R.I.P to “The single most devastating force in the history of the game”

Bill Russell heads to the highest skybox with too many rings for two hands.

He was arguably the greatest defensive player in history, and those 11 rings make his case for the best overall. Here is an amazing statistic: “In 30 elimination games at the college, pro and Olympic levels, Russell was a staggering 28-2.”

Russell faced Wilt Chamberlain in 94 NBA games and won the match-up 57-37, although Chamberlain dominated the individual stats.

We need not limit the discussion of Russell’s greatness to basketball. He was arguably the most successful athlete of all time in any of America’s four major team sports. He won 11 titles in just 13 seasons, including eight in a row. In one of the other two seasons, the Celtics had the best record in basketball by a margin of 8 games, but lost the finals when Bob Pettit put up 50 points and 19 boards in the final game.

One of Russell’s teammates, Sam Jones, shared the record of eight consecutive world championships, but when we look outside of the great Russell teams, I don’t think any athlete in the major team sports ever won more than five in a row.

Hockey’s Henri Richard matched Russell’s total of championships, with a share of 11 Stanley Cups, including five in row, in 19 full seasons in Montreal. None of his teammates shared in all 11 championships, but some of them shared the record of five in a row, including his own brother.

Baseball’s Yogi Berra won 14 American League pennants and 10 World Series in his 18 full seasons with the Yankees. His longest streak of World Series wins was five. Many of Berra’s teammates shared in the five consecutive championships, but nobody ever matched his lifetime total of ten rings.

Football’s Otto Graham won seven championships, including five in a row. (Tom Brady also has seven championships, but over a much longer span of time, and never more than two in a row.) Otto Graham topped Bill Russell by one measure of success, having made the championship game in every one of his ten seasons. Russell had to settle for 12-for-13 because his long-time rival, Wilt Chamberlain, finally beat him in the division finals in 1967, after Russell’s Celtics had dominated the match-up for many years. (Chamberlain averaged an unearthly 32 rebounds per game in that series.)

8 thoughts on “R.I.P to “The single most devastating force in the history of the game”

  1. Russell’s back up for a few years, Mel Counts, was a seven footer when there was only a few in the league. Usually shot fall away jumpers from 15 to 20 feet away. Go figure. Still hung around for a few years more and has a few rings to show for it.

    1. That is true. Team championships can’t be won by one man. Neither Ted Williams nor Ty Cobb ever won a World Series. But the comment implies that these guys were just along for the ride. The answer is different for the four of them.

      In the case of Henri Richard, he was just in the right place at the right time. Despite all those championships, nobody would claim he was the best player of all time, or even the best player on those teams. Heck, he wasn’t even the best player in his family.

      In the case of Yogi Berra, well, he may have been surrounded by Mantle, Maris, Ford and DiMaggio, but in his prime he was the best catcher in the AL by a very wide margin, and the Yankees had some close calls in the pennant races. If the Yankees and Indians had swapped catchers, the Indians probably would have won at least two of those five consecutive AL pennants.

      In the cases of Russell and Graham, they were the most important factor in winning those championships. Without them, the team and the coach were mediocre.

      • Under Graham, the Browns were 105-17. In his final two years, they were the NFL champions. Graham retired and they went 5-7 the next year.
      • It’s almost the identical story with Russell. In his last two years, the Celtics won the NBA championship. He retired and they went 34-48 the next year.
      1. The Indians actually had a classic no-hit, good-catch catcher, Jim Hegan, often regarded as the best in team history, even though Sandy Alomar and Victor Martinez were both better hitters, so you might be overstating things a little. He was also my Uncle Paul’s batterymate in HS in Lynn, Mass. U.P. was considered a better prospect and was offered a bonus by the local Sox. But Grandpa was having none of it – he was supposed to do college, then go pro. So, off he went to Northeastern, some war came along, and by the time he got out of the Army Air Corps, he was past his playing time. As for Hegan, he was a 5-time All Star and “Yankee Hall of Fame catcher Bill Dickey once said about Hegan’s fielding abilities, “If I had been able to catch like Hegan I wouldn’t have needed to hit”. His son did end up playing for the Yankees and eventually became a beloved announcer for the Tribe, 23 years worth.
        Henri Richard timed his career perfectly, His first year was the first of the five-in-a-row Cups; his last Cup was Scotty Bowman’s first. 1000 point scorer when that wasn’t so common, captain and great player in his own right.
        Russell and Beliveau both had last seasons where they led their teams to stunning championship upsets, the Celts over the West-Baylor and Chamberlain Lakers, les Habs over the expected second year of the Orr-Espo-Cheevers-Bucyk-Hodge-Cashman-etc. Dynasty.

  2. Did the rim used to be 12 feet high? I imagine it’s a trick of perspective or angle, but that photo makes it look like Russell is barely reaching the rim and Wilt is below the rim, and they are both jumping. I’m pretty sure they both could go WELL above the rim.

    Might as well mention that I would be shocked if neither of those two could dunk on a 12 foot rim.

  3. Jean Beliveau is actually on 17 Cups, “only” 10 as a player but 7 more as an executive with the Habs. Also one of the 6 players on a sheet issue of Canadian stamps, the others being Henri’s brother, Howe, Orr, Gretzky, and Lemieux. Once described as “the Stan Musial of Canada”. So, I’m putting him up for really honorable mention here.
    Russell to High Henry Finkel might have been the greatest one position drop-off in the history of sports.

  4. Could have won an Olympic medal in the high jump… 6th best in the world in 1956 which was before the “flop” style. Reportedly also sub-50 sec in the 440 which, again, was really smakin’ in that era of cinder tracks

  5. You forgot to add: prior to his pro career, he won two NCAA titles in a row with the USF Dons (who had never won before), and then an Olympic gold medal. The guy just won championships no matter where he was. (KC Jones was also on those Dons teams and the Celtics. )

    Also, he not just won but completely revolutionized the concept of what a center could be. Before Russell, the center was the big lumbering guy you dumped the ball to and scored points. On defense, he banged against the other center and body slammed any other poor schmuck who dared to come into the paint.

    Russ was quick and lean and extended the impact defense and shot blocking. He didn’t score as much, but after missed shots secured the rebound and initiated the fast break. He was probably the first center to focus on making his teammates better.

    And we haven’t even mentioned his huge social impact outside of sports. He was a much a part of the 60s fight against segregation as any athlete save Muhammad Ali.

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