On Feb. 12, USF held a series of events to honor basketball legend and political activist Bill Russell. On what would have been his 92nd birthday, the University celebrated Russell’s accomplishments with a thoroughfare unveiling, an inaugural Impact Classic basketball game and a posthumous honorary doctorate presentation to his widow, Jeannine Russell.
In addition to events, the University established the Bill Russell Emergency Relief Fund, which offers “short-term financial support for undergraduate students experiencing economic instability.” So far, the fund has helped more than 25 students.
Standing at the walkway between the John Lo Schiavo building and Kalmanovitz Hall, President Salvador D. Aceves unveiled a new street sign titled “The Bill Russell Way.”
“Today we come together to dedicate a place on our campus that will carry meaning for generations to come,” Aceves said. “In naming the central thoroughfare ‘The Bill Russell Way,’ we are doing more than unveiling a sign, we are affirming our values. Bill Russell is the most distinguished alumnus in the history of the University of San Francisco. His leadership helped bring national championships to this campus and forever change the trajectory of USF athletics.”
Marked by three street signs, the thoroughfare runs from the north entrance of lower campus near the War Memorial on Golden Gate Avenue to Welch Field. On top of each sign are the years ‘55-56, highlighting the years in which Russell led the Dons to back to back NCAA national championships.
Standing at 6 feet 10 inches, Russell dominated the game through his tenacious rebounding, resilient defense and scoring. He led the league in scoring in 1954 and 1956 and in total rebounds all three years of his collegiate career. On top of championships, he helped lead the Dons to a 60 game win streak between 1954-1956, the second longest collegiate men’s basketball win streak ever. The 1971-1974 UCLA Bruins hold the record with 88 consecutive wins.
Aceves continued, “But his impact did not stop at the edge of the basketball court. Bill Russell challenged injustice, demanded dignity and lived with extraordinary courage and integrity. Those qualities are inseparable from what we aspire to teach, model and uphold here at the University of San Francisco.”
During his professional career with the Boston Celtics and beyond, Russell exemplified several acts that demonstrated his courageous and fearless leadership.
According to NPR, in October of 1961 in Lexington, Ky, Russell and four other Celtics’ teammates boycotted a preseason exhibition game after Sam Jones and Tom Sanders, two other Black players on the team, were denied service from the hotel’s cafe. This marked the first ever player boycott over a civil rights protest.
The following day, Russell told reporters, “We’ve got to show our disapproval of this kind of treatment or else the status quo will prevail. We have the same rights and privileges as anyone else and deserve to be treated accordingly. I hope we never have to go through this abuse again. But if it happens, we won’t hesitate to take the same action again.”
According to the Seattle Times, in 1963, after the murder of civil rights activist Medgar Evers, Russell traveled to Jackson, Miss, a hub of extreme segregation at the time, to assist Evers’ brother Charles in opening an integrated basketball camp. Risking his life and even receiving death threats, Russell helped teach kids the game of basketball.
“We had a few white kids come to that camp,” Charles Evers said to the Times. “That’s the kind of respect even some of the white folks had for Bill Russell. The camp was a success.”
In 1963, Russell was a participant at the March on Washington, witnessing Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
In February 2011, Russell was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former President Barack Obama.
Bill Cartwright, the director of University Initiatives at USF, said, “I think the standard he set was really remarkable…What I’ve always thought about him was that he stood up against discrimination, racism in Boston… This is the guy that, if there’s something wrong being done and you have no voice, this is the guy you want on your side.”
Cartwright, a USF alumnus who played basketball for the Dons between 1975-1979, shared plenty of moments with Russell. “He was always great to me, extraordinarily nice. I wish I would have asked him more about playing and that kind of stuff,” he said. “If I was smarter, instead of being a young punk kid, I would have asked him more.”
Despite Russell’s impact at USF during his collegiate career, his relationship with the school was very much sour following it. According to the SF Chronicle, in 1957 a year into his NBA career, Russell returned to USF in an attempt to finish his degree, in which he only needed 16 more credits to graduate. However, when he was informed that he would have to pay full tuition, around $900, due to his four-year scholarship expiring, Russell became enraged and left.
Between that time and his death at the age of 88 in 2022, Russell only made one appearance at the Hilltop, which was to celebrate the USF’s basketball program reinstatement in 1985 after being shut down for three years by the NCAA for violating rules. Following the event, University President and Reverend John Lo Schiavo offered to award Russell a degree if he spoke to a few classes and wrote a paper on his NBA experience. Russell declined.
The University made several efforts to repair the damaged relationship, but to no avail. In 2014, President Paul J. Fitzgerald reached out to Russell’s lawyer offering Russell the opportunity to finish his degree with free tuition as well as receive an honorary doctorate, but with Russell’s declining health, his lawyer told him it was too late.
Following the thoroughfare unveiling, USF held the inaugural Bill Russell Impact Classic, with a game between USF and Oregon State. During a break in play, the University presented a posthumous honorary degree, a degree of doctor humane letters to Jeannine.
To Jeannine, the degree represents an acceptance towards the University’s efforts to honor Russell. “The only way I’m accepting it is, they’re doing so many things to push Bill’s legacy forward,” she said. “Not only with the Impact Classic and the walkway, but the emergency release fund for all of the students, I think, is the one thing that he would really love. So I just thought it was kind of a good way to put a circle and close that chapter.”
She continued, “Myself and my agent, we’ve been working tirelessly with [the University] for a year, and just coming up with ways that I think Bill would be okay moving forward, you know, so I think he would be very proud. […] The school has gone above and beyond, and they have been amazing to work with.”
