Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell, who won 11 championships in 13 seasons with the team, has died, his family announced Sunday. He was 88.
Russell won a pair of state championships in high school at McClymonds in Oakland, California, followed by two more NCAA titles at the University of San Francisco and then 11 with the Celtics -- including two as a player/coach -- bringing his total to 15.
Born on Feb. 12, 1934 in Monroe, Louisiana, Russell was originally selected by the St. Louis Hawks with the second overall pick in the 1956 NBA Draft. But Red Auerbach orchestrated a trade with the Hawks that sent six-time All-Star Ed Macauley -- along with the draft rights to Cliff Hagan -- to St. Louis in exchange for the rights to Russell.
Both Hagan and Macauley wound up in the Basketball Hall of Fame as well, but the selection of Russell -- along with future Hall of Famers Tommy Heinsohn and K.C. Jones in 1956 -- set the stage for Boston's run as the premier NBA dynasty throughout the rest of the '50s and well into the 1960s. After retiring from the NBA as a player, a 963-game career in which he averaged 15.1 points and 22.5 rebounds per game, Russell spent four seasons as head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics from 1973-77 and one season with the Sacramento Kings in 1987-88.This is a breaking news story that will be updated.
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