The MVP award was very satisfying in terms of personal accomplishments, but the championship was the most important thing of all.

You have to remember that coaching wasn’t sophisticated back then – you didn’t have the camps, clinics and all the technical advances that are available today – so from that standpoint, playing with a cast on my arm was a fortunate event in my life.

People have been killing because of racial differences since the time of Adam and Eve, but in this country racism has been primarily aimed at African Americans.

We had a strong relationship with Walter Brown, and felt that he was the best owner in the league.

I was the original socially depraved shy ghetto kid.

There were riots in just about every game we played with Syracuse.

French was my first language.

The NBA wasn’t a big deal at that time, so it wasn’t really in my career plans.

I won the city scoring championship as a senior.

Do your best when no one is looking. If you do that, then you can be successful in anything that you put your mind to.

The MVP award was very satisfying in terms of personal accomplishments, but the championship was the most important thing of all.

I grew up in the heart of the Depression.

My biggest win was getting the meal money bumped from $5 to $7.

We hung out on the streets, played stickball, and did all of the things that other kids did.

Russell joined the team in December, 1956, following the Olympics.

Race wasn’t an issue. My family was French, but Yorkville was a melting pot of races and cultures.

That seemed to be the case with most of the teams based in the smaller towns – the fans were more rabid, and they wanted to literally kill the opposition.

But as a coach I wanted to keep things from being too complicated.