It also didn't take me long to decide that Tri-Cities wasn't for me, and that I wasn't going to go there to play basketball.

My biggest win was getting the meal money bumped from $5 to $7.

Bob Brannum was my body guard on the court. He was 6'-6 and built like a bulldog.

We hung out on the streets, played stickball, and did all of the things that other kids did.

Kerner decided to trade my rights to the Chicago Stags, which sounded better to me than Tri-Cities, but the Stags folded up almost immediately.

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.

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