Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Former President Barack Obama on Sunday remembered basketball great Bill Russell as \u201cthe greatest champion in basketball history\u201d and as \u201ca civil rights trailblazer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cToday we lost a giant,\u201d Obama tweeted<\/a> shortly after Russell\u2019s family announced that he had died on Sunday at 88. \u201cAs tall as Bill Russell stood, his legacy rises far higher \u2014 both as a player and as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n Russell was one of the towering figures in basketball history, leading the Boston Celtics to 11 NBA championships (two of them as a player-coach) in a span of 13 years, a level of success unmatched in professional sports. But, as Obama noted, he was also an activist, part of a coterie of 1960s greats \u2014 included boxer Muhammad Ali and football\u2019s Jim Brown \u2014 that was known for its deep devotion to civil rights and social justice.<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps more than anyone else, Bill knew what it took to win and what it took to lead. On the court, he was the greatest champion in basketball history. Off of it, he was a civil rights trailblazer \u2014 marching with Dr. King and standing with Muhammad Ali,\u201d Obama said in his statement, referencing Russell\u2019s presence at the 1963 March on Washington and his support for Ali when the boxing champion was stripped of his title and prosecuted for refusing to serve in the U.S. military.<\/p>\n Obama added: \u201cFor decades, Bill endured insults and vandalism, but never let it stop him from speaking up for what\u2019s right. I learned so much from the way he played, the way he coached, and the way he lived his life.\u201d<\/p>\n In February 2011, Obama presented Russell with the Medal of Freedom, part of a group that also included civil rights activist John Lewis, poet Maya Angelou, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former President George H.W. Bush.<\/p>\n \u201cMore than any athlete of his era, Bill Russell came to define the word \u2018winner,\u2019\u201d Obama said at the time. \u201cI hope that one day in the streets of Boston, children will look up at a statue built not only to Bill Russell the player, but Bill Russell the man.\u201d<\/p>\n Russell continued his activism throughout his life.<\/p>\n \u201cI find that white people are often surprised that racial injustice still exists outside of a few \u2018bad apples,\u2019\u201d Russell wrote in The Players\u2019 Tribune in 2020<\/a>. \u201cThis surprise is particularly dangerous because racial injustice is rampant throughout every sector of American society, from education to health care to sports, and the fact that this remains surprising to many reveals exactly how different Black and white people\u2019s experiences of life in America are.\u201d<\/p>\n