Getty Image / Ethan Miller
- 5-time NBA MVP Bill Russell shared a story from his childhood that he says changed his life forever
- It took place right when he and his mother moved to the projects and he was attacked by a stranger, his mother then took charge of the situation
- Read more sports articles on BroBible right here
Bill Russell turns 88-years-old this February and has lived such an incredible life in the world of sports it’s almost hard to really wrap the brain around. He was a five-time NBA MVP, an 11-time NBA Champion with the Boston Celtics (twice as a coach), and he’s a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a coach and a player.
Bill Russell was born in 1934 in Louisiana and when he was eight years old his family moved west to Oakland, California during WWII looking for a new life. His family fell into poverty and they moved into housing projects and that’s where this story picks up.
This story was shared by Bill Russell and he discusses the first day of moving into new projects. He was assaulted by a group of guys that ran by. Bill was only nine years old at the time. Bill Russelll described the incident as one that “changed my whole attitude” sticking up for yourself. You can swipe through the Instagram gallery below to see the videos and/or check out the full quotes below the Instagram post.
Bill Russell’s Mom Changed His Life Forever By Making Him Fight 5 Guys In The Projects
https://www.instagram.com/p/CYwnrbXFsc3/
Here’s the story:
“When we first moved to the projects, my mother was getting everything together. I was sitting on the steps. And these 5 guys ran by. And one of them slapped me as they went by. Well, I was 9 years old, and I did what 9 year olds are supposed to.
I went and told my mother. And she said ‘What!’. She grabbed the keys to the house and grabbed me. We went all through the projects looking for those 5 guys. And so she says ‘are these the guys?’. I say ‘yes ma’am’. I didn’t know what she was going to do. I thought she was going to take care of it. But the way she took care of it was; ‘okay, you’re going to fight every 1 of them. All 5 of them, 1 at a time’. Thanks, mom.
So I go into 5 fights, and I lose 3 and win 2. We go back to our place and I’m crying. She says ‘don’t cry. You did what you’re supposed to do. Doesn’t matter whether you won or lost. What matters is you stood up for yourself. And that’s what you must always do. Stand up for yourself’. That day changed my whole attitude about… she says ‘I don’t want you to ever pick a fight, but always finish the fight you’re in’. And so that’s the kind of stuff I got from my mother.”
This is probably my favorite Bill Russell highlight that I can think of.
That story was part of a THREE-HOUR interview with Bill Russell that is preserved in the Library Of Congress. If you have three hours and want to check out Russell’s story, you can watch this video right below.
Full 3-Hour Interview From The Library Of Congress
I’ll get around to watching that at some point but three hours is a serious time commitment for me.