The Ring Leader: Bill Russell helped the Celtics rule their sport like no team ever has | Sports Illustrated

In honor of Sports Illustrated's 60th anniversary, SI.com is republishing, in full, 60 of the best stories ever to run in the magazine's history. Today's selection is on Bill Russell, whom the magazine named the greatest team player of the 20th century. Russell helped the Boston Celtics win 11 titles in his 13 seasons, and he also won consecutive NCAA titles at the University of San Francisco as well as Olympic gold in 1956. The story, by legendary SI writer Frank Deford, ran in the May 10, 1999 issue. It was 30 years ago, and the car containing the old retired basketball player and the young sportswriter stopped at a traffic light on the way to the airport in Los Angeles. (Of course, in the nature of things, old players aren't that much older than young writers.) The old player said, "I'm sorry, I'd like to be your friend." The young writer said, "But I thought we were friends." "No, I'd like to be your friend, and we can be friendly, but friendship takes a lot of effort if it's going

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