07-31-2022, 02:04 PM
RIP to Bill Russell. As a young kid, I went to a celebrity Golf Tournament in SC. It was after Jordan's first or second year. I asked MJ for an autograph and got one. Still have the picture too. My dad pointed out Bill Russell to me. I had no idea who Russell was besides being an older ex-big NBA player at the time. I asked Russell for his autograph and he looked me in the eye and in a nice voice said he doesn't give autographs and said "no thank you". For years, I held it against him on how he could refuse a 10 year old kids simple request. Only years later did I fully understand how much autograph requests can be beatdowns. I haven't asked for an autograph in probably 25 years. Later as I got older, I developed an appreciation on how good he was as a basketball player. Much later, I developed a much greater appreciation on how good he was off the court. What a fascinating life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT5GlgXrX-0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT5GlgXrX-0