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

Do your best when no one is looking.

We lived in Yorkville, which is located on the East End of Manhattan. It's further east than Hell's Kitchen, and back then it was the kind of place where the roaches and cockroaches were big enough to carry away small children.

I was the original socially depraved shy ghetto kid.

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

Back then every small town had a gym, and if itseated more than 2,000 then we'd be interested in playing in it.