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Speaker 1: Good. Yeah. You know, it's really hard to put into words.

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Speaker 1: I think what a man like Bill Russell has not

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Speaker 1: only obviously meant to this city, but has meant to

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Speaker 1: professional sports, has meant to black athletes, and just the

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Speaker 1: progress that we've seen in this country over the last

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Speaker 1: sixty years or so. Um. You know, when I think

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Speaker 1: of Bill Russell, I don't think of necessarily the championships

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Speaker 1: or the Celtics and the winning, which I think is

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Speaker 1: a legacy that speaks for itself. I think of what

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Speaker 1: he did for black athletes. And you know, I'm a

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Speaker 1: beneficiary of the actions of men, men and women like

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Speaker 1: Bill Russell who are willing to step out on the

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Speaker 1: limb and advocate for black athletes and Black Americans and

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Speaker 1: really push for change, push for equality. Um. You know,

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Speaker 1: I can't imagine having to have gone through some of

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Speaker 1: the things that he had to go through, especially early

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Speaker 1: on in his life and his career. Um. You know,

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Speaker 1: the reality is that he wasn't even seen as a

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Speaker 1: full citizen of this country, um when he started his

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Speaker 1: career and certainly when he started his life. So really

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Speaker 1: think about that. A couple of generations removed from you know,

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Speaker 1: Black Americans really being seen as less than Americans. So

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Speaker 1: I I when I think about Bill Russell, I celebrate

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Speaker 1: that part of his legacy more than anything else Black athletes.

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Speaker 1: That's sixty years ago. Yeah, it's it's it's unbelievable. Um.

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Speaker 1: You know, I'm one of the guys that's old enough

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Speaker 1: on this team to have had parents who grew up

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Speaker 1: in the segregated South, and you hear the stories of

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Speaker 1: what that was like for that generation, and it's unimaginable.

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Speaker 1: And you know, you talk about courage, it's really hard

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Speaker 1: to articulate the type of courage, commitment, resolve, integrity that

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Speaker 1: those men and women display, that that mister Russell displayed

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Speaker 1: during that time. I mean, we all know what the

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Speaker 1: sixties in this country looked like. I mean, as fondly

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Speaker 1: as we like to think of Boston, we can think

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Speaker 1: about what integration looked like here in the school systems here,

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Speaker 1: and it wasn't pretty. And I think that was kind

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Speaker 1: of the makeup of our country at the time, unfortunately.

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Speaker 1: But you know, you think about people that just saw injustice,

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Speaker 1: weren't going to tolerate it, and and they were gonna

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Speaker 1: do something about it in a peaceful way, and you know,

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Speaker 1: you talk about peaceful protest us. I'm thankful for those

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Speaker 1: men and women. I'm thankful for people like Bill Russell because,

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Speaker 1: as I said, I wouldn't be here doing what I

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Speaker 1: am doing today without men and women like them. You

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Speaker 1: want to to hand to kind of pay it forward

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Speaker 1: to if he benefits you, do that make you want

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Speaker 1: to pay it forward to the next generation for your

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Speaker 1: childre athletes? Yeah, absolutely. I think we all have a

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Speaker 1: responsibility to uh look after and be good stewards of

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Speaker 1: the gifts that we were given and then advance those

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Speaker 1: gifts and opportunities and pass them along to the next generation.

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Speaker 1: I think, you know, if you don't have vision and

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Speaker 1: foresight into the future and then to looking after those

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Speaker 1: that have come after you, it's just selfish and uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, I think about you know, one of the

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Speaker 1: verses that my family loves is Micah six eight. We

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Speaker 1: all have a responsibility um to do justice, to love mercy,

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Speaker 1: and to walk humbly with our God. And I think

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Speaker 1: for me and my family, and I think for a

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Speaker 1: lot of guys on this team, we do have a vision, uh,

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Speaker 1: towards the future and towards um, you know, making things

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Speaker 1: better for those that are gonna come after us. I

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Speaker 1: did not. I did not. I wasn't fortunate enough to

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Speaker 1: get a chance to meet them. That's fun, it's and

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Speaker 1: it never gets old. You see guys in there grinning

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Speaker 1: like their little kids. I mean, to be able to

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Speaker 1: come out of here, I mean we really think about it,

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Speaker 1: grown man putting on paths to go to play football.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it doesn't get any better than that. So

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Speaker 1: we were excited. Um, there's a lot to clean up.

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Speaker 1: But uh, I mean you gotta be thankful for these

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Speaker 1: opportunities that you come out here and get a chance

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Speaker 1: to play football. Different. Yeah, it's just different. I mean

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Speaker 1: this is real football. I mean it's fun to be

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Speaker 1: out here around shells and jersey and everybody looks cool

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Speaker 1: and a little you know, well, you get out here

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Speaker 1: and pass. This is football, interior play, physicality, execution, Uh,

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Speaker 1: competitive situations. Uh, this is what we need to make

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Speaker 1: our football team better. And uh, you know, we need

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Speaker 1: to embrace and enjoy the process. M hm, m hm,

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Speaker 1: must no question. I haven't had a chance to speak

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Speaker 1: with my dad yet, but we've spoken about mister Russell

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Speaker 1: in the past. Uh, you know, my dad's story just

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Speaker 1: to give you a little bit of context, grew up

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Speaker 1: in Jackson, Mississippi, didn't go to integrated schools until he

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Speaker 1: was in tenth grade, went to an HBCU in Jackson State.

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Speaker 1: So he went to school within a five mile radius

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Speaker 1: in Jackson, Mississippi, and really only only went to school

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Speaker 1: whites for two years. And then he gets drafted by

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Speaker 1: the Rams and he goes to California, and he said

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Speaker 1: he was scared to death. He didn't know what it

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Speaker 1: was gonna be like, what he was gonna be treated like.

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Speaker 1: You know, hadn't had white teammates since high school, and

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Speaker 1: that experience was not a good And I can assure

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Speaker 1: you that. So to look at guys like Russell and Chamberlain, Ali,

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Speaker 1: Jim Brown, guys like that that you know, Jackie Robinson

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Speaker 1: obviously who pushed the needle for black athletes and broke barriers.

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Speaker 1: He was certainly an immediate beneficiary of that coming. You know,

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Speaker 1: his rookie year was in nineteen seventy six. So I

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Speaker 1: know how thankful he is for for all those men,

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Speaker 1: for making the situation what it was for him. And

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Speaker 1: you know, to see that type of change in his lifetime,

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Speaker 1: I think has has really blown him away. He never

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Speaker 1: expected to see it, especially with the way that he

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Speaker 1: was brought up. But I mean, he'll be the first

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Speaker 1: to tell you he he appreciates men like Bill Russell

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Speaker 1: more than any of us. Yeah, I mean it just

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Speaker 1: speaks to and I'm a firm believer that, uh, progress

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Speaker 1: is possible no matter the circumstances. Um, you know, I

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Speaker 1: think people can change their hearts, they can change their

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Speaker 1: uh their beliefs, their views, and they can come together.

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Speaker 1: And you know, as a Christian, I certainly believe that

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Speaker 1: there's a reason for that. But uh, I mean the

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Speaker 1: fact that I'm standing here in twenty twenty two and

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Speaker 1: I've been welcomed by this community the way that I have,

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Speaker 1: I think it speaks to the progress that you know,

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Speaker 1: we've made in Boston and New England. Certainly there's room

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Speaker 1: for improvement. I'm not saying that, but um, you know,

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Speaker 1: I think we should celebrate. When you celebrate Bill Russell,

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Speaker 1: you should celebrate the progress that has been made on

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Speaker 1: a social scale. And um again, men like him really

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Speaker 1: paving the way for that. Mm hmmm mm hmm. Right, right, yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's a great question. Uh, you know, I think for

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Speaker 1: whatever the reasons may be right, wrong, or indifferent. There's

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Speaker 1: certain figures that, uh, history has taught us to kind

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Speaker 1: of cling to and revere a little bit more than others.

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Speaker 1: But there are so many men and women, whether it

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Speaker 1: be those those gentlemen um at UCLA or others, that

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Speaker 1: just kind of get overlooked. And I and I don't,

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Speaker 1: you know, I don't think that's you know, it is

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Speaker 1: what it is. But I do think that if you

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Speaker 1: really go back and you look at history, in the

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Speaker 1: course of history, it was more than just one or

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Speaker 1: two people. It took a collective and it took people

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Speaker 1: on both sides. I always say this. I mean, you know,

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Speaker 1: Black Americans at that time could only evance themselves so far.

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Speaker 1: We needed the help of our white brothers and sisters.

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Speaker 1: We just weren't gonna do it on our own. So

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Speaker 1: I think there's countless people whose names will never know,

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Speaker 1: whose stories will never know, that really helped us get

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Speaker 1: to where we are today. And you know, it's hard

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Speaker 1: and it's unfortunate that we don't get a chance to

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Speaker 1: celebrate all of them, but you know, I think that

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Speaker 1: we should celebrate as many of them as we can. Well,

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Speaker 1: all right, thanks guy,