Bill Russell: Pride of the Celtics Quiz

Answer: Louisiana

Russell was born in West Monroe, Louisiana. His early life was hardly a "Mardi Gras". Russell and his family were forced to deal repeatedly with racism and discrimination. In 1942, the Russell family moved to Oakland, California, where Bill discovered the sport of basketball.

Answer: San Francisco

Russell attended the University of San Francisco and led the Dons to NCAA Division I basketball titles in 1955 (against LaSalle) and 1956 (versus Iowa). His coach at USF was Phil Woolpert, and one of his teammates was K.C. Jones. Russell and Jones would reunite during the Boston Celtics glory years. UCLA is known as the Bruins, Southern California is nicknamed the Trojans, and Cal-Northridge is known as the Matadors.

Answer: Melbourne

Russell was a prominent member of the 1956 U.S. Olympic basketball team which won the gold medal in Australia. Gerald Tucker was the coach of this squad which easily outclassed its opponents. London hosted the 1948 Olympic Games, Helsinki was the host in 1952, and Rome hosted the Olympics in 1960.

Answer: High jump

In addition to playing basketball, Russell was a track and field star for the university. He was good at the 400-yard dash, and he excelled at the high jump. In 1956, Russell was ranked among the 10 best high jumpers in the world. He considered entering this event in the 1956 Olympics, but he decided to play hoops with the U.S. Olympic baskteball team instead.

Answer: St. Louis Hawks

Red Auerbach, the Boston Celtics coach, craved Russell's defensive ability, so Auerbach made a deal with the Hawks. In exchange for Russell, Auerbach traded veteran center Ed Macauley and rookie Cliff Hagan to St. Louis. With the addition of Bill Russell, the Celtics were set to make NBA history. A dynasty was born.

Answer: 6

Russell's number 6 and rival center Wilt Chamberlain's number 13 became two of the most recognizable uniforms in American professional sports during the 1960s. Russell's number six uniform was retired by the Celtics in 1972. Bob Cousy wore number 14 for Boston, Tommy Heinsohn was number 15, and Sam Jones wore number 24.

Answer: He scored over 20,000 regular season points

Russell had an outstanding career with Boston. He helped the Celtics to win an incredible 11 NBA titles in 13 seasons. Russell had 21,620 rebounds and later became a player-coach with Boston. He did not score 20,000 career points. He 'only' scored 14,522 points in regular season play. Russell didn't have to concentrate on scoring points. Teammates such as Sam Jones and John Havlicek provided the necessary offense.

Answer: Sacramento Kings

After leaving the Boston Celtics following the 1969 season, Russell coached the Seattle Supersonics from 1973 to 1977. His last NBA coaching experience occurred with the Sacramento Kings in the beginning of the 1987-88 season. Russell didn't have much success with the Kings. Sacramento had an abysmal record of 17-41 when Russell departed. Overall, Russell had a record of 341 victories and 290 defeats during his coaching career, with two NBA titles.

Answer: Tom Sanders

Tom "Satch" Sanders was a defensive specialist who played on eight championship teams with the Celtics during the Bill Russell era. Sanders was Russell's teammate during Bill's final title season of 1968-69. Sanders' number 16 would later be retired by Boston.

In 1968-69, Oscar Robertson played for Cincinnati, Walt Bellamy played for New York, and Billy Cunningham was a member of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Answer: The NBA Finals MVP

In order to honor the amazing playoff record of Russell, the NBA introduced the "Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP Award" in 2009. This award is presented annually to the Most Valuable Player in the NBA Finals. The first recipient of the Bill Russell Trophy was Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers.