Bill Russell is a man of great integrity, a man who demands the respect of all who know him. I grew up a middling high school basketball player in the South during the early 60s in the midst of the Boston Celtics run to 8 consecutive NBA championships. They seemed to always be on one of our three television channels, and they were my favorite team. I read everything I could about them and about Russell, still the greatest center in the game.
I learned at least two things from watching and reading about him. Seemingly most important at that time, I learned some basketball essentials - how to block out for a rebound, when to try to block a shot, teamwork. I was also learning, though I would not have been able to articulate it at the time, more important lessons about integrity along with a growing recognition that the color of a man's skin was not his defining characteristic. Russell always spoke his mind in an honest and straightforward manner. It got him - and me - into trouble from time to time. Some readers, especially those who never saw Russell play, will be offended by his frequent comments that he was a consummate defensive player who revolutionized the game of basketball. That is just Bill Russell telling the truth. There is a reason why the NBA Final's Most Valuable Trophy has just been named for him.
I learned at least two things from watching and reading about him. Seemingly most important at that time, I learned some basketball essentials - how to block out for a rebound, when to try to block a shot, teamwork. I was also learning, though I would not have been able to articulate it at the time, more important lessons about integrity along with a growing recognition that the color of a man's skin was not his defining characteristic. Russell always spoke his mind in an honest and straightforward manner. It got him - and me - into trouble from time to time. Some readers, especially those who never saw Russell play, will be offended by his frequent comments that he was a consummate defensive player who revolutionized the game of basketball. That is just Bill Russell telling the truth. There is a reason why the NBA Final's Most Valuable Trophy has just been named for him.
In this thoughtful little book, written in collaboration with Alan Steinberg, we learn about Arnold "Red" Auerbach, Russell's friend of 50 years. Could there have been two more unlikely friends, a short, abrasive Jew from Brooklyn and a tall, gangly black man from the South? These were two different "tribes," to use Russell's term, which would seem to be on a collision course. Plus, Auerbach was the "master" (the coach) while Russell was the "servant" (the player) with all that implied in race relations in the 50s and 60s, not only in the South, but in Boston, hardly a bastion of racial equality. For Russell, Auerbach "represented not his tribe, and not my tribe, but our tribe: the Celtics."
Russell's account of their friendship is a lesson in mutual respect and understanding that grew and matured over the years. Red and Me is the eulogy Russell did not give at Auerbach's funeral. Russell was criticized for not speaking out at the time, but, as he makes clear, the friendship was personal, not something to be bandied about, to be referred to in a television sound bite. Russell and Auerbach were products of the 30s and 40s when men did not go beyond a simple handshake. Heaven forbid that a man would actually profess friendship, much less fraternal love for another man. In one of the most poignant anecdotes, Russell relates his last visit with Auerbach. Having recently fallen and in declining health, Auerbach followed Russell to the door to remind him that he (Russell) was getting older and should take care not to fall, a warning to take care of himself. Russell repeatedly says that he had "affection" for Auerbach. Clearly, however, these two men loved one another. This grew out of mutual respect and flexibility. Each knew that the other always "had his back." Each knew that the other was thinking of his friend.
Many of the "problems" Russell encountered over the years resulted from preconceived notions people had about him. Much of what he says about his encounters with people, especially white people, indicates that he also suffered from those same preconceived notions. But he, at least, recognized that "I was still conditioned by my own preconceived notions about what to expect from a coach. I shouldn't have been - preconceptions were the very thing I'd been fighting against for years."
Cast in the guise of a simple sports memoir, this is a more important book. It speaks to deep friendship, acceptance, and leadership. It shows us that the more we put into our efforts at work and personal relationships, the more we are likely to receive. It is most valuable on these levels, and there are enough sports anecdotes to keep even the most jaded sports fan happy. This short memoir will make Bill Russell and Red Auerbach, the basketball legends, more accessible to each of us who has loved the game of basketball.
Bill Russell was a five-time winner of the NBA's Most Valuable Player Award and won 11 championships in 13 years. He was the first African-American coach of a major professional team for the last two. Alan Steinberg, the author of many books, is best known for co-writing Black Profiles in Courage with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Cast in the guise of a simple sports memoir, this is a more important book. It speaks to deep friendship, acceptance, and leadership. It shows us that the more we put into our efforts at work and personal relationships, the more we are likely to receive. It is most valuable on these levels, and there are enough sports anecdotes to keep even the most jaded sports fan happy. This short memoir will make Bill Russell and Red Auerbach, the basketball legends, more accessible to each of us who has loved the game of basketball.
Bill Russell was a five-time winner of the NBA's Most Valuable Player Award and won 11 championships in 13 years. He was the first African-American coach of a major professional team for the last two. Alan Steinberg, the author of many books, is best known for co-writing Black Profiles in Courage with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
