There was some concern over the weekend for hoops legend Bill Russell, who was taken to a Seattle hospital. Several hours later, the 84-year-old used his trademark humor to assure everyone he was fine.
Thank you everyone for the kind thoughts, yes I was taken to the hospital last night & as my wife likes to remind me I don’t drink enough. On my way home & as most my friends know I don’t have a heart to give me trouble @NBA @celtics @TMZ @TMZLive @NBAonTNT @MSNBC @YahooSports
— TheBillRussell (@RealBillRussell) May 19, 2018
In his 13-year NBA career, Russell won 11 championships. He was league MVP five times. One thing you may not know is that he was also a darn good high jumper.
Testament to his skills in track and field comes courtesy of RMY Auctions, which is offering a 1956 wirephoto of the Boston Celtics legend about to sail over the bar at a Los Angeles area meet during his senior season at the University of San Francisco. The caption on the front of the 8×10 photo begins, “Bill Russell, a 6-foot-10-inch human pogo stick…” then offers details of his efforts at the meet.
Russell was ranked the seventh best high jumper in the world in 1956. “My heart is set on the Olympics,” Russell said in an AP story in 1956. “I think I have a good chance of making the basketball squad, and I’d like to make the track and field team as well.”
He did play for the U.S. gold medal-winning basketball team but didn’t compete in track and field.
At the West Coast Relays, in the pre-Fosbury Flop era, Russell jumped 6’ 9 ¼”, tying Charlie Dumas, who would later win gold in the Melbourne Olympics and become the first person to jump seven feet. Russell sometimes also competed in the 440-yard dash.
The rare Associated Press image was taken not long before Russell would be drafted by the St. Louis Hawks, then famously traded to the Celtics where he would dominate the NBA with his remarkable rebounding and shot blocking abilities—and sometimes jumped from the free throw line over the heads of unsuspecting defenders.
The photo one of more than 700 vintage images in RMY’s current auction, which continues through Saturday, June 26.
Back home got my water getting ready for the #CelticsVsCavs Go get a win @celtics @celticslife @nbcsports @si @espn @twittersports #CUsRise @thescore @tmzsports @bleacherreport Thank You again to everyone for the well wishes strange to read them when ur still alive! @NBA @msnbc pic.twitter.com/D030VhOWvd
— TheBillRussell (@RealBillRussell) May 19, 2018
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