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Bill Russell: NBA "Hall of Famer" (Signed: Autobiography: 1st-Edit.!) - $350 (Long Valley)
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Hand-signed & inscribed by basketball Hall of Famer - Bill Russell ... autograph (in blue ink) ... guaranteed to pass JSA or PSA certification!!
*NOTE*... this is a vintage, non-personalized autograph that was obtained during Russell's playing career (Boston Celtics) - a rarity considering that Russell had a reputation & long history of seldom signing for fans! ... in addition, a non-personalized autograph is very hard to find because Russell usually personalized his signature - to thwart those who simply sought to profit by selling it.
This original book is an action-packed autobiography ... see close-up pics of contents page & dust jacket (inner flaps) for complete detail ... (220+) pages ... includes statistics & photos (b/w). ... book is in overall VG good condition! ... the spine & inner pages are clean & intact - no writings, stains, tears, creases, or missing pages! ... dark vertical area in center of several photos is merely a shadow created when scanning side-by-side pages from within the book ... dust jacket shows age & wear, but ... hardcover panels are unaffected .
Compiled from Wikipedia ... William Felton Russell (February 12, 1934 - July 31, 2022) was an American professional basketball player. Russell played center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956-1969 - was an NBA Most Valuable Player (5x) and an All-Star (12x). He was the centerpiece of the Celtics dynasty, that won (11) NBA championships during his 13-year career and though Russell was never the focal point of the Celtics' offense, he did score (14,522) career points & provided effective passing. He also served a three-season stint (1966–69) as player-coach for the Celtics, becoming the first black coach in the NBA and the first to win a championship. He played in the wake of black pioneers and was the first black player to achieve superstar status in the NBA. In the 1960's, Russell became an activist on par with Muhammad Ali. and he would not stand for racism in sports. Russell was named as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996), and is still widely considered to be one of the greatest basketball players of all-time ... prior to his pro-career, he led the University of San Francisco to two consecutive NCAA championships (1955-1956) and captained the gold-medal winning U.S. national basketball team at the (1956) Summer Olympics ... during his pro-career, Russell led the NBA in rebounds (4x), had (12) consecutive seasons of (1,000) or more rebounds, and remains second all-time in both total rebounds & rebounds per game. He is one of just two NBA players to have grabbed more than (50) rebounds in a game. Many of his accomplishments include - selection into the NBA 25th, 35th, 50th & 75th Anniversary Teams, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (1975), the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame (2006), and the FIBA Hall of Fame (2007) - in his honor, the NBA renamed the Finals MVP trophy - it's now the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP Award - he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame a second time (2021) for his coaching career - Barack Obama awarded Russell the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2011), for his accomplishments on the court and in the civil rights movement ... shortly after his death (2022), the NBA retired Russell's (#6) jersey league-wide, making him the only player in NBA history to receive the honor.