French was my first language. |
There were riots in just about every game we played with Syracuse. |
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. |
The NBA wasn't a big deal at that time, so it wasn't really in my career plans. |
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. |
But as a coach I wanted to keep things from being too complicated. |
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. |
I grew up in the heart of the Depression. |
Race wasn't an issue. My family was French, but Yorkville was a melting pot of races and cultures. |
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. |
I won the city scoring championship as a senior. |
The MVP award was very satisfying in terms of personal accomplishments, but the championship was the most important thing of all. |
We had a strong relationship with Walter Brown, and felt that he was the best owner in the league. |
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. |
Russell joined the team in December, 1956, following the Olympics. |
I was the original socially depraved shy ghetto kid. |