Bill Russell
Bill Russell was an American basketball player in the 1950’s and 60s. He averaged less the 10 points a game and missed the majority of his shots taken. He endured racism from his hometown fans, had his family home vandalized several times and was under paid throughout his career. He wasn’t a showmen, there was no shoe deal or offers from brands for him to endorse- he was just the greatest Champion to ever play the game, and it’s not even close.
He won 2 National Championships in College, a Gold medal in the 1956 Olympics and over 13 seasons of professional basketball, all for the Boston Celtics, he was a 12X All Star and his team won 11 Titles, he was named the MVP of those finals 5 times - the MVP trophy is now named after him. As a player coach - he actually played and coached the team at the same time and was reported only paid $25,000 for his Coaching services- he was the first African American Coach to win a Championship, he did that twice. There is literally a picture of Bill Russell that comes up when you search greatest team sports winner of all time, he is the face of victory.
He was also cut from the Junior Varsity team in his Sophomore year of High School. He was a tremendous athlete, already 6'7” at 14 years of age and he loved the game - but he tried out for and did not make the JV team?
The following day in school after being cut, the Varsity basketball coach, George Powles, noticed him walking down the hallway of the school, towering above the other students.
Powles approached Russell and asked if he played basketball and if he wanted to try out for the Varsity basketball team. Russell replied that he did play the game, but that he had already been cut from the Junior Varsity team at the school, assuming that would end this coach’s interest. The coach responded that he wasn’t the JV coach, but that he was the Varsity coach and he asked him again if he wanted to try out for his team. The Varsity team. Then came the history books.
“In 1947, George Powles started ushering athletes through the door that Jackie Robinson opened,” says Berger. Which athletes? Well… Frank Robinson… Curt Flood… Vada Pinson… Joe Morgan… Bill Russell (the basketball legend, not the Dodgers shortstop)… all of them came under Powles’ tutelage. Many of them have since talked about the influence Powles had on their lives. “I learned more about baseball from George than I did from anybody in the big leagues,” Hall of Famer Robinson told an interviewer for the alumni magazine of San Francisco State University, Powles’ alma mater.
We all play to the level of our confidence in life, if you believe your are JV material, so will everyone else. If you see greatest in someone, lift them up and encourage them to reach higher. We may not all be Bill Russell, but we can all use or be a George Powles.