William Felton Russell, better known as Bill Russell, was a center who played for the Boston Celtics in the National Basketball Association from 1956 to 1969. He was born on February 12, 1934, in West Monroe, Louisiana, in the United States, and died on July 31, 2022.
Bill tried to play basketball at Herbert Hoover Junior High School but was not accepted onto the team. Later, while he was a student at Oakland’s McClymonds High School, he had another cutoff. Before recruiter Hal DeJulio from the University of San Francisco (USF) watched him play in a high school game, he had not received any college offers when he initially started attending school and had been disregarded by them.
DeJulio felt that young Bill Russell had an outstanding aptitude for the game, especially in the clutch, despite his meager scoring and “atrocious fundamentals,” and so he offered Bill a scholarship, which he immediately accepted.
In 2009, the NBA changed the name of the MVP trophy for the NBA Finals to the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP Award in his honor. In 2011, Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in appreciation for his contributions to the court and the civil rights struggle. For his contributions as a coach, he was given a second induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.
Who is Bill Russell’s Ex Wife Dorothy Anstett?
Bill Russell was married three times and divorced same. The second wife is Dorothy Catherine Anstett. They were wed between 1977 and 1980. In Kirkland, Washington, in the United States, Dorothy was born on June 28, 1947.
In July 1967, she participated in the Miss Washington pageant and finished as first runner-up. She earned the Miss Washington USA crown title in April 1968 and the Miss USA 1968 crown the same year.
