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.

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

We lived in Yorkville until 1940, at which point we moved into the St. Albans neighborhood of Queens.

My family was poor, my father drove a cab for a living, but we felt normal because everybody else was in the same boat.

These days I smile benignly at the fights that I see in NBA games. There aren't any broken noses or black eyes, which happened quite often when I played.

I grew up in the heart of the Depression.

I had endured six years of frustration so I think winning it all meant more to me than most of the others on the team.