Bill Russell To Receive SI's Muhammad Ali Legacy Award
BOSTON (CBS) -- Former Celtics great Bill Russell is one of three recipients of this year's Muhammad Ali Legacy Award, Sports Illustrated announced on Wednesday.
Russell, along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jim Brown, are the three athletes who will receive the honor "for their incomparable athletic careers and decades of leadership as social activists." All three made major impacts away from the game during and after their careers, each speaking out about social and racial inequality.
"To be a true influence of positive change in the world often means that you have to stand up against injustice and fight through adversity. I am honored to be recognized alongside some of the great cultural icons of our time who have used their platforms to fight for civil rights and social justice, regardless of the risk, including my good friend Muhammad Ali to whom the award is dedicated," Russell said in a statement. "Our work has just begun."
"In 2016 we learned that the consequences of speaking out on hard issues were often painful ones, but also how deeply athletes can impact and advance the conversation on those same, hard issues," Sports Illustrated's group editor in chief Chris Stone said of the honorees. "Jim Brown, Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar all recognized, and acted on this in a far harder time in America. That was the example of their friend, Muhammad Ali, and the torch they've carried for the more than a half-century."
Russell not only won an unprecedented 11 NBA championships during his 13-year career, but won two NCAA titles at San Francisco and Olympic gold in 1956. He became the first African-American coach in NBA history in 1966, and winning two of his 11 titles as Boston's player-coach.
Russell, Abdul-Jabbar and Brown will be honored during SI's Sportsperson of the Year event on December 12, 2016, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
