Racial scars, a lost mother
William Felton Russell was born on February 12, 1934 in Monroe, Louisiana, where his father, Charles, worked in a paper bag factory. He recalled a warm family life, but a childhood scorched by racism. She recalled that a police officer once threatened to arrest her mother, Katie, because she was wearing a fancy dress like those favored by white women. A gas station attendant tried to humiliate his father, while Bill was with him, by refusing to serve, an episode that ended with Charles Russell chasing the man while brandishing a tire iron.
When Bill was 9, the family moved to Oakland, California. His mother died when he was 12, leaving his father, who had opened a trucking business and later worked in a foundry, to raise Bill and his brother, Charles Jr. ., teaching them, as Russell had long remembered, to work hard and covet self-respect and self-reliance.
At McClymonds High School in Oakland, Russell became a starter on the basketball team as a senior, already emphasizing defense and rebounding. Former University of San Francisco basketball player Hal DeJulio, who scouted his alma mater, recognized Russell’s potential and recommended him to coach Phil Woolpert.
Russell received a scholarship and became an All-American, teaming with guard KC Jones, a future Celtic teammate, to lead San Francisco to NCAA championships in his final two seasons. After a loss to UCLA in Russell’s junior year, the team went on a 55-game winning streak. He averaged over 20 points and 20 rebounds per game in his three college seasons.
“No one had ever played basketball like me, or as well,” Russell told Sport magazine in 1963, recalling his college career. “They’ve never seen anyone block shots before. Now I’m going to brag: I like to think I originated a whole new style of play.”