Courtesy of Netflix
Bill Russell is the greatest winner in the history of American professional sports. Over the course of his 13-year career with the Boston Celtics, the 6-foot-10-inch center won 11 championships, the last two of which were earned while he was serving as both player and head coach. He also netted two national titles, one Olympic gold medal, five NBA MVP awards, and 12 NBA All-Star honors. Renowned for his rebounding, shot-blocking, and all-around defensive prowess, he’s so synonymous with NBA success that the league’s Finals MVP award is now named after him.
That legacy is part of the reason why so many illustrious basketball stars, past and present, are featured in Bill Russell: Legend. However, as conveyed by this two-part Netflix documentary from director Sam Pollard (MLK/FBI, Citizen Ashe), they also participate because Russell was more than just a superlative player—he was a fervent civil rights activist who never wavered from who he was or what he believed in, and who bravely used his platform to help further the cause of equality for Black Americans.
Narrated by Corey Stoll, Bill Russell: Legend (Feb. 8) won’t be an enjoyable history lesson for Los Angeles and Philadelphia basketball fans, whose teams—often led by Wilt Chamberlain, Russell’s long-time professional nemesis—routinely fell to Russell’s Boston Celtics during his dynastic 1956-1969 career. Beantown viewers, on the other hand, will find much to love about this comprehensive non-fiction portrait, which paints a picture of a life defined, on and off the court, by staunch conviction. Disinterested in kowtowing to the expectations of others, intensely loyal to his teammates and his coach, defiant in the face of prejudice aimed at himself and his countrymen, and committed to doing what’s right no matter the arena, Russell was, as Larry Bird succinctly puts it, “a stand-up man” in every respect.