There is another metropolitan area that helped shape Russell, and this past week, a long-frayed relationship with the University of San Francisco began an overdue emotional repair job. While the Patriots may have departed the Bay Area without the Super Bowl victory they\u2019d hoped to leave behind, the work of USF alum Tara August, who manages Russell\u2019s legacy, Russell\u2019s widow, Jeannine, and USF leaders eager to honor their most famous basketball alum, the days since have made sure Russell\u2019s imprint on San Francisco and Oakland, where he grew up and attended high school, will last forever. <\/p>\n
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Join @usfdonsmbb<\/a> , Bill Cartwright and the rest of the USF community TONIGHT as we celebrate and honor the life and legacy of No. 6\ufe0f\u20e3 at the Inaugural Bill Russell Impact Classic!<\/p>\n \u2728Unveiling of \u201cThe Bill Russell Way\u201d – 4:45 pm \u2014 San Francisco Athletics (@DonsAthletics) February 12, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n A memorial initiative that has been in the works for years began with Thursday night\u2019s men\u2019s basketball game, played on what would have been Russell\u2019s 92nd birthday. This newly named \u201cBill Russell Impact Classic\u201d will become an annual entry on the schedule and proceeds benefit the newly created Bill Russell Emergency Relief Fund, which offers short-term financial support for undergraduate students experiencing economic instability. In addition, there are new public displays installed on campus inspired by Russell\u2019s achievements in athletics and leadership in social justice, and the main campus thoroughfare is now known as The Bill Russell Way.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Bill would think this is OK,\u201d Jeannine Russell said in a conversation before boarding a plane to Thursday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n Russell\u2019s years at USF were unequivocally successful; he had one of the greatest collegiate careers of all time. A two-time All American, he guided the Dons to back-to-back national championships in 1955 and \u201956. A defensive mastermind, he helped them to a 60-game winning streak from 1954-56, was named the NCAA Tournament most outstanding player in 1955 and the West Coast Conference player of the year in 1956, and left school to win Olympic gold in Australia that summer. That was before he went on to the Celtics as the No. 2 overall pick and won 11 titles with 12 All-Star selections, 5 MVP awards, and 11 All-NBA selections. <\/p>\n But the look back at his college years wasn\u2019t entirely joyful, with lingering disappointment over a desire to return and finish his degree only to be told he would have to pay outstanding tuition first. That created a rift, which only amplified some of the harder times Russell and his fellow Black teammates experienced battling racism while in college. As the school\u2019s official website remembers, USF coach Phil Woolpert had made a ground-breaking decision to go against what was an accepted \u201cgentlemen\u2019s agreement\u201d not to play more than two Black players at one time, starting Russell, K.C. Jones, and Hal Perry alongside Carl Boldt and Mike Farmer.<\/p>\n Sadly, even as the integration of college sports inched forward, too many hearts and minds were resistant to change, and Russell, Jones, and Perry endured racist jeers from opposing crowds and prejudice from road hotels, which wouldn\u2019t allow the Black players to stay. The wounds were deep and long lasting, there until Russell died<\/a> in 2022 at 88 years old.<\/p>\n \u201cBill obviously had strict guidelines of how he lived, and [USF] never really came to him with a solution,\u201d Jeannine Russell said. \u201cI had told Tara, \u2018If we can come up with something that I think Bill would be proud of, possibly we can do that.\u2019 She had mentioned when she was at USF, she had wished there was a fund the kids could go to, so that\u2019s how we came up with the relief fund, where students, not just athletes, can all go and be able to get assistance. The school has just really gone above and beyond and been a great partner, and they\u2019re just doing all the right things.\u201d<\/p>\n On Thursday, Jeannine Russell was on hand to accept her late husband\u2019s honorary doctoral degree, an especially poignant moment. <\/p>\n \u201cHe didn\u2019t even get a scholarship, he got a scholarship thanks to his coach,\u201d she said. \u201cI think he was four credits short. He couldn\u2019t afford the books. This is what the emergency relief fund is for. The fact that they\u2019re doing that, that the game proceeds will go to the fund and also the Bill Russell 6 Foundation<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n As Jeannine Russell acknowledged, Bill Russell didn\u2019t put much stock in legacy, believing his accomplishments spoke for themselves and stood the test of time regardless of what anyone else did or thought. But his pedigree for winning is astonishing. A championship in high school, two straight in college, a gold medal, 11 more titles in Boston. Yet it\u2019s so important to remember that his profile for change is just as impressive, both in Boston, and back at home.<\/p>\n \u201cBill is so celebrated and honored in Boston,\u201d August said, \u201cthat you say his name and he\u2019s so revered that people salute or curtsy. Oakland is the city that made him, he loved the Bay Area and was so proud to be from here. We\u2019re proud to honor that.\u201d<\/p>\n The Patriots lose Super Bowl LX to the Seahawks in a beatdown by the Bay. Boston Globe Sports Report is live from San Francisco to break everything down.<\/p>\n Tara Sullivan is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at tara.sullivan@globe.com<\/a>. Follow her @Globe_Tara<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfc0Tipoff vs.\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/koXKRGRRPU<\/a><\/p>\n