was listed as between and , and his shot-blocking and man-to-man defense were major reasons for the Celtics' success. He also inspired his teammates to elevate their own defensive play. Russell was equally notable for his rebounding abilities. He led the NBA in rebounds four times, had a dozen consecutive seasons of 1,000 or more rebounds, and remains second all-time in both total rebounds and rebounds per game. He is one of just two NBA players (the other being prominent rival Wilt Chamberlain) to have grabbed more than 50 rebounds in a game. Though never the focal point of the Celtics' offense, Russell also scored 14,522 career points and provided effective passing. Playing in the wake of pioneers like Earl Lloyd, Chuck Cooper, and Sweetwater Clifton, Russell was the first African American player to achieve superstar status in the NBA. He also served a three-season (1966–69) stint as player-coach for the Celtics, becoming the first African American NBA coach.〔 For his accomplishments in the Civil Rights Movement on and off the court, Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011. Russell is one of only seven players in history to win an NCAA Championship, an NBA Championship, and an Olympic Gold Medal.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Basketball's Triple Crown )〕 He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He was selected into the NBA 25th Anniversary Team in 1971 and the NBA 35th Anniversary Team in 1980, and named as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996, one of only four players to receive all three honors. In 2007, he was enshrined in the FIBA Hall of Fame. In 2009, the NBA announced that the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player trophy would be named the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award in honor of Russell. ==Early years== Bill Russell was born to Charles Russell and Katie Russell in West Monroe, Louisiana. West Monroe was strictly segregated the way all southern towns and cities were, and the Russells often struggled with racism. Once, Russell's father was refused service at a gas station until the staff had taken care of all the white customers. When his father attempted to leave and find a different station, the attendant stuck a shotgun in his face and threatened to kill him if he didn't stay and wait his turn.〔 At another time, Russell's mother was walking outside in a fancy dress when a policeman accosted her. He told her to go home and remove the dress, which he described as "white woman's clothing".〔 Because large numbers of blacks were moving to the West during World War II to look for work there, Russell's father moved the family out of Louisiana when Russell was eight years old and settled them in Oakland, California.〔 While there the family fell into poverty, and Russell spent his childhood living in a series of public housing projects.〔 Charles Russell is described as a "stern, hard man" who was initially a janitor in a paper factory (a typical low paid, intellectually unchallenging "Negro Job", as sports journalist John Taylor commented), but later became a trucker when World War II broke out.〔 Being closer to his mother Katie than to his father,〔 Russell received a major emotional blow when she suddenly died when he was 12. His father gave up his trucking job and became a steel worker to be closer to his semi-orphaned children.〔 Russell has stated that his father became his childhood hero, later followed up by Minneapolis Lakers superstar George "Mr. Basketball" Mikan, whom he met when he was in high school.〔 In his early years, Russell struggled to develop his skills as a basketball player. Although Russell was a good runner and jumper and had large hands,〔 he simply did not understand the game and was cut from the team in junior high school. As a freshman at McClymonds High School〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Bill Russell Bio )〕 in Oakland, California, Russell was almost cut again. However, coach George Powles saw Russell's raw athletic potential and encouraged him to work on his fundamentals.〔 Since Russell's previous encounters with white authority figures were often negative, he was delighted to receive warm words from his white coach. He worked hard and used the benefits of a growth spurt to become a decent basketball player, but it was not until his junior and senior years that he began to excel, winning back to back high school state championships.〔 Russell soon became noted for his unusual style of defense. He later recalled, "To play good defense ... it was told back then that you had to stay flatfooted at all times to react quickly. When I started to jump to make defensive plays and to block shots, I was initially corrected, but I stuck with it, and it paid off."〔''Wir sind stolz auf Dirk'', Sven Simon, ''FIVE'' magazine, issue 43, 12/2007, p. 69.〕 One of Russell's high school basketball teammates was future Baseball Hall-of-Famer Frank Robinson. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bill Russell」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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