William (Bill) Russell - Boston, MA - Living Statues on Waymarking.com

In Boston, on City Hall Plaza, is an installation of engraved stones and a bronze statue of Bill Russell, the greatest Boston Celtics player and an ardent civil rights activist.

The statue is located on the south side of City Hall, on the brick plaza overlooking Cambridge Street, and near the end of Washington Street.

The statue is life-sized and shows Russell in a Celtics uniform, wearing number 6. He has a basketball in his hands and his position indicates that he is ready to shoot or pass. Surrounding the statue are cubic blocks of stone with words engraved in them and stones in the brick also engraved with words. The blocks have a word engraved that is a quality that Russell represents, along with a quote made by him. The engraved stones relate some aspects about his life.

William ("Bill") Felton Russell was born on Feb 12, 1934. He played Center for the Boston Celtics from 1956 to 1969. During that time, he helped the Celtics obtain 11 Championship Titles, and was the NBA's Most Valuable Player five times, and an All-Star twelve times. He was also the first African-American to have reached superstar status. After retirement, for three seasons, he was a player-coach for the Boston Celtics, the first African-American in the NBA to hold that position. He has been elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame, and the trophy for the NBA Most Valuable Player is now named after him. For his civil rights efforts on and off the court, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.

There is more to the history that is related in the Wikipedia article.


Sources:

Bostonglobe.com (City Hall Plaza statue honors Celtics’ Bill Russell):
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Wikipedia (Bill Russell):
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Visit Instructions:
At least one original photo, taken by the poster, of the statue. No internet photos.

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Date Logged Log User Rating   08/20/2021 MonkeyAndTheEngineer visited it 03/22/2016 petendot visited it

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