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

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.

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

Indiana gets credit for having the most rabid basketball fans in the union, but Maine is a very, very active basketball state.

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

In whatever sport of field of endeavor you are interested, you should do whatever is necessary to compliment your God-given talent with proper mental preparation so as to do "the best you can." The criterion should be to fully exploit your potential rather than to win at any cost. What more could anyone ever ask of you than to be the best you possibly can?

I was literally fabricated over in France and born about six months after the boat landed at Ellis Island. This was the heart of the Depression. For the first 12 years of my life we lived in a terrible ghetto on the East River.