Charles Russell happens to be the father of Charlie Russell and Bill Russell. Charles was described as a “stern, hard man” who started out as a janitor in a paper factory, a stereotypical “Negro Job” that was low-paying and not intellectually stimulating. Later, he worked in shipyards and drove trucks. In order to be nearer to his family, he quit his trucking job and changed careers to become a steelworker.
Charles Russell Children: Meet Bill Russell and Charlie L. Russell
Charlie is the big brother of Bill Russell. He was born on March 10th, 1932, and died on June 28th, 2013, at the age of 81, of gastric cancer. His most well-known work is the play Five on the Black Hand Side. Charlie finished high school at Oakland Technical. He discovered a love for writing while attending Santa Rosa Junior College.
Charlie served in Korea with the American Army before earning a B.S. in English from the University of San Francisco in 1959. In the early 1970s, he served as writer in residence at Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre in Harlem.
Bill Russell played center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association from 1956 to 1969. He was born on February 12, 1934, in West Monroe, Louisiana, and died on July 31, 2022, in the United States. 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 judicial system and the civil rights struggle. For his accomplishments as a coach, he was given a second induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.
The first black NBA player to achieve superstardom was Bill. The first black coach in professional sports in North America and the first to win a championship, he also served as a player-coach for the Celtics for three seasons, from 1966 to 1969.
Russell was one of the inaugural inductees into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006, and in addition to being elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1975, he was also given admission into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2007.
